Another Black man killed by cops ... this time by accident?

[MU82]

In the latest chapter in this never-ending American tragedy, the cop who killed the Black guy in a Minneapolis suburb -- even as Derek Chauvin is on trial just about 20 minutes away for last year's brutal murder of George Floyd -- apparently did so by accident.

This officer, Kimberly Potter, said she thought she had her Taser in her hand when she took direct aim at Daunte Wright's chest ... but it actually was her gun, and her single shot killed him instantly.

And in a twist that would be comical if it weren't so damn sad, Potter, a long-time veteran of the force, had been training young officers before she killed Wright. Chauvin also had been an experienced cop who trained young officers.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/13/us/minnesota-officer-kim-potter-resigns.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20210414&instance_id=29210&nl=the-morning&regi_id=108420427&segment_id=55537&te=1&user_id=d36dcf821462fdd16ec3636710a855fa

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — Officer Kimberly A. Potter was in the midst of a routine training day on Sunday, demonstrating her decades of policing know-how to less experienced officers in the Brooklyn Center Police Department.

But that training came to an abrupt and horrifying end when Officer Potter, who is white, shot Daunte Wright, a Black 20-year-old man, in his car as he tried to avoid arrest. Body camera video shows that the officer shouted “Taser!” while pointing a handgun at Mr. Wright, who was unarmed; she then fired a single round into his chest, killing him, in what the authorities in Minnesota have described as a deadly mistake.

With protests unfolding each night in Brooklyn Center, Officer Potter, a veteran officer of 26 years, and Tim Gannon, the department’s police chief, both resigned their posts on Tuesday. The abrupt departures came a day after the city manager who oversaw the department was fired, and as the city of 30,000 residents remained boarded up; National Guard troops stood with guns outside of the city’s police station, which has been the center of nightly clashes.

Outside of Officer Potter’s home in another Minneapolis suburb on Tuesday morning, police officers looked on as workers placed concrete barriers and black metal fencing all around the home, fortifying it in a fashion similar to the courthouse in downtown Minneapolis, where Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis officer who had trained younger officers, is on trial in the death of George Floyd.

Officer Potter, with her decades on the force, was acting as a training officer, assigned to guide less experienced colleagues on Sunday night, a spokeswoman for the police union that represents her said, when Mr. Wright was pulled over for an expired registration on his car.

[#UnleashSean]

There's so much to unpack here...

The best explanation for her:

She was carrying a chambered round, with the safety off, a gun that weighs about 3x what a taaer does, waving it around at the back of another polices head, and at the end of all of these mistakes didn't realize it was a gun. Remember that is the BEST explanation for her.

Here's another possible scenario:

She unholstered her gun, racked a bullet, took off the safety (that is completely different then a tasers) and still confused it for a taste.

Was she drunk?

[Galway Eagle]

The audio certainly makes it seem like it was a genuine accident. I mean shouted taser x3, & seemed genuinely stunned that she shot him.

That being said Unleash certainly has a point.

[MU82]

Yep, it's not a very reassuring thing when the best-case scenario is that an officer who routinely trains younger cops is so strikingly incompetent that she mistakes her gun for a Taser.

[jficke13]

Taking as true the defense of "accident." Then the only plausible response is to assume that the police are simply not qualified to carry lethal weapons.

[jutaw22mu]

The whole thing is terrible, but maybe people should stop resisting arrest.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


Also, serious design flaw if the taser truly has the same feel in one's hand as the firearm.

[naginiF]

The whole thing is terrible, but maybe people should stop resisting arrest.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


Also, serious design flaw if the taser truly has the same feel in one's hand as the firearm.

controversial opinion: I don't think that capital punishment is an appropriate penalty for resisting arrest.

[wadesworld]

The whole thing is terrible, but maybe people should stop resisting arrest.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


Also, serious design flaw if the taser truly has the same feel in one's hand as the firearm.

Resisting arrest is not punishable by death.  Well, as long as you are not an unarmed black man.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[mu_hilltopper]

Taking as true the defense of "accident." Then the only plausible response is to assume that the police are simply not qualified to carry lethal weapons.

Indeed, if the threshold for errors is zero, then you are correct.

26 year veteran, taken hundreds of hours of training, and is a trainer herself. 

And then there's the inevitable comparison to pilots, that they cannot have an error rate either.  But scores of planes have crashed due to pilot error, and scores more will occur in the future. 

Add society's desire for the enforcement of laws, a hundred million+ guns and a growing lack of trust in (all) institutions and .. it's a toxic soup that will have bad outcomes due to the inevitability of statistics.

It is an iron-clad lock that some time in the next year, and the year following, and on, this event will re-occur. 

[Galway Eagle]

Maybe only certain police should carry legit guns, give the majority non lethal rounds? I know that those can still kill if they hit you in the right place but this may help stop the majority of these instances.

Or standard belt has non lethal rounds and if they find themselves in a fire fight you have a lethal clip in the car?

[dgies9156]

OK, I'm a big believe in due process for the officer. I find the whole thing abhorrent that anyone would shoot and kill an unarmed civilian, regardless of race, for any reason. But accident or not, the officer deserves the same due process we all expect.

The question is whether the officer was ill-trained, ill-prepared or just simply not capable of being a police officer. It's possible she might be racist but it's certainly not guaranteed.

One of the big problems I keep saying is, "What do you want your police to do?" For most reasonably middle class or affluent suburbs, police are municipal revenue officers (aka, traffic officers) and night watchmen. When a more significant criminal incident comes down (including executing a warrant), they are babes in the woods. I keep thinking back to the Brown's Chicken massacre in Palatine, IL, in the 1980s. Had the assailants just kept their mouth shut, the crime never would have been solved. Ever. The big reason was the cops were amateurish at what they were doing. Thank God someone had the good sense to preserve evidence with DNA on it.

The point: No accidental death is EVER justified by police officers. Ever. They should be better trained and better equipped to deal with folks from different social and ethnic backgrounds. Most simply aren't. That comes from the question of what you expect of your police.

[Galway Eagle]

OK, I'm a big believe in due process for the officer. I find the whole thing abhorrent that anyone would shoot and kill an unarmed civilian, regardless of race, for any reason. But accident or not, the officer deserves the same due process we all expect.

The question is whether the officer was ill-trained, ill-prepared or just simply not capable of being a police officer. It's possible she might be racist but it's certainly not guaranteed.

One of the big problems I keep saying is, "What do you want your police to do?" For most reasonably middle class or affluent suburbs, police are municipal revenue officers (aka, traffic officers) and night watchmen. When a more significant criminal incident comes down (including executing a warrant), they are babes in the woods. I keep thinking back to the Brown's Chicken massacre in Palatine, IL, in the 1980s. Had the assailants just kept their mouth shut, the crime never would have been solved. Ever. The big reason was the cops were amateurish at what they were doing. Thank God someone had the good sense to preserve evidence with DNA on it.

The point: No accidental death is EVER justified by police officers. Ever. They should be better trained and better equipped to deal with folks from different social and ethnic backgrounds. Most simply aren't. That comes from the question of what you expect of your police.

I feel like most would probably say not kill people for stupid reasons or beat the crap out of people for stupid reasons (ie the second lieutenant thing that happened over in Virginia)

[MU82]

Agree with most points by 'topper and dgies. Re two points:

"Due process": Sure, but there is no due process in the court of public opinion. And where was Wright's due process and Floyd's due process before they were sentenced to death?

"Mistakes happen": Yessir, always have and always will. Mistakenly thinking that an unarmed suspect reached for a weapon is bad enough but often can be explained away; mistakenly thinking your gun is a Taser, that's a lot more difficult one to accept IMHO. Good point about pilots, though. It sucks, but it's a fact of life (and death). Thankfully, for the vast majority of us, the kind of mistakes we make aren't so devastating.

[wadesworld]

I don't really care if the police officer is racist or not.  She *allegedly* thought her gun was her taser.  A police officer thought her GUN was a TASER.  And now an unarmed person (a criminal, for those who want to claim the guy had it coming because he wasn't a perfect citizen) is dead because of it.

Adios to her career.  Well, should be, anyway.  But we've seen this play out before.

[Spotcheck Billy]

A terrible situation that I really believe was an accident but why are officers pulling weapons for an outstanding warrant? They knew who he was at that point and if he drove off they should have been able to locate him later. I think those types of situations need revised procedures.

[wadesworld]

A terrible situation that I really believe was an accident but why are officers pulling weapons for an outstanding warrant? They knew who he was at that point and if he drove off they should have been able to locate him later. I think those types of situations need revised procedures.

Exactly.  Unless he's an immediate threat to somebody's well being, let him rack up the charges he'll face.

[jficke13]

I don't really care if the police officer is racist or not.  She *allegedly* thought her gun was her taser.  A police officer thought her GUN was a TASER.  And now an unarmed person (a criminal, for those who want to claim the guy had it coming because he wasn't a perfect citizen) is dead because of it.

Adios to her career.  Well, should be, anyway.  But we've seen this play out before.

Two justice systems exist. Justice for cops, and justice for non-cops.

She says adios to her career, but if any non-cop had a little classic "oopsiedoops I shot a guy dead but totes by accident" incident, they'd be in cuffs and facing a negligent homicide charge (manslaughter, depending on what your jurisdiction calls it).

[wadesworld]

Two justice systems exist. Justice for cops, and justice for non-cops.

She says adios to her career, but if any non-cop had a little classic "oopsiedoops I shot a guy dead but totes by accident" incident, they'd be in cuffs and facing a negligent homicide charge (manslaughter, depending on what your jurisdiction calls it).

Yup, very true.

[mu_hilltopper]

Two justice systems exist. Justice for cops, and justice for non-cops.

She says adios to her career, but if any non-cop had a little classic "oopsiedoops I shot a guy dead but totes by accident" incident, they'd be in cuffs and facing a negligent homicide charge (manslaughter, depending on what your jurisdiction calls it).

Complete correct.  But society didn't ask you to enforce the law and be empowered to carry a lethal weapon in furtherance of that request.

[jficke13]

Complete correct.  But society didn't ask you to enforce the law and be empowered to carry a lethal weapon in furtherance of that request.

But there is this whole equality under the law fantasy that we operate under. Laws prohibiting negligent homicide ought to apply to heirs to political dynasties in Massachusetts, to idiots using explosives for gender reveal parties, and to officers of the law alike. So long as police officers are insulated from the consequences of their decisions (be it by QI or by evading criminal prosecution), this will never change because there is no incentive for it to change.

[jutaw22mu]

Resisting arrest is not punishable by death.  Well, as long as you are not an unarmed black man.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I agree with you. 

[JWags85]

One of the big problems I keep saying is, "What do you want your police to do?" For most reasonably middle class or affluent suburbs, police are municipal revenue officers (aka, traffic officers) and night watchmen. When a more significant criminal incident comes down (including executing a warrant), they are babes in the woods. I keep thinking back to the Brown's Chicken massacre in Palatine, IL, in the 1980s. Had the assailants just kept their mouth shut, the crime never would have been solved. Ever. The big reason was the cops were amateurish at what they were doing. Thank God someone had the good sense to preserve evidence with DNA on it.

The point: No accidental death is EVER justified by police officers. Ever. They should be better trained and better equipped to deal with folks from different social and ethnic backgrounds. Most simply aren't. That comes from the question of what you expect of your police.

This is so spot on.  My hometown is an affluent suburb.  In the early 80s, there was a domestic dispute and a man took his wife and child hostage.  During the negotiation, the police chief at the time swapped himself for the family and got into the parked car with the aggressor.  He disarmed the suspect and began to exit the vehicle with his hands up...one of his officers shot and killed him as he exited the vehicle.

25 years later, a white kid I went to HS with got pulled over cause he had been reported to be stealing gas from a gas station.  During the stop it got heated, he was arrested, was fighting with the cops, and they put an gas mask, meant to help in chemical attacks, on him cause he kept spitting...but they had no clue what he was doing and he ended up suffocating in the car.

Neither situation was racial in nature, but rather suburban cops who had no clue what to do in any escalating situation.

[jesmu84]

Trigger warning:




If you truly believe that death - accidental or otherwise - is a justified outcome of an unarmed citizen - who is not posing any immediate danger to the officer, themselves or others - not following directions of a police officer, I think you're unnatural carnal knowledgeing nuts.

[jficke13]

Guess I was pessimistic. Headline says the officer will be charged with manslaughter.

[rocket surgeon]

this was a terrible mistake...all lives matter and have a right to due process

approximately 100 cops have been killed on duty so far this year