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A Plano police spokesman said Friday that an unarmed man was accidentally shot and killed by an undercover police officer during a drug sting.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... ac9fe.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Man-shot ... 47034.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

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?

A person can pull a gun, put his finger on the trigger, point it at someone and "unitentionally" pull the trigger. That could be called an "accident". Before I get flamed - I know the four rules and people some will say it's a negligent rather than accidental discharge. In plain English, the article implies the officer he didn't intentially shoot the man.

See definition 2a: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accident" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Both articles are very vague on details, So a bit early to give opinion.

suthdj wrote:Both articles are very vague on details, So a bit early to give opinion.

Extremely vague. At this point anything is a possibility.

He could have accidentally shot Alcala if he was intentionally shooting at someone or something else and the bullet deflected and struck Alcala. Like a famous magic bullet in that part of Texas.

Ameer wrote:He could have accidentally shot Alcala if he was intentionally shooting at someone or something else and the bullet deflected and struck Alcala. Like a famous magic bullet in that part of Texas.

HEY !! There was a magic bullet !!!!

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.

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

[youtube][/youtube]

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...

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

[youtube][/youtube]

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...

interstingly the video is labled Las Vegas, Nevada. Maybe she was practicing the shoot 'em while they're down just to be sure. You never know when you'll get a call to Costco. Seriously, I would hope the officer received a severe reprimand and additional training. Why she would have a finger on the trigger when the actor is clearly subdued is beyond me.

The Las Vegas video is about 10 years old. The officer with the negligent discharge resigned the same day.

Crossfire wrote:The Las Vegas video is about 10 years old. The officer with the negligent discharge resigned the same day.

even better

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

[youtube][/youtube]

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.

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...)

Excaliber wrote:

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

[youtube][/youtube]

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.

If I remember correctly, she touched off another round while holstering. If I'm correct, I bet she was so flustered with the first round that she forgot to remove her finger from the trigger before holstering. As silly as it seems, that too has been the cause of a number of AD's.

Chas.