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ОглавлениеAccidental LEO-Perpetrated Homicides
Introduction
In order to assess the actual volume and seriousness of LEO-perpetrated homicides it is necessary to identify and make accurate estimates of the amount of each type. That is not possible at this time; however, progress is being made—witness the proposed typology and the search for reliable data. Reliable statistics on the full range of LEO homicides identified in the Typology of Police-Perpetrated Homicides are not currently available. That is understandable. In our fragmented law enforcement system police-perpetrated homicides occur in agencies from one sworn member to thousands of sworn members. These agencies vary in their adoption of professional standards proposed by professional associations such as the International Association of Chief’s of Police. As independent actors not subject to national standards some agencies record or report these homicides; however, most do not. Nevertheless, there are attempts to provide more information and more accurate estimates.
Zimring estimates that the annual U.S. death toll from police shootings is “well over 1,000 civilians each year—three killings a day” (Zimring, 2017). His estimate is based on the existing official records and open-source data following the national attention on the spate of police shootings of unarmed black men in 2014 and 2015. This estimate is not supported by official data that measures different categories-types—of police homicides.
Official Sources
Three government sources provide limited information on “on-duty” killings—police homicides—by U.S. LEOs, that is, police-perpetrated homicides. The National Center for Health Statistics of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention lists a separate category of deaths called “legal interventions.” These are “deaths caused by the police or other law enforcement agents including military on duty, in the course of arresting or attempting to arrest lawbreakers, suppressing disturbances, maintaining order and other legal actions” (quoted in Barber, et al., May 2016). Legal intervention deaths come from death certificates that explicitly mention that the victim died at the hands of a police officer. This narrow definition leads to serious undercounting of police homicides. A second source, the FBI’s Supplemental Homicide Reporting System is based on reports of “felons killed by the police” submitted by local police and sheriffs departments as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting system administered by the FBI. The deficiencies of the UCR are well known. In addition, homicides committed on federal property or by federal agents, non-lethal device deaths, and accidental killings are not reported. Even more troubling is that the UCR reporting system is voluntary, and many agencies do not report their homicides. The third official source is Arrest-Related Deaths (ARD). These homicides only apply to in-custody deaths. In sum, these official sources present an incomplete description of the nature and situational circumstances under which police-perpetrated homicides occur. The nature and circumstances of each homicide are necessary for an understanding of police-perpetrated homicides.
Improving the Police Homicide Data Sources
In an effort to provide more situational information on police homicides, Zimring (2017) supplemented his 1,000 annual police shooting deaths estimate with data from mass media open-source outlets. These sources assess and document LEO homicides from social media sources that sprung up since 2014. Operating under the assumption that known police killings became media events, one can reasonably assume internet listings such as Wikipedia can with caution be useful in identifying the nature and circumstances of LEO homicides (Zimring & Arsingiega, 2015). An advantage of crowdsourced data is that both sides are portrayed—police and other interested parties. Police agencies cannot be trusted as reliable sources because of their notorious impression-management techniques when reporting possibly damaging information (Barker, 2011).
Zimring (2017) opined that the official data supplemented by crowdsourcing (open-source) data provides a better method to estimate police shooting homicides until comprehensive official statistics become available. The combination of official data and mass media sources is the only way to identify the nature and types of LEO-perpetrated homicides at this time. However, as reported earlier, Zimring (2017) cautions that the “shooting deaths only” distinction of police killings results in many police homicides being omitted. .
The Typology of Law Enforcement–Perpetrated Homicides indicates that some LEO-caused homicides are intentional, such as justified shooting, some are accidental—friendly fire deaths or driving while distracted, others are victim precipitated as in suicide by cop. Other police-caused homicides result from careless and reckless action when the officer is performing a legal objective. Finally, some LEO homicides are murders for sex, to conceal a crime, to profit from crime and other personal reasons.
The Utility of Crowdsourced Data
Officer-involved fatal shootings and the link to racial bias dominates the politically charged debate over police homicides (Legewie & Fagan, 2016). Unfortunately, the lack of adequate databases has led to research findings supporting racial bias in police shootings and other studies have found no racial bias in police shootings (Ruane, 2017). As James Comey, former Director of the FBI at the time is quoted as saying, “how can we address concerns about officer-involved shootings if we do not have a firm grasp on the demographics and circumstances of those incidents” (Ruane, 2017: 1131). According to Ruane, a journalist filled this gap with his innovative crowdsourcing and internet searching technique—Fatalencounters.org.
Legewie and Fagan’s (2016) study used the crowdsourced database, Fatal Encounters in their research. Fatal Encounters goal is “to create a comprehensive national database of people who are killed through interactions with police,” and it includes accidents and deadly domestic violence incidents involving police officers. Other crowdsourcing techniques are now in use, adding to what is known about police homicides.
The Counted, another open-source database compiled by the Guardian, collects data on “Any death arising directly from encounters with law enforcement.” A third open-source database comes from the Washington Post that collects data on “All shooting deaths from on-duty police officers.” The researchers Legewie and Fagan do not include accidental homicides or police-caused domestic violence homicides in their definition (Legewe & Fagan, 2016: 13). This approach is now the norm in police shooting homicide research and makes a significant contribution to an understanding of police shooting death homicides (see Zimring, 2017). However, as we have continually stated, LEO-perpetrated homicides encompass more than shooting deaths. We begin our discussion of types of police-perpetrated homicides with LEO-accidental homicides.
Accidental LEO-Perpetrated Homicides
Truly accidental homicides may be excusable (O’Hara & O’Hara, 1988). Excusable homicides occur when a lawful act is done in a lawful manner and without negligence and results in death. The acts do not involve intent or reckless and negligent action on the part of the officer. For example, a police officer while responding to shots fired call accidentally slips on the wet ground and discharges his weapon and kills an innocent person standing on the sidewalk. Caution. The officer’s negligent or reckless act may be a proximate cause of the homicide. For example, there was no reason for the officer to be running with his finger on the trigger—a violation of training and his department’s policy—when the suspect was not in sight (actual case based on the author’s personal experience while serving as an expert witness for the plaintiff in a civil wrongful death suit). Officers are taught that the Golden Rule of Gun Safety is “keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire.” In this case, the homicide was not excusable, and the officer’s actions were not justified. The officer lost his job and was indicted for misdemeanor and felony charges, and was subject to civil litigation. All three outcomes or a combination of one or more can happen in similar situational circumstances. Many “accidental” homicides appear “lawful,” but the situational details are questionable.
Moreover, police officers kill themselves, each other, loved ones, and civilians accidentally in two ways: first, the homicide is the result of a lawful act of violence done lawfully with no intent or expectation that harm would occur. A police cruiser is driving down the street at the speed limit and a pedestrian with his headphones on steps in front of the police car and is killed. This is an example of accidental and excusable homicide. Suppose this police cruiser was driving down the street 20 miles per hour over the speed limit without his lights or siren on. The pedestrian crosses the road in the crosswalk and does not see the speeding police cruiser and does not have time to react. In this case, the officer is driving unlawfully, but he did not intend to kill anyone. The officer’s “accidental” actions could lead to criminal—involuntary manslaughter—civil, or departmental charges.
Accidental Fatal LEO Shootings
A discussion of what is or what is not an accidental homicide is clouded by heated and debated controversy. There are seldom right or wrong conclusions that satisfy the parties involved. One of the most controversial accidental police fatal shootings before the events of 2014 and 2015 occurred in the early morning hours on New Years Day 2009 when a white Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer shot and killed an unarmed black man and claimed it was an accident.
Oscar Grant Shooting 2009
Twenty-two-year-old Oscar Grant was returning home from San Francisco on a BART train when a fight broke out among the “hammered and stoned” passengers celebrating New Year. The fight was broken up, and the conductor announced that the police had been notified and would meet the train at the next stop—Fruitvalle station in Oakland. What happened at the Fruitville station is still being debated today. However, numerous witnesses and cell phone videos are clear on significant facts. Nine officers responded to the scene and were greeted by an angry and rowdy crowd. The first two officers on the scene detained Oscar Grant and his friend. His friend was handcuffed, and Grant was placed prone on the ground. Grant was told he was being arrested and BART officer Johannes Mehserie attempted to handcuff him. Mehserie had difficulty getting Grant’s hands behind his back. Mehserie stood up, unholstered his semi-automatic weapon, and shot the prone Grant in the back. Why the officer shot Grant is in dispute. Several witnesses reported that Mehserie appeared stunned and said “Oh my God” several times. The officer would claim that the shooting was an accident. He meant to use his Taser to control a combative Grant and pulled his weapon in mistake. The shooting was an accident.
The video images of the incident were widely broadcast and streamlined locally, nationally, and internationally sparking several days of rioting and demonstrations and calls for the officer to be prosecuted. The news media carried dueling interpretations from police use-of-force experts. On January 12, 2009, the Alameda County District Attorney filed a murder complaint against Mehserie, and he was arrested. A change of venue was granted citing extensive media coverage and protests and riots in Alameda County. The trial was held in Los Angeles.
The defense claimed the shooting was an accident. The prosecuting attorney told the jury that Mehserie was guilty of second-degree murder. The judge offered the jury four alternatives: acquit or reach three conviction options to include second-degree murder—fifteen years to life in prison, voluntary manslaughter—three to eleven years, or involuntary manslaughter with two to four years in prison. The jury returned a guilty verdict of involuntary manslaughter, and he was sentenced to two years in prison with double-time credit for time served. Mehserie was released from prison on June 13, 2011. Several civil suits followed the conviction. BART settled with Grant’s young daughter for $1.5 million and $1.3 million to Grant’s murder.
Other Similar Examples
On March 3, 2013, an unnamed New Hope, Pennsylvania, veteran police officer entered the cell of an inmate being processed to aid a fellow officer in an altercation with the inmate. The second officer yelled “Taser,” “Taser,” and pulled his service revolver and shot the inmate in the stomach. The officers realizing the inmate had been shot and gravely wounded administered first aid and transferred the inmate to the hospital. He survived. The Buck’s County District Attorney is quoted as saying the shooting “was neither justified, nor criminal, but was excused” (Rodriguez, April 12, 2019). It was excusable, he added because the shooting was the result of the mistaken belief that the officer thought he was deploying his Taser instead of his gun—an accidental shooting. The officer was allowed to retire. There are problems with this decision. There is evidence of reckless or negligent behavior by the officer. Why was the officer in a cell with a weapon, in the first place? Guns are usually not allowed inside custody settings. Even more disturbing is the mistake of drawing a gun instead of a Taser. Tasers are carried on the opposite side of the handgun and cross-drawn to prevent these kinds of errors. The shooting officer carried the Taser on the same side and in front of his weapon in violation of police department rules. This suggests reckless and negligent action by the officer, calling for criminal and civil action.
In February 2015, a leading police training blog Blue Sheepdog.com lamented that two months into the year there had already been two police officers from large police 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
