Cop Shoot Self; Solution = Tighter Gun Laws

[CEF1959]

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/piecing-together-a-revolvers-fuzzy-history/

This is actually a pretty interesting story about the history of firearms in NYC. But the subtext seems to be that we need tighter paperwork requirements so all guns can be traced and "illegal" guns turned into wire clothes hangers.

But none of this would have made the news had this careless cop not dropped the gun and shot himself. Dummy.

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[Scott]

The cop did not shoot himself:

"where it fell from the waistband of a man under arrest and discharged a bullet that hit Police Officer Rodney Lewis."

 

[CEF1959]

The cop did not shoot himself:

"where it fell from the waistband of a man under arrest and discharged a bullet that hit Police Officer Rodney Lewis."

Keep reading. It didn't just fall from the guy's waistband. One of the cops was removing the gun from the guy's waistband and the cop dropped it, causing the gun to discharge.

But I think you're right. The cop didn't shoot himself, his stupid careless partner shot him:

"As Officer Lewis’s partner tried to remove the gun from Mr. Santana’s waistband, he dropped it, according to the Queens district attorney. The revolver hit the ground and discharged a bullet that lodged in Officer Lewis’s chest near the armpit."

 

[MountainBear]

Be careful with comments like that. Unless you've ever tried to handcuff or search an individual who is being less than cooperative. I read the entire story and there was not enough information surrounding the "dropping" of the gun to assign blame to the officers. What if the suspect suddenly twisted away while the officer was removing the gun. What if he tried to bolt away? Be very careful about assigning blame based on a newspaper article. They will never have all the detail you need to make an informed opinion.

 

[BUZO71]

Agreed with MB... The title is not correct either...

 

[USMC1911]

Be careful with comments like that. Unless you've ever tried to handcuff or search an individual who is being less than cooperative. I read the entire story and there was not enough information surrounding the "dropping" of the gun to assign blame to the officers. What if the suspect suddenly twisted away while the officer was removing the gun. What if he tried to bolt away? Be very careful about assigning blame based on a newspaper article. They will never have all the detail you need to make an informed opinion.

Using the same logic you could say the partner dropped it intentionaly.

 

[CEF1959]

Be careful with comments like that. Unless you've ever tried to handcuff or search an individual who is being less than cooperative. I read the entire story and there was not enough information surrounding the "dropping" of the gun to assign blame to the officers. What if the suspect suddenly twisted away while the officer was removing the gun. What if he tried to bolt away? Be very careful about assigning blame based on a newspaper article. They will never have all the detail you need to make an informed opinion.

I disagree.

These guys aren't Curly, Moe and Larry, at least according to them. They tell us they are highly trained professionals who should have firearms we shouldn't have. If that's the case, and they can't frisk a guy without shooting their partner, they aren't competent. End of story.

It'd be nice every once in a while for a cop to confess to having totally screwed up a situation. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be in the cop mentality. They get caught framing innocent drivers, beating the crap out of people, lying on the witness stand to support a conviction, falsifying evidence, sodomizing people in custody, or just botching a situation that is an understandable screwup, but they don't ever seem to come clean. Instead, we get cop swagger, some internal investigation, opposed by some cop union, which never results in a cop apology or candid admission of wrongdoing. How can we respect these people?

And I don't buy the line, "Oh gee, we just need to understand the stresses of police life better." It's a line sold by a lot of cops and people close to them, but it really only serves to mask a lot of incompetence, power-hunger, and dishonesty.