Posted on 04/13/2021 11:00:23 AM PDT by Navy Patriot
2020 Minnesota Statutes
609.205 MANSLAUGHTER IN THE SECOND DEGREE.
(1) by the person’s culpable negligence whereby the person creates an unreasonable risk, and consciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm to another;
“Culpable negligence” has been defined by Minnesota courts to mean acts that are grossly negligent combined with recklessness.
The term culpable negligence should be construed to mean a negligence of a higher degree than that which in civil cases is held to be gross negligence, and must be a negligence of a degree so gross as to be tantamount to a wanton disregard of, or utter indifference to, the safety of human life.
The term wanton implies a reckless disregard for the consequences of one’s behavior.
The only one consciously taking chances (actively committing a crime) was Duante Wright.
Officer Potter may have been very poorly trained; that’s on the department and the voters.
If you jump out into traffic and someone mistakes the gas pedal for the brake . . . . Don’t come crying to me.
I was exploring her mindset toward which weapon she had in her hand, and in the second part, her knowledge of the perp and his history which may (emphasized) give her reasonable Fear Of Life.
This officer had no business using either weapon and should not have been on the streets.
I agree, and it is her responsibility to be properly trained and prepared, but it is also due to the total failure of Woke, Politically Correct Marxist Democrat Policy and Law managing Police Departments and Police.
And Everything Else.
To his credit, her police chief tacitly acknowledged his failure of leadership and administration and has since resigned.
It’s also on the actor, or in this case the officer.
Gas vs brake is relatively an easy mistake to make.
Her Taser was carried on the opposite side of the body, looks almost completely different, feels different and takes different actions to make ready. This is not a relatively easy mistake to make.
To use your imperfect car analogy, her behavior was of someone who was parallel parking when someone jumped into traffic several cars down. Instead of continuing in reverse, she selected drive, took her foot off the brake (because cars have a shift interlock) and floored the throttle. People that do that go to jail, because it’s not just a single action and there were several points (not just one) at which they should have realized they did something wrong but kept on anyway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startle_response
Guilty of being Human, All Too Human.
The issue isn’t really about Officer Potter. The issue is the entire justice system. Telling police officers that if they make a mistake on the job they will face incarceration while combating those violating the law is a recipe for disaster. You might as well join Rashida Tlaib in her efforts to defund the police. Apparently you’re on the same team.
I hope I am over wary; but if I am not, there is, even now, something of ill-omen, amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice. This disposition is awfully fearful in any community; and that it now exists in ours, though grating to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation of truth, and an insult to our intelligence, to deny. Accounts of outrages committed by mobs, form the every-day news of the times. They have pervaded the country, from New England to Louisiana;
The question recurs, “how shall we fortify against it?” The answer is simple. Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor;—let every man remember that to violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the character of his own, and his children’s liberty. Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap—let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs;—let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation; and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars.
While ever a state of feeling, such as this, shall universally, or even, very generally prevail throughout the nation, vain will be every effort, and fruitless every attempt, to subvert our national freedom.
Er, no. If an officer mistakenly arrests the wrong person, but does so by the book, it shouldn’t merit charges. If an officer makes a mistake and accidentally hits a fire hydrant with their cruiser, it shouldn’t merit charges. But when they start making mistakes that take lives, they should be treated no differently than the citizens they’re supposed to serve. Same thing when they raid a house without a warrant. They should be charged and placed in front of a jury for the people to decide if it was excusable. The Babbitt incident in DC is the perfect example of why this should be - it’s being swept under the rug and will never have the people decide whether it was excusable.
Keep in mind too that sure, this guy was a dirtbag and few will miss him... but what about the next time, when some grandmother is terrified (rightly or wrongly), doesn’t follow instructions and this officer or one like her goes for their Taser and instead comes up with a Glock? What about when they’re told you’re a domestic terrorist and the officer means to incapacitate you, but shoots *you* instead?
Also, have you noticed our recent laws? They are not something to respect in many places. So called hate crimes and actual thought crimes now - how is one to respect that? Laws saying you can’t defend yourself, laws decriminalizing violent and property crimes....
When I so pressingly urge a strict observance of all the laws, let me not be understood as saying there are no bad laws, nor that grievances may not arise, for the redress of which, no legal provisions have been made.—I mean to say no such thing. But I do mean to say, that, although bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible, still while they continue in force, for the sake of example, they should be religiously observed. So also in unprovided cases. If such arise, let proper legal provisions be made for them with the least possible delay; but, till then, let them, if not too intolerable, be borne with.
There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law. In any case that arises, as for instance, the promulgation of abolitionism, one of two positions is necessarily true; that is, the thing is right within itself, and therefore deserves the protection of all law and all good citizens; or, it is wrong, and therefore proper to be prohibited by legal enactments; and in neither case, is the interposition of mob law, either necessary, justifiable, or excusable.
Battle Of Athens kind of puts the like to that last paragraph of yours.
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