Kim Potter Guilty

[mandrill]

To correct you...the kid got pulled over because he had an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror, wow what a thug, the nerve of him...this was not a life and death situation until Potter pulled her gun...she made a mistake that can not be corrected and there are consequences for that mistake.

This cop fucked up...

I had a conversation w my regular at Pure earlier this week. She had just spent a few days visiting friends in Orange Co, CA and was shocked at how different the US is to Canada in law enforcement attitudes and SOP's. She mentioned that there was a Hispanic street person guy sitting drinking a beer in the parking lot outside a mall. Someone called the cops re vagrancy or public drunkenness and 3 cops showed up and approached the homeless guy w drawn pistols and held him at gunpoint.

She was shocked and it didn't help that she herself is Hispanic.

Lax gun laws in the US mean that the cops draw their weapons and point them as a matter of routine and that in turn sets up situations as in Potter where a routine traffic stop turns deadly with just a series of wrong decisions. This is shit that would lead to a traffic ticket or an obstruct police charge in Canada, but which leads to someone dying in the USA.

 

[Darts]

Having seen some of the video and testimony, it is clear that there was no malice by Potter but she was still guilty as to the outcome. If only they didn’t stop him for such a minor infraction, his death would not have happened. If only he didn’t struggle to get away, he would still be alive. The first being a unnecessary action and the second a deadly decision.

This is the most rational post so far in this thread.

Heard that the jury asked for a taser and a gun so they could see and feel the difference. So, in the calm of the courtroom with unlimited time and no chaos, the jury said yeah there is a difference.

 

[danmand]

This is the most rational post so far in this thread.

Heard that the jury asked for a taser and a gun so they could see and feel the difference. So, in the calm of the courtroom with unlimited time and no chaos, the jury said yeah there is a difference.

It is hard to believe that she could mistake the taser for a gun. For 26 years she had the taser on her left hip and the gun on the right hip.

 

[poopypants]

To correct you...the kid got pulled over because he had an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror, wow what a thug, the nerve of him...this was not a life and death situation until Potter pulled her gun...she made a mistake that can not be corrected and there are consequences for that mistake.

This cop fucked up...

To correct you, not a life and death situation until he decided to run.

 

[Fun For All]

To correct you, not a life and death situation until he decided to run.

She yelled "taser, taser, taser" and then shot him with her service revolver...well done officer.

 

[mandrill]

This is the most rational post so far in this thread.

Heard that the jury asked for a taser and a gun so they could see and feel the difference. So, in the calm of the courtroom with unlimited time and no chaos, the jury said yeah there is a difference.

That was the most perplexing thing about the trial. The tazer and the pistol were massively different in colour, shape and weight. Even in the heat of the moment and with anxiety and adrenaline at full throttle, it was simply difficult to see how anyone could make the mistake.

The tazer was designed to be unmistakable for a firearm and vice versa.

 

[Fun For All]

I know, he was a good boy just turning his life around.

Shoot him, kill him...you need to quit talking!

 

[danmand]

That was the most perplexing thing about the trial. The tazer and the pistol were massively different in colour, shape and weight. Even in the heat of the moment and with anxiety and adrenaline at full throttle, it was simply difficult to see how anyone could make the mistake.

The tazer was designed to be unmistakable for a firearm and vice versa.

And the taser is in a different holster at the opposite position on her belt.

 

[ogibowt]

Shoot him, kill him...you need to quit talking!

naw..let him drone on with his made up facts....so all of us can make the same conclusion that idiocy is alive and well on Terb

 

[Darts]

That was the most perplexing thing about the trial. The tazer and the pistol were massively different in colour, shape and weight. Even in the heat of the moment and with anxiety and adrenaline at full throttle, it was simply difficult to see how anyone could make the mistake.

Humans (and police are human) often react differently under extreme stress and in a very fast moving chaotic situation. You don't get to re-do in super slow motion.

 

[Robert Mugabe]

I agree. It was a mistake. I feel sorry for her. But it's still negligent homicide. Someone is dead. She killed him. It's fucked up, but there you go.

Cops kill people every day. If you are bored, you can go on youtube and watch hours of video of cops murdering people they apprehend when there is no justifiable reason to do so. This was a mistake. Shit happens. People make mistakes. If she is going to jail for something that she did with obviously no malice of forethought, then the homicidal cops you can watch on youtube should be in jail. Not on paid administrative leave and then back on the job.

 

[Robert Mugabe]

She had 26 years to learn to differentiate. That's why she was up on charges.

A 26 year trained cop, should not be making that mistake.

There was no dispute as to whether people felt it was deliberate or not. It was generally agreed upon that it was an error.

If they felt it was deliberate, she would have been up on murder charges, not manslaughter.

Again. Why is she being held to a higher standard than the dozens of cops who shoot people every year in the States with less reason? And fuck all accountability.

 

[danmand]

Humans (and police are human) often react differently under extreme stress and in a very fast moving chaotic situation. You don't get to re-do in super slow motion.

Let's take a second look. What was the extreme stress?

Somebody was stopped, because he had an air freshener dangling from his rearview mirror. Then he tried to take off.

If a policewomen cannot handle that without getting panicked, she should not be on the force.

 

[Darts]

Then he tried to take off.

He was resisting detention and trying to escape. He ignored orders to stop. The policewoman was simply trying to subdue him.

 

[Charlemagne]

That's the thing about the law. It applies whether or not you kill a saint or an asshole.

People like him love two-tiered justice.
He better hope the pitch forks don't start coming out soon....

 

[danmand]

He was resisting detention and trying to escape. He ignored orders to stop. The policewoman was simply trying to subdue him.

That is what I said. Should that cause extreme stress/panic in a policewomen?

If she panicked, better to let him take off and call in support and get him later. No life and death situation.

 

[shack]

It is hard to believe that she could mistake the taser for a gun. For 26 years she had the taser on her left hip and the gun on the right hip.

That's the most rational post in this thread so far.

She was either lying about the "mistake" or she's the most incompetent 26 year veteran ever.

 

[Robert Mugabe]

That is what I said. Should that cause extreme stress/panic in a policewomen?

If she panicked, better to let him take off and call in support and get him later. No life and death situation.

During Hurricane Katrina there were instances of police "acting out" because they were "stressed" in one case they lit up a car load of young black guys. Just opened fire on them. I think they were all killed. Because they saw them as a threat and were under Katrina related stress. As somebody pointed out, that is sort of the job description. Functioning under stress.
The fact that she had 26 years on the force without any questionable behavior should cut her some slack. Seems to be the argument is 26 years. No excuse. She should have known better. As opposed to 26 years with no mistakes like this. Maybe she deserves a bit of understanding.

 

[farquhar]

He was a thug and destined for that outcome sooner or later.

Maybe; maybe not. I for one don't know that for certain.

I guess since Kim Potter can't tell the difference between her service weapon and a taser, nobody will know.

I think part of her defense was: "Yeah, I couldn't tell the difference between my service weapon and a taser, but I was justified in using lethal force because Daunte Wright was going to speed away in his car and drag my partner with him or run over my partner."

You could argue that Sammy Yatim was a thug and was destined for that outcome as well; and that James Forcillo was justified in killing him based on his perception of the situation and that he felt threatened by the knife that Yatim was holding.

The verdict in that case was interesting: Forcillo is not guilty of second degree murder, but is guilty of attempted murder. According to Wikipedia it "was the only time an on-duty Ontario officer was charged and convicted in the death of a person since the inception of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) in 1990. "

 

[farquhar]

Bonified thug. She'll get a few years at a club med facility.

Daunte Wright victims tell of his violent past

Before Daunte Wright was shot and killed by now former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter, he terrorized his local neighborhood for several years, victims told DailyMail.com.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Probably. Forcillo was sentenced to 6.5 years; he got Full Day Parole after 21 months.