Because cops don't have to worry about shooting a homeowner. Washington Deputy Mistakenly Shoots, Kills Off-Duty Officer at His Home.
A Clark County sheriff’s deputy fired several rounds at Sahota from a rifle “within seconds” of arriving on the scene at Sahota’s house and before determining he was the homeowner, not the robbery suspect, investigators said in a statement late Sunday night.
Within seconds means he didn't give the dead guy a chance to do anything. "Freeze" or "Drop your weapon" - wait 1 to 2 seconds, or less - Fire.
The shots struck and killed Sahota as he was holding his own gun and running after the robbery suspect, who was attempting to enter his home
Nothing will happen to the killer. He is a cop. They suffer no consequences in cases like this.
I don’t know where you get this idea that Police Officers don’t get prosecuted. Do some research and you’ll find that Officers are frequently charged and in a lot of cases they were trying to defend themselves or someone else. Are there trigger happy people out there? Sure, but with proper supervision they get weeded out pretty quickly in a competently run department. There are a number of ex-Officers in jail today who did not go to work intending ( remember intent? It used to be the factor in deciding if a crime was murder ) or wanting to shoot anyone.
ReplyDeleteA) I never said there were no police prosecuted because they showed up at a crime scene and shot the first person they saw.
DeleteB) Police being prosecuted for doing what is described in point A is a relatively new thing. 10 or 15 years - baring instances where one of them "faked" an informant to kick off a SWAT raid.
C) There are still a lot of jurisdictions where qualified immunity (really unlimited immunity) means that cops will never face any consequences for shooting the first person they see.
D) Murder (and in particular 1st degree murder) is a crime that includes intent. Negligent Manslaughter is not a crime of intent.