Sometimes Cops Make Mistakes...

Sometimes the courts do too.

This driver made the mistake of getting out of his vehicle with an object in his hand. In this case it was a wallet.

This is a very similar the mistake that cost Amadou Diallo his life on the streets of the Bronx back in 1999. Police take self-protection and the defense of fellow Officers very seriously.

In this case, it seems clear that the driver was NOT a threat. He exited the vehicle and was complying with commands to get down on the ground.

The court that dismissed the driver's civil case appears to have made an egregiously wrong decision. While the Officer's actions were probably not criminal, based on a good faith suspicion that the object in the driver's hand may have been a weapon, his actions DO appear to be incompetent.

Police represent government and as such, these kinds of errors reflect directly upon government and when courts compound those mistakes by, in effect, defending such actions, they further besmirch government.

This driver, like Mr. Diallo has a clear Civil case for police incompetence/government negligence and should've been awarded a significant Civil judgment and the Officer should've been barred from active (street) duties. Not terminated, but removed from street duties...at least until he was retrained.

The Diallo shooting cost the City of New York over $3 MILLION. This case warranted a lesser amount, as this driver survived, but it still seems to warrant a substantial award.

Here, the police and the courts appear to have dropped the ball. THAT is very unfortunate.