Created: April 15, 2021 11:27 PM
(ABC 6 News) The former Brooklyn Center police officer charged this week with manslaughter in the death of Daunte Wright claims she mistook her handgun for a taser.
That mistake is now being discussed in law enforcement communities across the country.
Nearly 20 years ago, a similar case took place in Rochester. The city paid out nearly one million dollars to settle a case in which an officer drew a handgun instead of his taser. Since that incident, Rochester Police says they have made several changes to their tasers and their use of force policies.
During firearms training, you can see Rochester Police officers training with bright yellow tasers, something they carry on their bodies during any call.
It happened in a flash.
A deputy drew what he thought was his stun gun on a Black man who was fleeing, announcing his choice of weapon with a shout of “Taser!” But it was a pistol he pulled out, not a stun gun, and the man died. “Oh, I shot him,” the deputy says on video. “I’m sorry.”
Though the facts sound eerily familiar, that was six years ago in Tulsa, Okla., in a case that closely echoed what occurred this weekend in Brooklyn Center, Minn. There was the same announcement, the same tragic result, the same shocked response.