Oakland Transit Cop shoots restrained man in the back

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Lchoy

Yup. However, in high stress situation, people often react first without conscious thought. It explains why some accidents like friendly fire in the battlefield, soliders getting killed because they forgot to flick the safety in a fire fight, and other preventable but common injuries or deaths occur.
IIRC, law enforcement and military are taught to keep their shooting finger on the ring, and not on the trigger until they actually fire. (If I'm talking out of my ass, please correct me)

You're right, anyone remember this famous picture?



Finger on the outside, and in this case, pointed straight out. Never on the trigger though.

[Nage Waza]

Looked to me like the cop was yanking at his side prior to drawing the gun, almost like he was grabbing at something that just wasn't coming loose. In other words, pulling out his gun is different than pulling out his taser or whatever it was he was after. Once that gun was out, he seemed to point it and fire. Clearly they were all shocked by this. But if you ask me, it is a tragic accident, from what I saw. Unfortunately, when I have a brain fart I put the phone in a drawer or the salt shaker in the fridge. A cop on the other hand is still human, and can make mistakes even with his gun. Fortunately, this is very rare.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by browna

Have you been to Oakland?

Edit: That said, a bizarre sequence, all of a sudden a random shot fired, and a surreal reaction from everyone in the video..., everyone stopping and looking at him, as if the guy had dropped a plate and it broke on the floor, not actually shot another person.

Sad too for all involved. Obviously the victim and family, also the transit cop...his wife just having a baby.

Maybe it's good that the kid's psychotic dad will be behind bars instead of spending time raising his kid.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by peter12

Maybe it's good that the kid's psychotic dad will be behind bars instead of spending time raising his kid.

Woah. Psychotic? What if the guy didn't pay his fare? There's gotta be consequences.

[Dion]

Amateur video of the shooting have played frequently on local news stations, giving even more publicity to the incident. Burris said Wednesday that one of the latest videos of the shooting shows that Mehserle did have a Taser on his left side, but he went for a gun on his right side, instead.

“The video supports the position we are taking and eyewitnesses’ testimony that the officer deliberately went for his gun and there’s no mistake about it,” Burris said. “He didn’t reach across for his Taser. He couldn’t have been thinking about that. He went directly for his gun.”

http://patdollard.com/2009/01/oaklan...iolent-wvideo/

[jolinar of malkshor]

Wouldn't be the first negligent discharge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAVYFRM5Tl8
Police officer showing a gun to a class room.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkrkPpIeasY
Officer shoot partner when trying to secure firearm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDfNV...eature=related
Officer almost shoots partner and suspect.

[jar_e]

Originally Posted by Kipper is King

If I were a police officer, about to pull a weapon on someone (taser, gun, baton, pepper spray, etc.), I'm going to at least take a split second to look and make sure I am using the proper thing. Isn't that common sense?

A key component of officer safety is always keeping your head up and working all your tools without looking at them (ie. reloading our fire arm, firing your taser, using your spray, etc.). I know for a fact the majority of Canadian departments focus on the fact that you should be able to close your eyes and use all your tools...I know it may seem like common sense to look and I have no idea on these guys training, but there is a reason they wouldn't.

[habernac]

charged with murder:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/14/...est/index.html

[ikaris]

Originally Posted by habernac

charged with murder:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/14/...est/index.html

Appropriately so. I wonder what would have happened if there was no publicly available video...