Could a veteran police officer really have mistaken a pistol for a Taser?

[Jackson1]

Why would anyone want to be in law enforcement at this time, no matter what you do you are always under attack for doing a highly difficult, dangerous, and stressful job. And now you constantly hear that with all the difficult circumstances involved in doing your job that many want to have your job eliminated or reduce your pay!

Unfortunately every profession has bad people in it, law enforcement is no different, but one bad apple does not make every other apple bad, what if we applied the current logic of all police are bad to the NBA, NFL, Politicians and etc, are you telling me that these professions have not had multitudes of bad people in them of all colors, so are all NBA, NFL, and or politicians all bad, no, well maybe except for politicians?

After seeing and hearing the video, to me its clear that the officer was confused on what she fired, this is not an excuse, she should still be accountable, however I’m fairly certain that if the suspect had not tried to resist and drive away he would still be alive.

[Joel18]

Yes. Absolutely. For a number of reasons, not least the training the officer received and Departmental Policies and Procedures concerning the carrying of, presentation of the TASER in contrast to the same with the sidearm.

[Mark456]

We are all fallible creatures of the fall. No one is perfect. I don’t think tasers should even be on the belt. The call came back for wants and warrants and this particular suspect had held a woman at gun point while choking her. Well gosh, sounds like armed and dangerous to me. Further, the suspect should have complied with the officer. Had he complied, he would be alive today. Good luck to you sanctimonious near do wells who, without the heat of life and death hanging over your head, can calmly sit back and arm chair quarterback this topic to death.

[BRUCE26]

@Joel18 and @Mark456 Welcome.

[Johnnyq60]

@Joel18 welcome to the family and God bless you.

[Johnnyq60]

@Mark456, welcome to the family and you are blessed to be here.

[John1005]

I can see this happening in the so called heat of the moment, just like in battle a soldier tosses a hand grande with out pulling the pin. It happens. now lets look what caused the heat. In the major of these recent deaths of people shot they were resisting arrest. (first mistake). in most of these cases there was a warrant out for the person for something that wantn’t taken care of earlier time ( second mistake) why was the person stopped by the Police chances are the person broke the law traffic stop for being stupid (third mistake) . Now the person is upset , his anger levels rise, and not thinking clearly knowing about there warrant does not want to go to jail. (fourth mistake) the person resisting arrest and starts becoming hostel starts argumentative with officers and this is where havoc and more mistakes happen on both sides. who’s at fault mostly the person who started the events also the police. By not the taxer. poor judgement by the person who started by getting pulled over for some stupid mistake. We will something like this happen again because people don’t think or need attitude adjustment

[MitchR]

I’m respectfully sorry to those who think playing the “stress card” some how justifies a huge blatant mistake like this.

Airline pilots can’t play the “stress card” to justify the death of others,

Pratt & Whitney airplane engine that burst into flames and forced a United Airlines pilot to make an emergency landing shortly after taking off from Denver had similar blowouts on at least two other flights, experts said Monday

Cardiac surgeons can’t play the “stress card” to justify the death of others,

Cardiovascular surgery, also known heart surgery is a stressful profession where surgical skills and experience can make the difference between life and death for the cardiac patient. The cardiac surgeon must acquire numerous years of education, training and surgical expertise. Open heart surgical operations are lengthy taking 4 - 6 hours or longer to complete. The surgeon has to be on call all the time because emergencies can occur anywhere, anytime, preoperatively or postoperatively without warning. The cardiac surgeon has to work with a very experienced team; even a small mistake may lead to a tragic unexpected cascade of events, resulting in a disaster. Thus, stress is an integral part of cardiovascular surgery. It is not surprising that surgeons practicing this stressful profession aged 45 and older have suicidal rates 1.5 to 3 times that of the general population (1). In a study in 2011 which assessed 8000 surgeons, 501 reported suicidal ideation (2). These surgeons are most likely “stressed-out” (Figure 1).

For a LEO not to instinctively notice the difference between the feel and weight of pistol (Glock 1911 @ over 2 pounds loaded) and an 8 ounce Taser is a real hard sell.

[BRUCE26]

That was not the intent of the original post “Could a veteran police officer”. She has paid with her career for now and possible legal action and will have to live with her mistake for the rest of her life.

So by your logic she pulled out her duty weapon and murdered him in cold blood.

There is precedent.

@BRUCE26

According to press and court filings reviewed by the Star Tribune, similar shootings have happened at
least 11 times nationwide since 1999 — the year when Taser introduced the handgun-shaped Advanced Taser M-26. Earlier Tasers were shaped more like a TV remote control, and an early case hinged on the change.

In three cases that did prove fatal — Everardo Torres in Madera, Calif., in 2002; Oscar Grant III in Oakland, Calif., in 2009; and Eric Courtney Harris in Tulsa, Okla., in 2015 — the officers involved said they had intended to use their Taser, not their service weapon.

[Vince2]

yes, it has happened before. not very often. but in the heat of the moment, adraline kicking, people react sometimes without thinking often, which is why training is most important. hasn’t happen to me, but i don’t get excited much, even when fighting or being shot at. each story is different but the results are the same. they thought they had the taser in their hands.

[Ouade5]

What surprises me on this whole topic is that so many people and departments are blaming Tasers. They seem to get the story completely backwards. If the officer had pulled her Taser instead of her firearm, this wouldn’t be a story. She pulled her firearm instead of her Taser… so why are police getting Taser shy, now?

[George187]

My son is a LEO and trains officers to use their weak hand for the taser and strong hand for their firearm. He has them mount the taser grip on their weak side with the grip aft to prevent using a cross draw. Even in the heat of the moment muscle memory will tend to go firearm strong hand and taser weak hand, less chance of an accident.

[KillJoy]

I think they need to switch to carrying Airsoft guns now. Paintballs with permanent ink/paint. No more protecting other people. Everybody needs their own self defense weapon(s). Let’s see where that goes.

[George80]

Seems to me that this is more an indicator of either insufficient training or a training scar.

The officer involved didn’t have enough training in situations where they have to choose their tool and/or had more training with the gun so in the situation, defaulted to pulling the gun and didn’t realize it. So how do we go about our own training to avoid something like this? Work in more reps pulling your non-lethal vs lethal? How do you practice making the decision what to pull?

What about newer gun owners who are just working to become proficient and comfortable with their gun? You obviously want to get more reps drawing and getting on target, but how do you avoid getting to a point where you’re more likely to instinctively draw your gun instead of pepper spray?

[Chas]

How about if it’s a life or death situation you draw, aim and fire…if not life or death you back up while telling the perp to sit on the curb till the social worker arrives. No tasers, no hand cuffs, no knees…

[Ouade5]

@KillJoy

I think they need to switch to carrying Airsoft guns now.

Someone will get a bruise and sue for pain and suffering.

[William54]

You mention that “overzealous reaction” by our men and women in blue is a systemic problem. You also say that you did not mention race in your discussion but at the end go on to say you are a WASP. Not what l would exactly call non-racial.

Let’s take a look at these recent issues and the aftermaths of the response of “civilized” peoples.

Since Ferguson, MO there has been this knee jerk reaction from the leftist media and therefore the public that the police are “inherently bad” especially when it comes to minorities. However, what you fail realize is that most of their contacts are with those minority groups, not because they are being targeted but because most of the street crime takes place in their own neighborhoods against their own peoples.

What has happened after every event since Ferguson involving a “white” police officer and a minority offender. There is looting, rioting, and mob violence in the streets of this country. In every incidence, the person that was being placed under arrest was not following police commands. Resisting arrest, has become the norm now among the brown minority. It has been played up by the leftist media to the point that it is more than likely in certain areas of this country resistance has become the norm.

You preach your systemic problem as a police problem. Well, Ken38, other than you being a WASP, some antiquated term from the 60’s, l am a Veteran, retired government employee, and l have been around the block a time or two. Believe me it is not the police! Yes, there are bad apples in any police department. Just like there are bad apples in every large organizations. But you imply that all police are bad.
Sound like you are a typical leftist that was spouting you position.

There has been problems brewing for years, just under the surface. Tensions between the races has been worsening since the 60’s. The cause, government trying to “equalize” the races. It has caused more of a divide because it has never really addressed the problem. Education and jobs - but not giving people jobs they are not qualified for only to set them up for failure.

Police to need training, up graded training all the time. Trying that changes with the times. However, respect for authority never changes and until our police are treated with that respect and their commands are followed at the moment given things will continue as we currently have them.

I apologize for the long reply. But your placing the blame on the police is wrong the problem lies with the Congress for the bad laws, failure to condemn lawlessness, and citing funding for law enforcement. They want to have better policing hirer more officers, establishing better hiring standards, and mare aggressive and more frequent training, which all requires MORE funds.

[Ken38]

Your entire misinformed, racially biased scree has nothing to do with a police officer mistaking her Glock for her TASER and shooting someone by accident.

[OldJohn47]

Most officers carry the Taser on the opposite side of their firearm towards the front of the duty rig. With practice drawing it like with her firearm, it dose seem strange she drew the wrong one, muscle memory should have prevented the mistake. She had to be very tired, ill or stressed out to make this error.

[Johnnyq60]

Welcome to the family brother @OldJohn47 and you are blessed to be here.