There are many instances of this over recent years. The victims of the mistaken police shootings (thinking it was a taser) have been both white and black (and other races). Usually the officer gets away with the shooting with no consequences (e.g. -https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/15/us/pa-police-taser-gun.html ) My question is -- Why does this keep happening over and over again? A simple step of requiring a gun to be stored on one side of your belt and your taser on the other would solve this problem. I will leave it up to experts to determine which device should be stored on the officer's dominant side to reduce mistaken shootings while still supporting safety of the officer.
Minnesota police training does require their police officers to wear their gun on the opposite side of their tasers. There's been a few situations where Police are caught for violating training protocols via wearing both their taser and gun on the same side. This is a new investigation, it will be interesting to know if this police officer did such...intentionally violated safety protocols via having her taser on the same side as her gun. She'll get fired even though it was an accidentally shooting regardless if her taser was on the opposite side. Plus the city will most likely get sued by the family of the guy that was killed.....a new way to defund the police via holding them accountable for their actions. Looting and Rioting is wrong. Peacefully Protesting is right. wrbtrader
I was thinking the same thing. The two do look a lot alike sometimes. She received the blame but that doesn't fix the real issue that the two weapons can get confused for one another.
I have not held a taser in many years, are they that similar in feel in the hand? ALmost all states require them to be on opposite sides to avoid this issue so the question is whether she had both on same side or panicked and grabbed wrong thing. I can udnerstand her maybe fear and need to subdue the person but this is really a bad mistake. She is definitely fired but not sure she can be held criminably liable or get convicted by a grand jury.
One thing for sure...they should not be making TASERS (stun guns) that look like or feel like a Police gun. Unfortunately, some police departments do have TASERS that look and fell like a gun. Yet, many of the Minnesota Police departments use bright color TASERS and they have a very different feel than a Police gun so that the officer will visually know and feel what they're pointing at the someone. I don't know what type of TASER she was assigned but many Minnesota police departments have the below type of TASER. Simply, she fucked up. Also, in Minnesota, Police typically only give you a fine for driving on expired license plate tags. They do not arrest you unless you've done something else that merits an arrest. In this case, you can hear in the video the Police officer telling the guy there's an outstanding warrant and impound your car... There's more to this story. The police officer had backup there fairly quickly. That would seem the Police had "other info" to merit doing an arrest or the initial police officer that tried to handcuff him was in the wrong when he should have written the guy a ticket. wrbtrader
I know the guy did not help things diving back into his car after they tried to arrest him on a gun warrant.... sends off warning signals about possible violence. Also not sure if the stop was on the up and up and they happened to land on someone with a warrant out of luck. Given the stress of the situation and quick reaction a huge mistake was made but if the tasers are so yellow, I still don't know how even after she pulled it out, she was unaware... dont you have flick a switch or get it ready or it comes out ready to shoot? I know she made a mistake but looks like a really bad and avoidable one. I predict fired and lawsuit but no criminal charges.