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maxlib wrote:

Excaliber wrote:That's one of the reasons even the studios don't trust these guys with live rounds.

But even blanks up close can be deadly and at the very least cause some injury. Remember the dumb actor in the eighties, John Eric hexum or something like that? Fooling around with a .44 mag acting like he was going to shoot himself in the head? He shot and killed himself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon-Erik_Hexum" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The high pressure gas discharge is very destructive to tissue close up and most certainly can be deadly. I've seen some very serious injuries from them.

The reason the movie folks use them anyway despite their actors' and actresses' ignorance of safe weapon handling is that cap guns and water pistols just don't resonate quite the same with the audience.

philip964 wrote:You know it nice to see some honesty for once. The officer admitted he made a mistake. It happens. I would much rather see this than coming up with a lame reason the officer shot the suspect.

I have started looking at DVD covers featuring pistols recently to see if the finger is pointed or not. Most "action hero's" fingers are on the trigger, and they have their gun pointed down at their co-stars leg or something.

That's one of the reasons even the studios don't trust these guys with live rounds.

MojoTexas wrote:So are LEOs trained to not put their finger on the trigger until they're ready to shoot? I know it's what us civilians are trained to do...but all the cops I see on television always have their fingers on the trigger when they draw on the bad guys.

(I'm half-joking and half-serious...I'm genuinely curious about what is considered the "norm" in law-enforcement...)

The standard for competent professionals in law enforcement or military is finger outside the trigger guard until the decision to fire has been made.

Forget what you see on TV - those are actors, not pros.

Look at pics and videos of any SWAT team, most police operations, troops in Afghanistan, etc. - you'll see fingers off triggers unless they're shooting.

Then watch pics of gangbangers, street criminals, Somali pirates, etc. - you'll see fingers inside the trigger guards when they're not yet ready to shoot. They've got the ND frequency to prove it's not something you want to try at home.

ELB wrote:Example of "accidently" (almost) shooting the suspect and/or partner:

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IIRC correctly, she "only" hit the ground, but it looks like it hit right beside the suspect's head.


In the case referenced by the OP, it seems unlikely this will be a "good shoot" if the police brass are talking about "accidents" right out of the gate...

This may very well be a case of startle response with the marked unit with sirens going full blast pulling up on her from behind. Of course it wouldn't cause any damage if the finger wasn't inside the trigger guard in the first place.

Hoi Polloi wrote:How does a police officer "accidentally" draw his weapon and pull the trigger of a gun and shoot a guy he was aiming at in the chest?

Mistakenly, I can understand. But accidentally?

Drawing and pointing are not accidental.

However, pressing the trigger accidentally (obviously preventable by following Rule 3) is easy!

If your finger is already on the trigger, parasympathetic contraction (the hardwired reflex that causes one hand to clench when the other one does), as during a struggle or trying to catch onto something during a fall, or being suddenly knocked off balance, will do it.

So will the startle response in reaction to a sudden loud and unexpected noise or other startling event. (Remember when your kid friend jumped out from behind something to scare you? Your hands clenched when that happened).

There are several other common scenarios as well. All of these underlie the reason for keeping your finger off the trigger until you've decided to fire.

Lots of prior tragedies where suspects or other officers were shot unintentionally have happened before this one. These incidents used to be much more common before agencies started training their troops to keep the finger out of the trigger guard.