[PugetSoundSoldier]

OK, you put me prone, face down on the ground, and use a knee to keep me from reaching into my waistband and pulling my pistol. Try it, please. No handcuffs were on at this point.

Police training is to do a quick sweep for obvious weapons, then secure the suspect, THEN do a complete search for weapons. The securing is the most dangerous part as it requires the officer to use at least one hand to access their cuffs, and their attention is necessarily divided. This is when the SHTF and most hand-to-hand incidents occur.

This is still a bad shooting, and I think the officer should be charged with negligent homicide (not murder). An officer that uses the wrong tool, even mistakenly, must be held responsible for that error as it is their JOB to use the appropriate tool. But his desire to use his TASER (as claimed) was understandable given the timing of the arrest and the actions of the suspect.

[RedMonqey]

OK, you put me prone, face down on the ground, and use a knee to keep me from reaching into my waistband and pulling my pistol.

I would be more understanding of this offivers action's if this was an lone peace officer pulling over a carload of aggressively uncooperating yahoos on a deserted highway with help miles away.

That wasn't the case here. More or less, they were cooperating. The situation was under control. He had the suspects buddies down and handcuffed. Any resistance could(and should) have been resolved by help from his fellow cops.

The officer drew a weapon he didn't know what he had. And used it. A man is dead.

How would his fellow lawmen and the courts handle this situation if it was an civilian? (Officer I didn't know it was loaded)

Not murder One, I agreed. But at least manslaughter....

[brytlea]

Thank you for a well reasoned post.