These are the words veteran police officer Kim Potter after she accidentally shot and killed Daunte Wright. Kim Potter says that she mistook her firearm for a taser.
My question is why deadly force is being used at all? Daunte Wright was stopped for expired plates and was later found to have had a warrant for his arrest. We must ask our police if deadly force rather than pepper spray needed to be used to make the arrest. “The American Heart Association found that Tasers can cause ventricular arrhythmias, sudden cardiac arrest and death. At least 49 people died in 2018 in the US after being shocked by police with a Taser.” 1. “Taser international used to call its devices non-lethal but now calls its devises less-lethal.” 2.
To make matters worse officer Kim Potter confuses her firearm for a Taser and shoots Daunte Wright by mistake causing his death.
This isn’t just a mistake. This is a disaster! Nobody can make a mistake like this! If I fall asleep at the wheel and run over a pedestrian, I may not be drunk or stoned but I still get charged with vehicular homicide. I can’t say I’m sorry. A man is dead. This is the same thing. I know she is sorry. It’s too bad that sorry doesn’t get it. She must be charged with man-slaughter as she is responsible for killing a person.
I consider the career of law enforcement to be on the same level as a pilot, or a surgeon. In each case you can’t make a big mistake. The pilot that carried Kobe Bryant to his death was not instrument rated yet took off into a cloud. You only get to make that mistake once. I met a surgeon who removed a patient’s liver by mistake. The patient woke up from the surgery and the surgeon had to tell him that he was sorry but that without a liver only had eight hours to live. The surgeon ended up becoming a blackjack dealer. Law enforcement is that same kind of thing. It’s not for everyone and if you make a mistake that’s big enough it will be your last.
Finding that law enforcement officer that is an even- tempered person who can work well under high intense situations, with different races of people day after day, year after year and without any major mistakes is the challenge our police departments face.
- Wikipedia
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