Quote:
Originally Posted by competentone
But how can you concluded that this one incident proves the officer was "incompetent"?
Are you saying that competent people never make any mistakes?
If this was an unintentional discharge of the weapon, do we really know all the circumstances leading up to the incident? For example, how long had the officer been working? Was he required to work a double shift on New Year's Eve? Was he at the end of 16 hours on the job?
My comments are not meant to "defend" the officer -- my first reaction when I looked at the video was: "Damn, that looks like a bad shooting."
My posts are to the reaction of some here who seem to be willing to completely ignore some of the serious questions that need to be asked about this incident, and seem more than ready to form a lynch mob and string the officer up on the nearest tree.
Some seem to be asking, "Why hasn't this officer been executed yet?" Or seem ready to viciously attack anyone who suggests that this could be anything less than "premeditated murder."
It is amazing the way some can't even keep the facts straight from the video. One suspect is handcuffed; the shooting occurs as the police move to the second suspect and are attempting to handcuff him. This second suspect is the one who is shot. I do not see any clear indication that the decedent is handcuffed when he is shot, but I do see that one of his hands are free after being shot. This indicates to me that he was not handcuffed when he was shot, yet some commenting here apparently cannot differentiate between the first person who is clearly handcuffed -- and is not shot -- and the second person who is struggling (and from what I can see, has one hand cuffed) and is shot.
The responses from some here is the reason why we don't want "mob justice."
There will be a complete investigation of this shooting; I'll have more confidence in the conclusions of the investigators than either the conclusions some have drawn here, or my own initial reactions to the videos.
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Of course I'm not saying competent people never make mistakes. But a mistake where you take someone's life is a pretty damn serious mistake. And any mistake involving a firearm should be cause for a review of that person's decision making abilities.
Look, the long and the short of it is that the VAST majority of police NEVER ONCE in their careers kill someone accidentally. If it happens, the cop is very probably incapable of the high standards we should and do hold police to due to either personal reasons or inadequate training.
The questions you raise are all very valid. (full stop, no "but") If he had indeed worked a double shift, 16 hour shift, etc. then maybe anyone in that position could make such an error. If such is the case then blame should be laid at the feet of the police force and perhaps their HR dept. Or maybe the city, or whomever provides funding, and clearly not enough of it, to staff the dept. adequately. Either way, a full review should figure this out and make corrections to ensure it never happens again. If it's the officer who is maybe an *********, racist, cowboy, rhoid-boy, whatever, he should be fired. If he was overworked, undertrained, etc. then the system should change to ensure they're adequately staffed and trained.
After this post of yours, I suspect we're actually much more in agreement than I previously thought.