Posted on 02/12/2016 7:13:27 AM PST by DoodleDawg
Which is why he was taught his first day on the range not to put you finger on the trigger until you have acquired a target and made a conscious decision to shoot it.
He didn’t “panic and shoot into a dark stairwell”. He was using very poor tactics, including finger on the trigger. He got startled by something and fired unintentionally. Manslaughter is the appropriate charge.
Jeff Cooper's Four Rules of Gun Handling:
RULE 1: ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED
RULE 2: NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT PREPARED TO DESTROY
RULE 3: KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER TIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET
RULE 4: BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET
Cop violated rules 2, 3, and 4. If his finger had not been on the trigger, then a "flinch" would not have resulted in the gun firing.
I think this is bs. Policing in New York is so tough. This verdict basically says that it is better that the officer get himself killed so as not to offend anyone. The NY officers are going to be real motivated to help the public with this kind of crap.
Bingo.
How do you suppose the officer would have managed to get himself killed by an unarmed man?
He screwed up by ignoring several rules of firearm safety handling.
This occured shortly after a couple of other officers had been killed in a nearby building.
He was scared and poorly trained.
I assume he was in a very poorly lit hallway. That is what the reports said. As hard as it is to be an officer in New York this verdict is not good at all.
I defy any of the jurors to be in a similar situation. They could not hold a candle to this officer.
You don't think that it's appropriate that there be some sort of threat to the safety of the police officer or bystanders before shooting someone?
It's harder to be unarmed civilians apparently.
If any of the jurors, or even if you, were in a similar situation and you did the same thing as this officer did then I would expect the same results. Charged, tried, convicted, jailed.
he didn’t offend someone, he killed an innocent man. What should have been the judicial outcome. a medal?
“I defy any of the jurors to be in a similar situation. They could not hold a candle to this officer.”
I don’t know the jurors so I can’t make that judgement.
We do know the officer didn’t do all that well.
This was a bad one, yes. Vertical patrols of (usually) darkened stairwells in housing projects are among the most dangerous assignments for NYPD officers, but there was no justification for this shooting or for the officer conducting the patrol to do so with his finger on the trigger.
It was reckless, and that recklessness resulted in a death - textbook case of 2nd degree manslaughter under NY law.
BS. There was no risk to the officer's life or safety. This verdict says that an officer shouldn't handle his firearm in a reckless manner so as not to kill anyone unnecessarily.
“This verdict basically says that it is better that the officer get himself killed so as not to offend anyone.”
He did not offend someone, he KILLED someone. That is a slight difference.
Had he merely offended someone and was not following correct procedure he would have been at most sanctioned at work. But the killing part is sort of a big deal to most people.
The bullet ricocheted off of the stairwell wall and struck Gurley, who was on the seventh floor. Gurley, who was unarmed, died from a wound in his chest.<<
It was not an aimed shot, nor was the gun pointed at the victim. An innocent person is dead, but a little more complicated than others on this thread make it.
DK
People are way too quick to crucify police. Having read the reports it seems like the officer was not in the best of circumstances.
Ok. He killed someone. I would not jail him unless there was an intention to kill the guy. It seems like it was more of an accident than intentional.
This will only make the officers like in Baltimore where crime is up hundreds of percent. The citizens are telling police that they will be crucified at any excuse and the police in kind are saying they will do the minimum to police and the citizens can kill each other.
I don’t blame the police one bit.
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