Watching the video again I actually think she was saying “taser, taser, taser” because she was concerned Wright was able to grab the other officers taser during the incident and she acted in what she thought was prevention. Keep in mind that she’s acting basically as the senior officer coming into a situation where she’s trying to help an officer who obviously is incompetent in his training. He doesn’t take Wright to the back of the car. He cannot figure out handcuffs. He lets a 160 pound guy just get back in his car. The guy is out of his element. Then the senior office steps in and her job is really to correct the other officers more than anything since she can’t really do anything from the rear. She’s more or less the coach but she does have the ability to get a shot off if all goes to hell. She’s yelling Taser cause in the moment the other officer has failed and is at risk of his taser being grabbed and Wright having a weapon. Think about it... when have you ever heard a cop before they discharged their gun before say “gun, gun, gun??” Then think about what they say when it’s suspected that a suspect has a weapon??... usually it’s “Knife Kinife Knife” or “Gun... he’s got a gun!!” I don’t condone her actions in that case and in many ways I think it’s worse especially because they are lying about it to try and CYA. This is again a massive failure in policing and shows the incompetence that threatens the lives of many black men who are killed because around the country all the sudden forget basic police tactics when they pull them over. Or in Chauvins case they just blatantly murder you in broad daylight.
I haven't heard a statement from her but from what I've heard she does believe she is holding a taser and was giving a warning to the other LEO to get clear so they don't shocked. I'm sure her senior officers have questioned her so it seems strange to me that they would say she believed she was holding the taser if he actually had something different in mind. I was thinking that both her and Chauvin aren't rookies and in both cases were senior officers on scene. If even these officers cannot follow basic procedure and training they are a threat to everyone.
Yeah I mean the central point here either way is that it's clear that there is a systemic high level of incompetence in policing in America. Alot of them at the highest levels are just really bad at their jobs A. Then we can look at a case by case basis at intent of the officer while in action. There's a common theme though when a black man is involved. There's a convergence of incompetence with intent which is the most dangerous concoction. To my point though on the theory about the taser, I think that initially they thought a "she thought it was a taser" excuse was a better CYA response, and they just ran with it.... which turns out speaks even more to their high level of incompetence. The police chief that spoke out that day, and tainted the jury with an explanation of intent without any investigation was malpractice, and IMO could be considered a light case of obstruction of justice by trying to taint the jury or the American public. If they would have not commented right away to try and quickly CYA, they might have realized that telling the truth might actually benefit them more in the long run if she really was prepared to literally shoot him if he became a threat by grabbing a weapon of some sort in the car.
If he was being arrested he should not have been next to the car, I am sure they train just for that in every traffic stop I have been in if I get out the car they usually direct me to move away from the vehicle. I am not saying the guy was not wrong for trying to get away but it seems the officer was lax as well.
I don't see how you think pulling the weapon was justified when she was not even trying to pull that weapon. Her pulling out the gun by mistake creates an unreasonable risk.
That's possible but given what we know so far I don't think it's likely. We've seen several cases of LEO shooting fleeing suspects and I think if she really did intend to shoot Wright with her firearm the argument would've been that Wright with an outstanding warrant on firearms posession was a potential danger to the society and / or that he could've used the vehicle as a weapon. There's more info out there but at the moment I think that she intended to use the taser but instead used her firearm is the explanation that best fits the evidence. Just to be clear, I'm not saying that to exonerate Potter. What we know this seems a pretty clear case of negligent homicide which under MN law would be 2nd degree manslaughter.
Part of the argument against Noor in his conviction for 3rd degree murder in the killing of Justine Damond was that he had already drawn his firearm even before he was aware that Damond or anyone else was there. That showed that he was already prepared to use deadly force before establishing whether there might be a need to.
Sometimes the 26 year vet is the one that is most prone to mistakes because they have become complacent and don't take training as serious and She was a officer who probably had not been used to actual field work. It's amazing that she let that new officer try and handcuff him right there next to the driver side of the vehicle she was a **** training officer.
Does it matter if she intended to pull a gun or a taser? She was justified in pulling out either. The question should still be I think pulling out a gun when trying to arrest a person, who has a warrant for gun possession and running away from the cops, while he is resisting arrest and trying to run away from the cops is justified. Again, I don't think pulling the trigger is justified and she definitely negligent and a shitty cop, but I'm on the fence on if it's criminally negligent. I think I would need more information about the incident and history about her to make that determination. It's just not black and white for me like it is for some of you guys.
thats what i think. why would you shout "taser taser taser" before using it? as far as wright, sounds like he was a complete piece of garbage and should have already been in jail. he had committed armed robbery and assaulted his victim in her own home. he was out on $100k bond for that and had skipped his hearing. he had also gotten into more trouble while out on bail for that robbery. part of the condition of his bail was that he could not be in possession of a firearm, but he was caught with one after bonding out of jail. each incident should be judged on its own and in this case we have a guy who is known to use guns to commit crimes trying to escape police after he was detained, get in his vehicle and drive away. he was a danger to his community and in that moment might have been an imminent danger to someone else. maybe deadly force was warranted there? for the record, i think anyone who uses a gun to commit a crime should get the death penalty or at least spend the rest of their lives in jail. im a victim of armed robbery. had a gun to my head with dude threatening to kill me and his buddies who were robbing my house telling him over and over again to "waste him". thankfully he didnt, but even almost 25 years later i still have to live with the stress and anxiety from that incident. you never get over something like that, especially when the perpetrators never faced justice. if i could line all those f***ers up against a wall and shoot them all in the head i wouldnt think twice about doing it.
How can u be a field training officer who is actively training an officer if you’re not used to actual field work?
Wright could've been Hannibal Lecter but that doesn't excuse the actions of LEO. As been stated repeatedly it's not the job of arresting officers to determine guilt, mete out punishment and certainly not be executioners. In this case if we accept the explanation that Potter did mistake her firearm for her taser that is gross negligent. It doesn't matter what Wright did or might do for her to make that kind of basic of mistake makes her a danger to the public and even to her fellow officers.
Protocol. You yell taser when you taze. It's protocol.So other officers aren't zapped. You also don't shoot a gun instead of taze people, but whatever.
If the the actual person who pulled the gun did not think it was warranted because she wanted to pull a taser, how can you say you think it's warranted? If they were that worried he had a gun then it just adds another layer to incompetency of the interaction.
People that graduate to training usually don't actually do those jobs anymore because they are conducting training and have administrative duties. She probably had a lot of experience before but did not do a lot of field work anymore.
i think her claiming after the fact that she thought it was a taser hurts her case. if she had said that she knew she pulled her gun and was calling for another officer to use a taser when she was saying "taser taser taser" it would be understandable. she had drawn her gun on wright, but wanted someone else to use a taser before she resorted to lethal force. they knew that he was out on bail for armed robbery and that he was known to carry a gun so when he jumped back in his car they might have thought he was going for his gun. george floyd was subdued and not an immediate threat to anyone when he was killed. that was murder. to me this is is different.
