3 ms·

Seems like justice would be a manslaughter conviction plus the loss of her job due to the felony and/or a determination that she doesn't have the judgement to w

Seems like justice would be a manslaughter conviction plus the loss of her job due to the felony and/or a determination that she doesn't have the judgement to wield a gun. Along with whatever recompense to the family that a civil judgement can extract from her.

gruez 8y ago
what will happen, however is that the officer will get 3 months "paid leave" (vacation) while her buddies perform an "internal investigation" that will find she did nothing wrong. or maybe they'll find wrongdoing but she gets a slap on the wrist like a demotion. edit: his -> her
- busterarm 8y ago
  her buddies.
- GW150914 8y ago
  I think, assuming this was a real mistake, that she’ll lose her job completely, but I agree there is very little chance of a conviction or even indictment. Having said that however, it may come to light that this was not a mistake, in which case nothing is off the table.
  - HarryHirsch 8y ago
    Back then we had conscription, and all the conscripts had to stand guard duty every so often. Every single person was glad to hand in the weapon and ammunition the next morning, because "when you stand guard you have one leg in prison". The level of discipling with US police is truly unimaginably low.
- SeanAnderson 8y ago
  To be clear, the officer described in the article was female. Your response hints at some pretty strong conclusions without having the faintest idea of the situation. That's pretty disturbing! I'm not saying there aren't systemic issues with the U.S. police system, but you're not helping by making brash assumptions.
  - noxToken 8y ago
    Pronouns aside, that's business as usual here in the US. A cop screws up, the cop goes on paid leave, IA finds no misconduct, and the world keeps spinning. A situation that turns out different is out of the ordinary.
- bachmeier 8y ago
  From my reading of the article, the shooting was not related to her job. Therefore it should be investigated the same as any other homicide where someone breaks into a house and shoots the person that lives there.
  - ProAm 8y ago
    Should be, but won't
  - Someguywhatever 8y ago
    >Therefore it should be investigated the same as any other homicide Yes, this is the correct approach. She just walked into some guys apartment and killed him. Also this incident is a strong argument for locking your door all the time. If this fellow had his door locked she wouldn't have been able to enter and would have clued into the fact that it wasn't her place. (not blaming the fellow BTW, just stating something that in hindsight would have saved him)
  - onetimemanytime 8y ago
    Therefore it should be investigated the same as any other homicide where someone breaks into a house and shoots the person that lives there. Homicide...a person was killed but the charge is based on the killer's intentions. Even killing a person that shot you is homicide, though a justifiable one. From the article looks like a tragic mistake was made, so manslaughter. (Edit: Unless we learn that the dead person and the killer had a history of fights, romance or whatever)
moate 8y ago
Once more facts come out we'll see, but this could be a Murder 2. IANAL, and obviously the manslaughter is easier, but walking into someone else's house and then shooting them because you were confused that you shouldn't be there seems like it could go either way. The cop didn't PLAN on murdering someone, but this wasn't really an accident/emotional distress thing either. This might be a rare situation where being a cop could work against the person. She's supposed to know how/when to wield deadly force, and not lose her cool.
- onemoresoop 8y ago
  Suspect (black) enters house next door where he kills the owner thinking it's his own house. What happens to suspect? Is he/she taken seriously that it was in accident? But maybe this was an accident, im sure the cop who did this screwed their life up, they might have some remorse too for killing an innocent neighboor. However, i see here 2 problems: (1) the justice for cops is different that the justice for the rest of the world (2) the police force is taught to use force and think later. Almost all these cases never end up with injured suspect, shot in the leg or something like that. It's allways shoot to kill. This is a HUGE problem
  - natecavanaugh 8y ago
    > Almost all these cases never end up with injured suspect, shot in the leg or something like that. Having had many friends who are cops, they're not trained that way. You aim at the largest mass available, period. They're not trained to shoot legs or the gun out of someone's hands like the movies. The first motivation is protection via incapacitation. I do think a set up like Adam Corrolla's shotgun recipe would work for cops off duty: First round is a blank, second rubber, third a salt pellet round, and lethal rounds after that. If you can't scare or stop them with multiple levels of non lethal shots, save your life. This entire incident is just so sad in how pointless it was.

gruez 8y ago

what will happen, however is that the officer will get 3 months "paid leave" (vacation) while her buddies perform an "internal investigation" that will find she did nothing wrong. or maybe they'll find wrongdoing but she gets a slap on the wrist like a demotion. edit: his -> her

busterarm 8y ago
her buddies.
GW150914 8y ago
I think, assuming this was a real mistake, that she’ll lose her job completely, but I agree there is very little chance of a conviction or even indictment. Having said that however, it may come to light that this was not a mistake, in which case nothing is off the table.
- HarryHirsch 8y ago
  Back then we had conscription, and all the conscripts had to stand guard duty every so often. Every single person was glad to hand in the weapon and ammunition the next morning, because "when you stand guard you have one leg in prison". The level of discipling with US police is truly unimaginably low.
SeanAnderson 8y ago
To be clear, the officer described in the article was female. Your response hints at some pretty strong conclusions without having the faintest idea of the situation. That's pretty disturbing! I'm not saying there aren't systemic issues with the U.S. police system, but you're not helping by making brash assumptions.
- noxToken 8y ago
  Pronouns aside, that's business as usual here in the US. A cop screws up, the cop goes on paid leave, IA finds no misconduct, and the world keeps spinning. A situation that turns out different is out of the ordinary.
bachmeier 8y ago
From my reading of the article, the shooting was not related to her job. Therefore it should be investigated the same as any other homicide where someone breaks into a house and shoots the person that lives there.
- ProAm 8y ago
  Should be, but won't
- Someguywhatever 8y ago
  >Therefore it should be investigated the same as any other homicide Yes, this is the correct approach. She just walked into some guys apartment and killed him. Also this incident is a strong argument for locking your door all the time. If this fellow had his door locked she wouldn't have been able to enter and would have clued into the fact that it wasn't her place. (not blaming the fellow BTW, just stating something that in hindsight would have saved him)
- onetimemanytime 8y ago
  Therefore it should be investigated the same as any other homicide where someone breaks into a house and shoots the person that lives there. Homicide...a person was killed but the charge is based on the killer's intentions. Even killing a person that shot you is homicide, though a justifiable one. From the article looks like a tragic mistake was made, so manslaughter. (Edit: Unless we learn that the dead person and the killer had a history of fights, romance or whatever)

moate 8y ago

Once more facts come out we'll see, but this could be a Murder 2. IANAL, and obviously the manslaughter is easier, but walking into someone else's house and then shooting them because you were confused that you shouldn't be there seems like it could go either way. The cop didn't PLAN on murdering someone, but this wasn't really an accident/emotional distress thing either. This might be a rare situation where being a cop could work against the person. She's supposed to know how/when to wield deadly force, and not lose her cool.

onemoresoop 8y ago
Suspect (black) enters house next door where he kills the owner thinking it's his own house. What happens to suspect? Is he/she taken seriously that it was in accident? But maybe this was an accident, im sure the cop who did this screwed their life up, they might have some remorse too for killing an innocent neighboor. However, i see here 2 problems: (1) the justice for cops is different that the justice for the rest of the world (2) the police force is taught to use force and think later. Almost all these cases never end up with injured suspect, shot in the leg or something like that. It's allways shoot to kill. This is a HUGE problem
- natecavanaugh 8y ago
  > Almost all these cases never end up with injured suspect, shot in the leg or something like that. Having had many friends who are cops, they're not trained that way. You aim at the largest mass available, period. They're not trained to shoot legs or the gun out of someone's hands like the movies. The first motivation is protection via incapacitation. I do think a set up like Adam Corrolla's shotgun recipe would work for cops off duty: First round is a blank, second rubber, third a salt pellet round, and lethal rounds after that. If you can't scare or stop them with multiple levels of non lethal shots, save your life. This entire incident is just so sad in how pointless it was.