Man Shot instead of Tased and a Quistion for LEOs

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rmagill

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Read the story here.

I do NOT intend this to be a bash against police. This is simply intended as an incident from which we can all hopefully learn that just so happens to involve LEOs.

How this relates to training: had the officers trianed well enough, they should have had muscle memory down for reaching, both for a gun, but also for a taser. So, how many of us that carry non-leathal force weapons practice drawing/deploying these like we do with our gun... time to practice some more myself.

However, this article raises a question, mostly for LEOs: How can a person aim a gun at someone and think it is a taser? My understanding is that a taser is aimed using laser sights which are activated by slightly squeezing the tirgger instead of any typical sights, and I am unaware of any laser sight for a handgun that is activated by squeezing the trigger (as I understand tasers are aimed). So, am I missing something here or did someone really mess this up?
 
It seems kind of funny that they the cops released the name of the person shot but not of the deputy that shot him. A guy in a tree talking to himself, I'm guessing mentally ill. You can bet that if he was high the cops would have said so, that way he would be demonized in the public eye.
From what the story said, he posed no threat. Lethal force would not be justified. They said the officer made a mistake. How do you mistake a pistol for a Tazer? Either this deputy is completely incompetent or is was not a mistake. If the officer did make a mistake do to incompetence then he should loose his commission and face the civil repercussions (and maybe low level criminal too). If it turns out to be deliberate then he should go to prison just like any of us would.
 
Jones was shot once in a leg after a sheriff's deputy accidentally discharged a handgun instead of a Taser.
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That can't be right. He could not the the difference between a metal frame pistol and a plastic Taser?:confused: I have carried both and I don't see how one could get confused. Oh wait.....IT MUST HAVE BEEN A GLOCK!!:D
 
Oh wait.....IT MUST HAVE BEEN A GLOCK!!
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Definatly Glock's fault here. This could be related to the Portland PD kB's.

I will dedicate the afternoon to see if there is a connection between this and the NY phase 3 failures. ;)
 
Stress. The officer was under stress and responded poorly. Most likely a lack of training but who knows.
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STRESS?!?!? There was an idiot in a tree, that’s not really a stressful situation.
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STRESS!! Please!! He's a cop, he has to deal with all kinds of people including those who are mentally ill. That he finds the situation a bother is just too darn bad for him. He gets paid to act in an appropriate manner and a guy in a tree is no threat. I'd like to see a record of his behavior toward mentally ill people, and if it is of callous disregard, drop the full weight of the law on him. I can't stand people who treat mentally ill people as if they are less than human.
They implication that a mentally ill person is an "IDIOT" is something out of the dark ages. Many mentally ill people are in fact very gifted:

Abraham Lincoln: The 16th president, one of the greatest Americans, suffered from severe, incapacitating and occasionally suicidal depressions, documented in six biographical volumes by Carl Sandburg, and in numerous articles, including, “Dark Veil of Depression” by Judy Folkenburg, National Institute of Mental Health, published in The Consumer.

Lionel Aldridge: A defensive end for Vince Lombardi’s legendary Green Bay Packers of the 1960’s, Aldridge played in two Super Bowls. In the 1970’s, he suffered from schizophrenia and was homeless for two years. He now gives inspirational talks on his battle against paranoid schizophrenia. His story has been told in numerous newspaper articles, copies of which are available from the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill.

Ludwig Beethoven: The brilliant musician experienced manic depression, documented in Beethoven by Schauffler.

Leo Tolstoy: Author of War and Peace, one of the world’s greatest novels, Tolstoy told of his own mental illness in My Confession. It is also discussed in Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr and Inner World of Madness by Beet Kaplan.

Edgar Allen Poe: The famous author known for his eerie, inventive works, clearly experienced mental illness as documented in The Haunted Palace: The Life of Edgar Allen Poe by Frances Winwar.

Winston Churchill: “Had he been a stable and equable man, he could never have inspired the nation. In 1940, when all odds were against Britain, a leader of sober judgement might well have concluded that we were finished,” wrote Anthony Storr in Churchill. Storr also discussed Churchill’s manic depression in his book The Dynamics of Creation.

Vivien Leigh: The actress who starred in” Gone With The Wind” suffered from mental illness, as documented in Vivien Leigh by Anne Edwards.

Sylvia Plath: The poet and novelist suffered mental illness as documented in A Memory of Sylvia Plath by Anne Edwards.

Patty Duke: The actress told of her bipolar illness in an autobiography, Call Me Anna, which became a television movie.

Charles Dickens: One of the greatest authors in the English language suffered from depression, as documented in Key To Genius by Hersham and Lieb, and Charles Dickens, Vols. I and II by Edgar Johnson.
 
I'm not buying it. The differences between a Taser, either the M26 or X26, and a real handgun are so great that it would be virtually impossible to confuse a handgun for a Taser. Shape, weight, size (on the X26), and the fact that both model Tasers require that a manual safety be disengaged to activate the laser sight and charge the weapon, are all profound differences.

I've used both model Tasers, including one use against a man armed with a knife, and I knew exactly what was in my hand at the time, so to me, the "stress" excuse doesn't cut it.

Based on what was reported, I'd say this officer is clearly in need of another line of employment.

As to the use of a Taser to subdue a man in a tree, I'm not sure that would be appropriate either, unless he was somehow secured to the tree by a harness, etc. A man hit by a Taser in that situation is going to fall, and if that fall is 15, 10, even 5 feet from a tree, and his muscles are locked up so that he can't try to control his landing, the chances are too high that he's going to sustain serious injury, or even death.
 
Yeah...everything Capt. Charlie just said. I really can't believe that a person would even try to relate a story like this...makes him sound even more incompetent.
 
Based on what was reported, I'd say this officer is clearly in need of another line of employment.
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Yeah, like washing dishes in his local prison chow hall. That badge does not make him better than anyone else, nor the judge of another persons value, nor above the law.
 
Something about this story reminds me of Mel Gibson in the beginning scenes of Lethal Weapon... You know? When he handcuffs himself to the guy and jumps off the building?

Oh, and uh... Don't let that cop watch that movie!

Thought it was a Taser! That's about the stupidest excuse I've ever heard! Yeah, right!
 
It's just plain stupid as to what that cop did. Tazing a person in a tree is not the smartest thing to do.
And to confuse his firearm with his tazer that is crazy.
This cop needs to be dismissed and get a job scrubbing bathroom floors for the rest of his life, what a dingleberry.
 
It's obviously not the preferred method to get a man out of a tree........but apparently it's effective. I wonder if the deputy would come over to my house the next time my neighbors cat gets stuck in a tree?
 
tasers are supposed to be carried on the opposite side from your weapon.

this has happened several times cause officers carry the taser forward orbehind the weapon on the belt or even dropped leg in the thigh.

this is bad cause like we all know in stress you revert to muscle memory and if your thinking taser you will or can draw your weapon and not even realise till its too late.

if worn properly on opposite side from the weapon there is no chance of accidentally drawing a weapon.
 
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