imported post
TechnoWeenie wrote:
An officer accidentally shoot two people and 'whoops! It was an accident, my bad, I'll go to the range and get requalified'....
Lemme go 'accidentally' shoot two people, then I'm going to demand the judge order me to the range to improve my weapons safety....
See how well that flies...
Barring other mitigating circumstances... either fire the officer or make him a desk jockey, where he doesn't have to worry about incorrectly drawing his firearm again...
I'm sick and tired of the 'oh, well he's an officer, he just made a mistake' mentality... Don't EVEN get me started on the BS that happened in VA....
We're either equal or we're not...
If you are planning to go do it.. it is no longer an accident.
How is the judge getting involved? The judge is not going to order an officer to receive more training. The department may cause this to happen and they need to learn to keep their finger off the trigger.
It appears they witnessed a drug transaction and this would be a crime!! They went to investigate and with drug deals you also have armed dealers. So the gun drawn was proper.
I do not know exactly how the round went off or how they will explain it.
I do not agree with firing him or placing him on a desk for the rest of his life. There is one member on this forum that is pissed that a cop shot a man and was promoted to detective. This got him behind a desk and off the street. So you are not going to make everyone happy with that.
The officer should be punished for the shooting and get mandatory training.... but if you start firing cops for this... cops are going to be too scared. They will fear their gun will go off while it is being pointed at a criminal and this causes them to do one of two things.
They will stop drawing their guns or if they do they will not point them at the subject and this gives the subject an advantage to shoot first.
Or
They will just stop making arrests where they need to draw their gun.
What you may not know is that it takes 1.5 years to replace that officer. It is not like there is someone in line to take his spot. They have to go recruiting, testing, background checks, academy, field training... all before the guy gets cut loose.
If the officer was obviously negligent and a liability.. then get rid of him. But some really good cops can make mistakes too.