Now theyre saying the shooting of a 20 yr old black man in Minneapolis was accidental.

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
WTFGOP?
@DogginTrump
Now theyre saying the shooting of a 20 yr old black man in Minneapolis was accidental. Supposedly they believe the officer was going for his taser & grabbed his gun instead

I just can’t

🙄

[WhiskeyGrinder]

1. "Taser taser taser!...Oh shit, I just shot him."

[Nevilledog]

4. No way you can mistake a gun for a taser once it's in your hand

[NutmegYankee]

23. Psychology may have an answer to that.

Similar to several plane crashes caused by pilots pulling the wrong lever or shutting down the wrong engine, sometimes the brain ignores information when it is overloaded. Her focus could have been on whether a gun would come out from the car interior and muscle memory grabbed the wrong object.

The airline industry has several examples of this type of mistake. A young man is still dead, but I can understand how this might have not been intentional.

[USALiberal]

29. Base that on what? Nt

[Nevilledog]

33. Size, shape, weight...

Taser has a digital screen, safety mechanisms are different.

Plus, you'd have to crossdraw to get the taser.

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Norman Ornstein
@NormOrnstein
So, here, from smart Adam Silverman, the best analysis of what happened in Brooklyn Center. This officer made colossal. inexplicable mistakes; looking at pictures of the yellow Taser and the Glock, it is impossible to imagine she mistook one for the other.

Balloon Juice | A Quick Word On What We Know About the Police Shooting of Daunte Wright
I’ve just finished watching the very, and not surprisingly, combative press conference held by Brooklyn Center, MN leadership regarding the police shooting of Daunte Wright. This included watching...
balloon-juice.com
2:49 PM · Apr 12, 2021

Comments are interesting, also:
https://www.balloon-juice.com/2021/04/12/a-quick-word-on-what-we-know-about-the-police-shooting-of-daunte-wright/?updated=1618261360#comment-8140066

[iemanja]

2. If a cop can't tell the difference between a taser and a gun

He's incompetent and therefore unfit for duty.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

5. This particular officer is a woman.

[malaise]

3. No words

[agalisgv]

6. Someone just asked the police chief if the officer has since commited suicide

Odd question to ask if it is not true. Guess there are a lot of rumors going around.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. Yes, there are rumors that she has. (She has not.)

[Aristus]

14. If she mistook her gun for that Head-On stuff, then probably.

If one can't tell a gun from everything else that isn't a gun, one is not long for this world.

Unfortunately, neither is anyone who comes within shooting distance...

[stillcool]

7. they lost any credibility lots of dead people ago...

[Comfortably_Numb]

8. If I had a nickel for every time.... I wouldn't have ANY nickels, FFS!!!

[Sneederbunk]

10. Fruitvale Station

[Takket]

11. Aren't guns and tasers a lot different in their grip?

If you grabbed a gun wouldn’t you know by the feel it isn’t a taser? And wouldn’t you have to release a safety on the gun before firing it?

[Nevilledog]

12. Right?

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Schrödinger's Quantum
@Robin_of_A
How the fuck do you even mistake your own gun for your taser?

Location on hip - different
Weight - different
Grip - different
Visual shape - different
Color scheme - different
Lethality - irreversibly DIFFERENT!

Pavlov's Lore
@eriatarrka
An officer shot and killed a 20 year old black man thinking she grabbed her taser.

Holy shit, Minneapolis. Stay strong.
10:16 AM · Apr 12, 2021

[crickets]

15. Of course. The weight difference alone should have been a huge tipoff. nt

[agalisgv]

20. If police officers can't tell the difference

then changes definitely need to be made to tasers. How about a fuzzy handle? Color of bright neon pink? The possibilities are endless. Unless they want them to look exactly like guns for intimidation tactics.

[doc03]

16. Revolvers don't have a safety and many semi autos

don't have a safety. I bet it is much more likely the taser had a safety than a gun.

[struggle4progress]

13. Now that's a versatile excuse!

"I was in my car, reaching for my license and registration, and I accidentally pulled out my gun and shot the highway patrol"

"I was in the park, reaching for some spare change, and I accidentally pulled out my gun and shot the pan-handler"

"I walked up to the urinal in the men's room, reached down, accidentally pulled out my gun, and shot the guy standing next to me"

[stillcool]

19. that last one is a keeper

[TheRealNorth]

17. My guess is that the police are watching the Chauvin trial....

And they realize that days of getting a friendly prosecutor are over (at least while Keith Ellison is AG), and their best bet is to go with incompetence.

[Cicada]

18. The body cam shows him yelling taser taser taser before firing

Humans make errors. That’s why my friend Dave said Left knee, left knee, left knee.... before his anesthetics knocked him out.

[USALiberal]

21. She did not mean to shoot him, the video makes it clear. nt

[malaise]

22. It was the police chief who said this is what he believed

He has no effin evidence,

[Kaleva]

25. Other then the officer's body cam audio recording.

[malaise]

26. You mean Oh shit I shot him

Guns kill and if she didn't know which was which she shouldn't have that job - a reckless homicide from any angle.

[Kaleva]

27. "I'll Tase you! I'll Tase you! Taser! Taser! Taser!"

"“I’ll Tase you! I’ll Tase you! Taser! Taser! Taser!” the officer is heard shouting on her body cam footage released at a news conference. She draws her weapon after the man breaks free from police outside his car and gets back behind the wheel.

After firing a single shot from her handgun, the car speeds away, and the officer is heard saying, “Holy (expletive)! I shot him.”"

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/minnesota-police-shoot-kill-man-traffic-stop-incident-77013203

My guess is that the officer did not receive adequate training or possibly was not up to the task even with training. Sadly, often the only way one finds out a person is incompetent after training is when bad shit happens.


Several things can happen during a stressful situation:

Tunnel vision

Auditory exclusion

Sensory exclusion

I'm only guessing here but it may be that sensory exclusion came into play and the officer couldn't tell she was holding her service pistol instead of her taser. Something that extensive training most likely would have prevented from happening. But I'm just guessing.

[sammythecat]

36. I agree 100% with what you're saying here.

Why some here can't seem to understand this is totally beyond me. Things like this can happen. The victim is dead, there is no fixing that, and the "perpetrator" is devastated. Just a horrible tragedy.

[Kaleva]

37. It's similar to "buck fever" which happens to some deer hunters

A worst case situation is where a hunter confuses another hunter wearing orange with being a big buck and shoots the other hunter.

[Kaleva]

24. A lot of things can happen during a stressful situation

Tunnel vision

Auditory exclusion

Sensory exclusion

It's why i don't carry out in public. I have neither the desire or see the need to become so highly trained to the point where I'd feel that there would be almost no chance of me making a bad decision with a gun in a stressful situation.

[Klaralven]

28. Women without the physical strength to subdue male suspects should not be patrol cops.

[USALiberal]

30. I would love to hear how you're going to decide that. Nt

[Klaralven]

31. Have them subdue a fit, 6' 2", 220 lb unarmed combat training officer.

[USALiberal]

32. Really really stupid idea! Nt

[Klaralven]

34. If police cannot use weapons, then they need to be highly proficient in martial arts.

They need to have better foot speed and better hand-to-hand combat skills than the suspects.

[USALiberal]

35. Ridiculous, you would never get enough people to meet that criteria.

[Kaleva]

38. That 6'2" 220 lb combat training officer should be fired

If any PO on the street can physically subdue him.