Bang? We’re pretty sure Tasers do not go bang. Maybe a small pop. But that’s exactly what happened in Lawrence Kansas. During a confrontation a responding back up officer mistakenly grabbed her pistol instead of her taser and shot the suspect in the back. The suspect was injured in the incident and the officer is facing felony charges. She could have hit her partner had the round passed through.
Lawrence Journal World reports that The Lawrence Police Department has released dashcam video of an officer shooting a motorist who attacked a fellow officer during a traffic stop that turned violent. The officer who fired now faces a felony charge, though she maintains she meant to draw her Taser instead of her gun.
The police department provided the video to the Journal-World Monday morning, in response to an open records request from the newspaper.
The shooting occurred about 5:15 p.m. on May 29, 2018, in the 100 block of West Sixth Street, at the north end of downtown Lawrence.
When McCann calls for backup to arrest Lewis, and Officer Brindley Blood arrives. The two officers try unsuccessfully to pull and push Lewis out of the SUV.
After a brief lull in the struggle, Lewis then jumps out of the vehicle at McCann, punches him, lifts him off his feet and flings him to the pavement in front of a car in the lane of traffic. Lewis then lands on top of McCann and punches him again.
In a matter of seconds, Blood runs from the other side of the SUV, draws her gun with her right hand from her right hip, stands over the two men on the ground, yells, “Taser-Taser-Taser,” and fires.
After Lewis cries out in pain, Blood can be heard saying, “Oh, shit, I shot him.”
The two officers…
What do you think?
