ROLL CALL: Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine Grilled on Miriam Carey Shooting.

Pressed to delve into lessons learned from the Oct. 3 shooting of Miriam Carey, Capitol Police Chief Kim C. Dine stood by the department’s use of force Monday.

Dine called the high-speed car chase that started at the White House and ended with the Capitol under lockdown a “very, very quick, very fluid set of circumstances.”

He told House appropriators that he could not go into details on the criminal aspect of the officers’ actions, as the incident is under investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Valerie Carey, sister of the victim, has also filed a wrongful death claim against the Capitol Police, as well as the Uniformed Division of the U.S. Secret Service, seeking $75 million in compensation.

“These officers are out there every day putting their lives on the line and they have to make split-second decisions, and it’s easy for any one of us to obviously sit here and second guess them,” but even case law doesn’t allow for that, Dine told the panel.

Rep. James P. Moran, D-Va., challenged Dine to weigh in on whether, given that Carey was unarmed and had a child on board, it might have been a better idea to shoot at the car’s tires, rather than at her body.

“There’s a lot of opinions out there but most of them are wrong and uneducated,” Dine shot back.

The whole incident seems iffy to me. It warrants further investigation.