Another idiot cops shoots a black person

[interdictor.livejournal.com]

Comments

[zadok-allen.livejournal.com]

Bad way to try to re-holster a Glock. I know someone who has to report to the range when he gets off sick leave!

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

Maybe guns really are a lot of the problem, considering human fallibility.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Ya think?

Nah, let's flood our population of infallible geniuses with lethal machines and see what happens.

[planet-x-zero.livejournal.com]

I wonder why he felt the need to do all this in an elevator while carrying a stack of boxes, in front of the woman.

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if he was showing off, that didn't work too well for him, did it?

[planet-x-zero.livejournal.com]

Just read up a little more on the story. That was his wife in the elevator; that sort of changes things.

I think I hear The Forensic Files theme song.

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I guess he was just feeling comfortably at home, but it doesn't inspire one's confidence in the police.

[interdictor.livejournal.com]

That woman is his wife, too.

[planet-x-zero.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I read that a bit later. Also, the bullet ricocheted into his stomach, not a direct shot. Now I'm thinking botched "accidental" murder attempt, large life insurance policy taken out on his wife just a few weeks ago, etc. But he screwed up calculating the angles. Cops don't know shit about trigonometry.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Also, the bullet ricocheted into his stomach

It's a very unfortunate accident, but he was lucky it was only a ricochet, since hitting the side of the elevator likely took some of speed and force out of the bullet before it hit him, versus had he managed to shoot himself directly in the gut (that's hard to imagine, but I guess it's possible)

[planet-x-zero.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he was lucky, although a ricochet to the head could still be bad news. Conspiracy theories aside, he's especially lucky he didn't hit his wife. It makes you think how one moment of inattention could be so dangerous. Still, something about his behavior seems especially sloppy. And how come the safety wasn't on?

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he was lucky, although a ricochet to the head could still be bad news.

Yeah, excellent point. I hadn't considered that :-(

He was shot Saturday and left the hospital on Monday morning.

[interdictor.livejournal.com]

Robocop was awesome at trig and ricochet shots!

[planet-x-zero.livejournal.com]

Haha. The Robocop Exception. Well played, sir. Well played.

[deaduality.livejournal.com]

would be better if he got a penis

[dexeron.livejournal.com]

I disagree with the title of the video. This is not an accidental shooting. It is a negligent one.

[atlantacharmer2.livejournal.com]

I agree with you.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

[atlantacharmer2.livejournal.com]

At least he shot himself and not an innocent by stander.

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

this time....

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Yeah. She just got the beautiful experience. Making memories....

[cinnamontoast.livejournal.com]

This guy is a 25-year veteran of the police force. That deserves at least a little respect. I seriously doubt he is an idiot. Accidents occasionally happen to normal, careful, smart people.

From the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/01/06/off-duty-kentucky-cop-accidentally-shoots-himself-in-the-stomach-during-dinner-date-with-wife/):
Police said Jouett was attempting to adjust his belt when his weapon fired in its holster, but it’s unclear whether he had the safety on, according to WCPO.

If I was a cop right now, I wouldn't turn off my safety until I was home either.

[dexeron.livejournal.com]

He deserves some respect, certainly more than interdictor's calling him an "idiot cop." The guy's not an idiot, but the video is a good reminder that even 25 year veterans can get complacent, and all it takes is one incident to be potentially life-threatening.

That's my take-home lesson from this. I won't call it an accident. It's not. It's a mistake. Guns don't fire themselves (except in rare cases of mechanical defect.) That still doesn't make him an idiot, and he didn't deserve to get shot. I'm very happy that the consequences of his mistake were not more severe, but we can still learn from it. This kind of incident is completely preventable with proper firearm handling. While I obviously cannot know all of the details here from just a video, the trigger still has to be pulled for a gun like this to fire. We can see him holding packages in his other hand. We can see him engaged in a conversation, and trying to do things that should have required his full attention. The result was that he either forgot his trigger discipline for a moment, or the trigger somehow got snagged on something (and again, that's likely from not paying attention.) So we can learn that we should always respect firearms, and even when we have years of experience, that's when we have to be most vigilant, because that's when we're most likely to get complacent about our safety rules. We have to always follow those rules.

(This is also why so many motorcycle fatalities happen to riders who've ridden for a few years and feel more "comfortable," think they can handle it, and take risks they should know better than to take.)

Regarding safeties, engaging the safety is a vital part of safe handling procedure. It ought to take but a moment to disengage the safety on most pistols, especially for a 25 year veteran cop who would, theoretically, have had hundreds of hours of practice time on the range with his service weapon. Having the safety on would not prevent him from being able to quickly respond to any life threatening situation that might arise.

That said, another part of safe procedure is to not trust in a safety, or use it as an excuse to disregard the usual gun safety rules. Safety mechanisms can, and do, fail. I'd still argue that one still ought to always leave the safety on (and we're only assuming he didn't - maybe he did!) but it's true that some safeties are useless, and may not have prevented this incident anyway.

[cinnamontoast.livejournal.com]

even 25 year veterans can get complacent, and all it takes is one incident to be potentially life-threatening

That is an excellent point. We all get complacent about various things. But, before we make a judgement, the facts should be known. It could have been a malfunction of the weapon. No matter, he is alive and that's a good thing.

I'm just tired of the stereotyping. People (including writers in the mainstream media!) are insinuating that he was trying to kill his wife because some other cop killed his wife a couple of days ago. It's a vile and unfair accusation that's based on ridiculous stereotypes, not facts.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

His first two mistakes were 1.) upholstering the weapon and 2.) dividing his attention between his boxes and the weapon. This was someone who knew better. He also did this around his wife. So, I say it was a triple idiotic move. Does that invalidate his good non-idiotic work on the force? No, but he is clearly not immune to idiocy. Perhaps its just semantics thing.

I'm not sure that weapon has a traditional safety, its semi auto.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

I seriously doubt he is an idiot.

I know he is sometimes an idiot and we have video to demonstrate one of those times.

Thing is, everyone is sometimes, relatively. Which is why guns are dangerous things to have around general population.


I wouldn't turn off my safety until I was home either.

Your finger is the safety (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktbtsrkbh3w).

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

when his weapon fired in its holster

That is not what the video shows. He weapon discharged in his hand (0:26) while he was attempting to re holster it. His drew his weapon from his holster (0:20) moments before, unwisely IMO.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

It looks like he discovered how corner reflectors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corner_reflector) work. That he accidentally fired in an elevator was the real problem, after all.