Law Enforcement–Perpetrated Homicides. Tom Barker

agencies criminally charged with negligent or reckless accidental homicides (www.bluesheepdog.com/2015/02/12). The first case involved a Pennsylvania State Police Corporal fatally shooting a fellow Trooper during a training session. The corporal was a twenty-year state police veteran and a firearms instructor. He was explaining the firearm’s mechanism to a class of troopers when he pulled the trigger and shot a twenty-six-year-old trooper, killing him instantly. The corporal was indicted on five misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment—there were five troopers in the class. The shooting was an accident but was it excusable? The corporal retired and pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three to eighteen months. The first two weeks were to be served in the county jail, followed by house arrest and four years’ probation (69 news, August 28, 2015).

      The second accidental homicide mentioned in the Blue Sheepdog blog occurred in New York City when a rookie NYPD accidentally killed a twenty-eight-year-old man waiting for an elevator in a Brooklyn public housing complex. The man and a female acquaintance tired of waiting for the elevator opened a door into the seventh-floor landing. There were no lights on in the landing. They were either burned out or knocked out. The complex was a high-crime area, and two NYPD officers were walking up the stairs in response to a disturbance call. For some unknown reason, probably fear, the rookie had his gun in his hand with his finger on the trigger. The startled rookie pulled the trigger, and the bullet ricocheted off the wall and struck the man in the chest. He died two days later. The cardinal rule of firearms safety is “keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire.”

      The NYPD officer was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and official misconduct. He was immediately terminated from the NYPD upon conviction. At his sentencing in April 2016, the judge reduced the manslaughter and official misconduct convictions to criminally negligent homicide and sentenced the former officer to five years of probation and community service. The judge remarked, “Shooting somebody never entered his mind. This was not an intentional act. This was an act of criminal negligence” (Phippen, April 19, 2016).

      A seventy-three-year-old retired librarian playing the part of a police officer in a “shoot/don’t’ shoot” demonstration during a Citizens Academy in Punta Gorda, Florida, was accidentally shot and killed by a police officer in August 2016 (AP, August 11, 2016). During the role-playing exercise, both the officer playing the bad guy and the citizen have guns. However, the guns are supposed to be loaded with blanks or use “simunition guns,” which are real-looking weapons that fire non-lethal projectiles with reduced force. It appears that the gun fired by the officer was a personal weapon loaded with wadcutter rounds used for target practice, not blanks. The officer, contrary to all safety requirements in these role-playing demonstrations, never checked his gun. The police officer was charged with negligent manslaughter and was scheduled for trial in May 2019. The city of Punta Gorda has settled with the family for $2 million. In October 2019, the officer pleaded no contest to second-degree manslaughter (Munez, October 16, 2019). He was sentenced to ten years of probation, restitution to the family, and he agreed never to seek employment as a police officer.

      Devastating Effects on Victims and Offenders

      All accidental fatal police shootings are devastating for the victims and survivors. They are also troubling for the public, the police agency, and the officers involved. The deadly shootings of hostages and innocent bystanders are particularly disturbing; however, they do occur. In June 2018, the LAPD Police Chief was quoted at a news conference as saying, “It’s been 13 years since an officer’s gunfire has killed an innocent bystander or hostage in this department. In the last six weeks, it happened twice” (Fedschun, August 1, 2018). The first incident occurred on June 16 when a knife-wielding man held an innocent female bystander hostage. The police responded to a 911 call that a man had stabbed his ex-girlfriend. When the police confronted him, he refused to drop the knife. An officer fired several rounds from a beanbag shotgun, but the assailant deflected them with a folding chair. He then grabbed an innocent bystander and held the knife to her throat. As he began cutting the woman’s throat, the officers opened fire, killing both. Two police bullets hit the innocent woman.

      The second accidental LAPD police homicide of a hostage occurred on July 21, when the twenty-seven-year-old manager of a Trader Joe’s market was killed by police gunfire during a hostage situation and shootout with LAPD officers (Gaydos, July 24, 2018).

      Accidental Police Vehicular Homicides