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US Police Officer Shares Video Showing How Hard It Is To Mistake Taser For A Gun

US Police Officer Shares Video Showing How Hard It Is To Mistake Taser For A Gun

“If you’re in the heat of the moment and you do something like that, you shouldn’t be doing this job.”

EMS 7

EMS 7

A US police officer has shared a video in which he points out the major differences between a gun and taser, describing how it is difficult to confuse the two. Watch below:

The video - which follows the news that cop Kim Potter had shot and killed Daunte Wright after allegedly drawing her gun instead of a taser - was posted to TikTok by user @brian1504.

In the clip, the officer loads his belt with the two weapons before tapping the gun - which he labels 'dominant' - and the taser - which he calls 'not so dominant'.

As he sits down, Brian says: "Huge weight difference, guys - I don't understand how we can mistake a taser for a gun or a gun for a taser.

"If you're in the heat of the moment and you do something like that, you shouldn't be doing this job."

He continues: "I'm not going to put my life on the line to try and fix your stupidity and deal with restoring the peace with my public that I serve just because of your stupid actions.

"It makes no sense. 99 percent of our job is communication. You don't have to be quick to pull out a gun or a taser on somebody and think everybody's a threat.

"Not everybody's a threat. Try talking to them, get to know these people."

TikTok/@brian1504

Brian's video has received more than 5.8 million views at the time of writing, as well as 1.4 million likes and thousands of comments.

"Much respect for this man," wrote one user on TikTok, while another said: "Thank you for speaking up, it needed to be done."

A third commented: "If more cops would speak out like this maybe a lot of these incidents wouldn't occur."

The latter comment appears to reference the aforementioned incident in which 20-year-old Daunte Wright was killed by a police officer, later named to be Kim Potter, who had been employed by the Brooklyn Center Police Department for 26 years.

Police Chief Tim Gannon spoke at a press conference this month, claiming that the officer who shot Wright had been trying to tase him and describing the shooting as the result of an 'accidental discharge'.

Katie Wright

Gannon said: "[It] is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their taser but instead shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet.

"This appears to me from what I viewed and the officer's reaction in distress immediately after that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright."

Authorities have said that a female passenger in the vehicle suffered non-life-threatening injuries as a result of the crash. Wright's mother, Katie, has said the passenger was her son's girlfriend.

Daunte Wright's family attorney, Ben Crump, doesn't believe the account that it was 'accidental', stating: "Kim Potter executed Daunte for what amounts to no more than a minor traffic infraction and a misdemeanour warrant."

PA

Potter has since been charged with second-degree manslaughter, an offence which carries up to 10 years behind bars and/or a $20,000 fine if convicted.

Wright's death has sparked protests throughout the city, with the shooting happening just 10 miles away from where George Floyd was killed last year.

Featured Image Credit: TikTok/@brianb1504

Topics: Police, Black Lives Matter, crime, weapons, TikTok, US