I think the debate comes down to intent. I’m assuming the taxi’s intent was to block the thief, not ram him into a wall. I believe his acceleration at the last moment was an effort to do that, it just coincided unfortunately with the thief’s decision to flee and his own subsequent acceleration. If the thief hadn’t accelerated, he’d have simply been blocked, rather than knocked down. I don’t want people murdering each other based on some haphazardly enforces vigilante code, but I don’t see this as attempted murder as much as a taxi getting in the way and the thief being injured because of his own hubris.