Wait & see

Lots of news stories, comments on the interwebs and all that about the police shooting of an individual in the SF Bay area by the BART police, with concurrent video. Accusations & excuses back & forth, etc etc.

I haven't weighed in much, either on here or at work, due to a lack of facts (I know, waiting for all the facts is an anathema online, but I'm trying it...) Personally, I would like to wait to pass judgment until we have more information released from both tape and subjects involved.

The one interesting "allegation" I have heard made is that the officer might have been thinking he was drawing his TASER and pulled a firearm by mistake. Now, I can weigh in on this one as a certified TASER instructor. Our training for agencies and individuals is that the TASER be worn opposite the firearm for just this reason - it is not located in the same spot, the draw is different, everything involved should be a conscious knowledge of which tool you are using.

I can't say how BART carries their TASERs, having found no reliable pictures or information at this point, and not willing to spend hours on the Google-fu today on it. However, I am willing to bet they follow this procedure and so I'm not sure as to the validity of this reason - but we will wait and see.

Makes me glad yet again that my most recent incident was clearly justified and cleared both internally and publically very quickly.

Unfortunately, the usual suspects have already passed judgement; and the usual miscreants are already using this as an excuse to riot, complain and wreak havoc throughout the Bay area. Along with the fact the normal "Blame Booosh, and none of this will ever happen again in 12 days" crowd trumpting about...