If society holds the police to a standard that declares that making an honest mistake, that results in the death of a criminal resisting arrest… will result in the imprisonment and destruction of that cop’s life… the unintended consequence will result in a much less safe society.

A case of the cure being far worse than the disease.

Nor is a wrongful death civil suit a cure either. Since it sends the message to cops that an honest mistake carries financial ruin.

Cops often must make split second decisions, as was the case here, in which their very lives are at stake and this standard declares that if they ever make an honest mistake, their career and even life is over. What sane person would take that risk for an increasingly thankless job? Again, only sociopaths will take it.

I do think Rusty has an interesting point about the law. That same statute was used against Chauvin, I think excessively and wrongly.

Actually, if you “accidentally reverse” as a private citizen, you might indeed get off or you might be guilty of something, but it’s not a foregone conclusion that you’d be guilty of manslaughter.

And actually, police officers do function under different laws and rules in certain cirxumstances. That is probably true in most civilized countries, if the officer is acting in his or her role as an officer.

Also, in Minnesota a person has to have a special permit to open carry. Obviously, police officers do so all the time, and have tasers as a rule as well that are carried openly. The history of how the law deals with situations such as Kim Potter’s, in which an officer mistakes a gun for a taser, is that they are not usually charged criminally.

IMO, a conviction of involuntary manslaughter is wildly inappropriate and an example of cruel and unusual punishment.

It’s a mistake to punish people for honest mistakes. Especially so with Police officers. As the precedent it establishes will in time result in a much less professional force because it holds human beings to an impossible to meet standard that must be met in every circumstance. They will know that, in today’s climate, if it even appears that they’ve failed to meet perfection they face their lives being destroyed. What sane person would risk it?

When on duty, it will place a huge level of added stress to every minute of every day. Mark my words, implement that standard and you’ll end up with a force composed of sociopaths because only those utterly disconnected from emotion will be able to handle that level of pressure.

And Jacob Blake was not under control. Fought off seven cops,.

I would be fine with involuntary manslaughter or something but I just think that is way too big a mistake to make.

And I don’t call that an accident it was a mistake made in a stressful situation that Wright bears most of the blame for but also something that police officers receive training for and if she can’t react correctly then she should be punished in some way.

The only thing Officer Porter is guilty of is being a human being.

Duante Wright bears sole responsibility for his death.

That Officer Porter yelled out “taser, taser, taser!” three times demonstrates it to be an accident. One precipitated by Duante Wright’s resisting of arrest.

The world is better off with one less criminal who resists arrest and who, in doing so places civilization’s guardians at even greater risk.

Any society that demands accident free performance in deadly situations from its police forces is a society that will find itself bereft of police forces worth having.