Didn't have to wait long for another Slip & Capture Error.
Luckily for this officer the detainee survived, this is going to happen again unless they redesign Tasers into a different shape to guns, with a push button instead of pull trigger action system & they are carried in an entirely different area from the duty belt.
Officers train roughly 80% of the time on guns & only 20% on Tasers.
But, if training was split 50/50, I'm not sure that would decrease the risk of weapon confusion.
Another cop who couldn't tell the difference between a gun and a Taser: Police force says Florida officer who shot and paralyzed a naked man thought he pulled out his taser - six weeks after Kim Potter was convicted of manslaughter for killing teen9 February 2022The police statement was released late Tuesday after civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump announced a lawsuit to force the release of surveillance video
The Ortiz lawsuit comes as Minneapolis police officer Kim Potter awaits sentencing for manslaughter after killing Daunte Wright during a traffic stop
She too said she thought she was firing her stun gun, not her handgun
The officer who shot Ortiz was put on desk duty pending a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation
Police say the Florida officer who shot and paralyzed a naked man thought he pulled out his Taser, mirroring former Minneapolis officer Kim Potter who was convicted of manslaughter for killing a teen last December.
On Monday civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump announced a lawsuit to force the release of surveillance video of the July 3 shooting that paralyzed 42-year-old Michael Ortiz.
The Ortiz lawsuit comes as former Minneapolis police officer Kim Potter awaits sentencing after she was found guilty of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in late December.
Hollywood, Florida police released a statement late Tuesday saying that the unidentified officer thought he was deploying his stun gun when he shot and seriously wounded Ortiz.
'While the investigation is still active and ongoing, an initial review suggests the officer intended to deploy his taser, but instead discharged his firearm,' the statement said.
According to police, Ortiz called 911 saying he had taken drugs and was suffering from chest pains. Paramedics responded first. Ortiz, naked and agitated, emerged from a sixth floor apartment and threatened to jump from a balcony.
Officers were sent to the scene to assist Hollywood Fire Rescue after Ortiz refused to open the door and began making 'delusional and suicidal statements,' the police statement said.
One officer deployed a Taser and put Ortiz in restraints, but he used his legs to resist as they tried to move him into an elevator to a waiting rescue vehicle, the statement said.
'As he continued to resist, an officer discharged his firearm, striking Mr. Ortiz once,' the police statement said.
The officer who shot Ortiz was put on desk duty pending a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation, police said.
But Crump offered a different account what what took place.
He said last summer Ortiz called 911 to report his dog missing, then took a shower and was wearing a towel when police showed up at his door.
Crump also said that video taken from a nearby apartment building recorded some of what happened and police need to release it.
'You must release the video that shows us why you shot a naked man, face down and paralyzed him,' Crump told CBS-4.
'He was having a crisis; he needed a helping hand. He didn't need a bullet in his spine,' Crump said on Monday.
'Eight months of Michael every day trying to figure out why did the police officer shoot him in the back?' Crump added. 'Why is he paralyzed for life? Why does he have over $1.4 million in medical bills that continue to rise every day? Why would the Hollywood Police Department continue to deny them the answers that they deserve? The truth that they deserve?'
Sitting in a wheelchair next to Crump at Monday's press conference, Ortiz had a message for the police officer, simply asking: 'Why? Why did you have the need to shoot me?'
Police said the FDLE's findings will be submitted to the state attorney's office for review, and then the Hollywood Police internal affairs unit will investigate.
'We empathize with Mr. Ortiz and his family and know they have many questions about that evening,' police said. 'Our hope is that once the investigation is complete, we will be able to meet with them and provide any additional information they are seeking.'
The police statement confirmed that the department preserved all evidence and records of the case in response to a July 12 request by the law firm Morgan and Morgan on behalf of Ortiz's family. The law firm also indicated they mailed a public records request to the general police headquarters address, bypassing a records request on the agency's online web portal.
Hollywood police said there is no record of the letter being received by the records division, and the law firm told police they are no longer representing Ortiz. The police statement said the department received no other public records requests about the shooting until Monday, the day Crump announced the lawsuit.
Potter, who is white, shot and killed the 20-year-old Wright during an April 11 traffic stop in Brooklyn Center as she and other officers were trying to arrest him on an outstanding warrant for a weapons possession charge.
Potter claimed that she confused her handgun for her Taser when she shot and killed Wright in April 2020. During her trial, she tearfully testified that she 'didn't want to hurt anybody.'
Wright's shooting happened at a time of high tension in the area, with Chauvin standing trial in nearby Minneapolis for Floyd’s murder.
Jurors saw video of the shooting from police body cameras and dashcams. As Wright pulled away while another officer attempted to handcuff him, Potter repeatedly said she would tase him, but instead shot him once in his chest with her gun, which was in her hand.
'(Expletive)! I just shot him. ... I grabbed the wrong [expletive] gun,' Potter said on video shown to the jury. Moments later, she said: 'I’m going to go to prison.'
During her sometimes tearful testimony, Potter told jurors that she was 'sorry it happened.' She said the traffic stop “just went chaotic.'
The maximum prison sentence for first-degree manslaughter is 15 years. Minnesota law sentences defendants only on their most serious conviction when multiple counts involve the same act and the same victim, and state guidelines call for about seven years on that charge.
Prosecutors have said they would seek to prove aggravating factors that merit what’s called an upward departure from sentencing guidelines. In Potter’s case, they alleged that her actions were a danger to others, including her fellow officers, to Wright’s passenger and to the couple whose car was struck by Wright’s after the shooting. They also alleged she abused her authority as a police officer.
Potter’s attorneys argued that she made a tragic mistake, but that she also would have been justified in using deadly force because of the possibility that Potter’s fellow officer, then-Sgt. Mychal Johnson, was at risk of being dragged if Wright had driven away from the traffic stop.
Potter testified that she decided to act after seeing a look of fear on Johnson’s face. But Eldridge pointed out to jurors that for much of the interaction, Potter was behind a third officer she was training and that Johnson didn’t come into her camera’s view until after the shot was fired — and then it showed the top of his head as he backed away.
“Sgt. Johnson was clearly not afraid of being dragged,” Eldridge said. “He never said he was scared. He didn’t say it then, and he didn’t testify to it in court.”
Eldridge also noted an inconsistency in Potter’s testimony, saying that when she gave an interview to a psychologist working for the defense team, she told him she didn’t know why she used her Taser. Potter told the jury she didn’t recall saying that.
First-degree manslaughter required prosecutors to prove that Potter caused Wright’s death while committing a misdemeanor — in her case, the reckless handling of a firearm. The second-degree charge required them to prove that she caused Wright’s death by “culpable negligence.”
Crump, who also represented Wright's family, likened Potter's conviction to those of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who murdered black man George Floyd in May 2020, and the three white men from Georgia who were found guilty this month of gunning down Ahmaud Arbery as he was running away.
Crump said Potter's verdict was as 'profound' as the others, arguing that '2021 [is] a historical year in our quest for racial justice in America.... it really is about not just a victory for accountability for Daunte Wright's family, but it is a victory for America in our quest for equal justice under the law.'
Potter, 49, faces about seven years in prison under the state’s sentencing guidelines, but prosecutors said they would seek a longer term.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10494395/Police-Officer-thought-handgun-stun-gun-shooting.html
