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Bart wrote:He should get the same penalty as a citizen that "accidentally" shoots a cop. Equal protection and all that.

Normally I would agree with you. In this case, the officer was issued new equipment (and one would hope got some training on it) that put him at a much higher risk of a ND. Holding him entirely responsible for the outcome strikes me as a bit unfair. I want to know what kind of and how much training he received on the use of the light and its activation. I would want to investigate how many other NDs have occurred for officers using this particular light configuration. ISTM that the decision of the Plano PD to purchase and issue these lights as well as the configuration of the switch placed this officer in a difficult position where trying to do his job resulted in a tragedy. Whether he gets convicted of something or not, he will live with this fateful day for the rest of his life.

Excaliber wrote:Here we have a newly issued piece of equipment that requires a different mode of operation from similar gear the officer was much more familiar with, and a light activation switch that is turned on with rearward pressure applied just under the trigger guard. This switch is designed to be activated by the middle finger on the frontstrap.

My immediate reaction to this is what boneheaded idiot would think this was a good idea? Require the officer to use the exact same movement of his finger in the vicinity of the trigger to activate his light and expect the officer, under the stress of an encounter, to be able to properly perform the action every time? This is a recipe for failure, as this officer has discovered.

I thought we were so thoroughly modern these days that we employed engineers to anticipate and obviate problems like this. Sheesh.