On April 11, those searching for updates on the progress of Derek Chauvin’s trial following the death of 46-year-old George Floyd would soon learn of another Black man losing his life after an encounter with police less than 10 miles away.
As The New York Times reported , Minneapolis police detained 20-year-old Daunte Wright after discovering there was a warrant for his arrest when they pulled him over for driving without current registration. When he attempted to flee, footage from officer Kim Potter’s body camera shows her drawing a weapon and stating her intent to shock Wright with a taser before firing a pistol.
But while both her reaction on camera and the chief of the Brooklyn Center Police Department’s statements characterized this situation as a result of Potter mistaking her service pistol for a taser, the story has attracted widespread bewilderment that such a mistake is even possible.
And as we’ll soon see, that confusion isn’t just being shared by civilians.
Over the past week, those examining the shooting incident have outlined the major differences between a taser and a pistol.
Although The New York Times explained that the model of Potter’s pistol and taser are not publicly known, a screen capture of her body camera footage shows that a fellow officer was using a bright yellow taser like the one you see here.
Even putting this contrast in color aside, a retired sergeant from the Los Angeles Police Department named Scott A. DeFoe told the newspaper that the difference is obvious for a trained officer.
And since AP News reported that Potter was a 26-year veteran on the force prior to her resignation who was training two other officers at the time of the incident, it’s hard to describe her any other way.
DeFoe’s statements were echoed by a 12-year veteran police officer who went by “Brian B” on TikTok before he deleted his account.
As we can see, his taser looks more similar to a firearm than the yellow unit shown above. However, he still makes it clear how easily an officer should be able to distinguish the two weapons.
After he holsters both his taser and his pistol, the officer taps his pistol holster and says, “dominant.”
After this, he taps his taser holster and says, “not so dominant,” indicating that an officer’s placement of these weapons on their belt should always be differentiated between dominant and non-dominant hands in this way.
He also says, “Huge weight difference, guys” and The New York Times indeed confirmed that all three Glock models issued to Brooklyn Center Police Department officers are significantly heavier than a standard taser.
Their report also outlines that these models also have a trigger safety that becomes obvious from a cursory touch of the trigger and have larger grips than a taser.
These differences led Brian B to say that he doesn’t understand how one could mistake a taser for a gun or vice-versa.
As he said in his TikTok, “If you’re in the heat of the moment and you do something like that, you shouldn’t be doing this job.”
He also stated that what he described as Potter’s “stupid actions” has a ripple effect for other officers, who must restore the peace with their own corners of the public as a result.
And for him, the issue at hand goes deeper than a moment’s confusion between weapons.
He goes on to say that “99% of our job is communication” and that the idea that everyone is a potential threat makes an officer more likely to pull out a gun or taser than resolve situations in other ways.
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As he put it, “Not everybody’s a threat, try talking to them, get to know them people.”
Although the video no longer exists on TikTok, a Twitter user has since uploaded the clip to that platform and Brian B’s message is now available here as a result.
h/t: The New York Times
