With my cable service, the only testimony that I could watch was her testimony. I have since read several articles about other testimony. One question that her attorney asked her surprised me as to why it was asked. Having served on several juries, I know that all questions are asked for a reason and the witnesses are coached as to how to answer the question and also how to act. The question was in regard to her, as a training officer, not correcting what a rookie does incorrectly in front of a civilian. I can understand doing this unless it created an unsafe situation. This caused me to wonder if the rookie did something wrong, that caused an unsafe condition, that she did not correct? I talked to a couple of former POs that I know who confirmed my suspicion that she could have stopped the situation if she corrected his mistakes. First, the person exited the car and left the keys in the ignition with the car running. These are two violations of standard procedure. He was standing next to the open car door which are two more violations of procedure. If she had corrected any of these items, the shooting would not have occurred. I believe that if she had not been convicted, many police shootings would be blamed on mistaking their gun for a taser. Which brings up another point. She had just finished her annual taser training the previous month. During that training, she was taught that you do not use a taser on a fleeing person or a person behind the wheel of a vehicle that has the engine running. She was also reminded that to remove a gun from her holster, she must push it forward to be able to remove it. To remove her taser, which is on the other side of her gun belt, she must press a button and push the taser toward the rear to be able to remove it. I am not inferring that this happened in this incident, but a dirty PO, who wanted to shoot a no-good crook, would well taser, taser, taser so that their fellow POs would more away so they would not be shot.
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