The
current murder trial of Amber Guyger is drawing added attention to cases where police
officers accidentally shoot someone. You may recall that she is a former Dallas
police officer who while off duty accidentally walked into a neighbor’s
apartment, thinking it was her own, and shot unarmed Botham Jean. You can read
more about her trial and case in numerous recent articles including the ones
linked to in this sentence on the websites of The Dallas Morning News[1],
the Fort
Worth Star-Telegram[2];
CNN[3],
and NPR.[4]
The
fact that this case is drawing so much attention may be an indication that such
cases are relatively rare. Vox.com[5]
reports that official data on the number of persons killed each year by police is
incomplete, but mappingpoliceviolence.org[6]
states “police killed 1,164 people in 2018” and statistics on killedbypolice.net[7]
state “602 people have been shot and killed by police in 2019 (updated
2019-08-28).”
My
guess is that most of the police shootings were done by police defending
themselves against criminals, but accurate statistics on unjustified shootings
are not available.
What
should be done in the (I hope relatively rare) cases where police do accidentally
shoot an innocent person? I believe that in such cases police officers should
be prosecuted and given a fair trial.
Power and Responsibility
A
1962 fictional comic book, Amazing
Fantasy #15, which included the first appearance of Spider-Man, closes with
Peter Parker (Spider-Man) “aware … with great power there must also come . . .
great responsibility!” Regardless of whether the quote first appeared in that
comic book or was taken from words the Frenchman Voltaire used long before as
some claim, it contains words of wisdom as I see it.
Police
have a great deal of power and authority compared to the citizens they
encounter daily, and thus have a responsibility to use their power and authority
wisely as I see it. Obviously their training and experience cannot fully
prepare them for whatever unexpected situations they may encounter at a given
time on a given day. But, they do have a huge responsibility to seek to behave
responsibly at all times.
Dangers of Being a Police
Officer
Being
a policeman is a difficult and dangerous job. Forbes.com[8]
reports that in 2018 “106 police officers lost their lives on duty.” But, more
police officers die from suicide than from attacks by criminals. According to bluehelp.org[9]
“in 2018, at least 167 officers died by suicide.” Being a police officer is a
stressful job and pay is relatively low for many officers compared to a lot of
other professions.
What Can and Should Be
Done?
What
can be done to reduce shootings of innocent individuals by police? Being
somewhat idealistic, I would love to aim for a time when police always use
nonlethal weapons. Frequently police do use tasers instead of guns to subdue
suspects, which I think is preferable to killing the suspect when feasible.
Maybe
someday tranquilizer darts will provide an even more effective alternative to
using a gun to kill a suspect. But my understanding is that current
tranquilizer darts take too long to take effect, and it’s difficult to
calculate the appropriate drug dosage to put in the dart. If a suspect is
aiming to shoot a police officer or charging toward a police officer, the
officer may have only a few seconds (or less) after observing the suspect to
take action.
In
summary, I strongly support prosecuting police officers who kill innocent
persons. But, I hope and believe such killings are relatively rare.
What
about the case in Dallas that I opened this piece with? The jury found Amber Guyger guilty of murder on Tuesday, October 1, 2019, and on Wednesday, October 2, 2019, the jury sentenced her to 10 years in prison, as reported by numerous news sources.
ENDNOTES:
[1] Jennifer Emily, LaVendrick
Smith and Dana Branham; “Amber Guyger testifies that she killed Botham Jean out
of fear, but prosecutor says a cop should know better”; The Dallas Morning News; September 27, 2019; webpage accessed
September 28, 2019; https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/2019/09/27/amber-guyger-testifies-she-killed-botham-jean-out-of-fear-but-prosecutor-says-a-cop-should-know-better/
[2] Mitch Mitchell;
“Guyger testifies: ‘I was thinking I shot an innocent man who didn’t deserve
it.’ ”; Fort Worth Star-Telegram;
September 27, 2019; webpage accessed September 28, 2019; ” https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article235512537.html
[3] Ray Sanchez and
Ashley Killough; “Amber Guyger’s murder trial resumes after she testifies that
she wishes Botham Jean ‘was the one with the gun who had killed me’ ”; CNN;
September 28, 2019; webpage accessed September 28, 2019; https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/28/us/botham-jean-amber-guyger-saturday/index.html
[4] Tanya Ballard
Brown; “ ‘ I hate myself .’ Former Dallas Police Officer Who Killed Neighbor
Tells Jurors”; NPR; September 27, 2019; webpage accessed September 28, 2019; https://www.npr.org/2019/09/27/765122240/i-hate-myself-former-dallas-police-officer-tells-jurors-during-murder-trial
[5] German Lopez;
“There’s no good official data on how many people police kill each year”;
Vox.com; updated November 14, 2018; webpage accessed September 28, 2019; https://www.vox.com/identities/2016/8/13/17938206/police-shooting-killing-data
[6] “Mapping Police
Violence”; MappingPoliceViolence.org; webpage accessed September 28, 2019; https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/
[7] “Police Shootings
Database – Killed By Police (Updated: Aug, 2019)”; killedbypolice.net; webpage
accessed September 28, 2019; https://killedbypolice.net/
[8] Niall McCarthy;
“The Number of U.S. Police Officers Killed in the Line of Duty Increased Last
Year [Infographic]”; Forbes.com; May 8,
2019; webpage accessed September 28, 2019; https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2019/05/08/the-number-of-u-s-police-officers-killed-in-the-line-of-duty-increased-last-year-infographic/#3c7597a91189
[9] “167 American
Police Officers Died By Suicide in 2018”; BLUE H.E.L.P. (bluehelp.org); updated
June 15, 2019; webpage accessed September 28, 2019; https://bluehelp.org/158-american-police-officers-died-by-suicide-in-2018/?fbclid=IwAR0eCgLUQ0zrmtf75B_mWHQqMH6eccmIuYT-J3eoJomcIckdPFI7pCwgAcM
NOTE:
This piece was submitted to Google Blogger on September 29, 2019 and last updated on October 3, 2019. It is virtually identical to one
the author submitted to Craft News Report, a website operated by his friend Paul
Craft, on September 28, 2019.
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