Damn!!
Bad enough if this was some drunk-ass moron - but a cop?!
Considering they were fishing in a pond, it is likely the idiot was shooting downhill!!...as in if he was firing at the tree standing on a hill, his bullet could travel a considerable distance before hitting the ground.

What a tragedy for this family...

I wonder if he and Dick went to the same firearm training facility?

The fuck i would!

Not as ridiculous as the assumption that i'd be calling for his head if he wasn't a cop.

Well he must have had his reasons, he's a person of authority, in this case a cop and must have thought that the right thing for him to do was to shoot the snake. What if the snake was in his opinion about to attack someone or looked agitated enough to attack? He must have had his reasons, i'm sure he wouldn't have just shot it for the fun of it, or do you think LEO's in your state are fucking idiots?

Well like you said below, its not in the middle of nowhere, he may well have been worried for the safety of other residents of the town.

Anyway if something does want to eat you what do you do, just let it?

I guess the next time you're a hundred yards or so away from a deadly animal someone should just let it walk about and not care if it may well later gore you to death?

Right well like i said he must have his reasons, maybe he's familiar with the area and knows that specific snake is not common to that area or that it looked agitated or its known to be poisonous or whatever it is, he chose to shoot it. He may have already called for control or even radio'd in the situation asked what to do...either one could have told him any number of things that led him to believe that taking action himself was the best course of action to take.

What nonsense is that? There's a whole load of differencebetween aiming for a snake and hitting a kid by accident and going out and murdering a kid. His reasoning was to save lives not end them!

No you're assuming he didn't pay attention. he could have misfired or fired one bad shot in a round. The bullet may have deflected off something, who knows. He shouldn't be fired and the notion of him being prosecuted is fucking ridiculous. As for leaking his name...well i guess if you'd like to become a snitch and start running to newspapers that's down to you. Shows what your made of - i hear the NY Times are big on that sort of stuff, they crave people who rat others out like cowards and can't face doing things upfront. Shameful and pathetic.

Nobody is asking him to receieve special treatment but you have to account for the fact that him being a cop does mean he has been trained in how to shoot! He would have the common sense to know what situations to fire in and which not to. Maybe if it turns out that he made a bad judgement call here then that will work against him as he's been trained in how to asses these situations. But it wasn't neglegent homocide or any other garbage like that, just a simple accident.

Fuckin' rednecks.

The cop who fired the shot needs to be completely relieved; fired. Then he should be charged with, at the very least, negligent homicide.

A sidearm is to be used when deadly force is necessary. In this case, it seems like the cop decide that getting a fuckin' snake out of a tree qualified.

It may be an "accident", but it's an accident which was completely avoidable if the cop would've had at least half a fucking brain in his head...

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Sayeth John Drake - 10/13/08: "OK, you're right, I admit to LYING"

Its a snake for fucks sake. You ignore it and it goes away. Simple as that. He was a damn fool for shooting at it, and criminally negligent for not realizing that if he missed (hell - even if he HIT it) that the bullet was going to travel more than far enough that it could hit another.

If this were Joe Citizen, he'd be in jail awaiting trial. The cop deserves the same at a bare minimum.
No, i am drawing the logical conclusion based upon the fact that there's a dead 5 year old that the cop didnt pay attention. Had he PAID attention, he wouldnt have been such a damn fool.
Hence the reason you ALWAYS identify both your target and what is beyond it. It is one of the 4 core rules of gun safety. There is NO excuse for this.
Yes he should, at the very least.
Really? Can you say "negligent homicide"? Thats the charge when one of the regular peons, er i mean, citizens does something like this.
You do realize i was suggesting his name be leaked to the PRISON population after he was convicted dont you? Once he is arrested, his name becomes public information. Nothing to leak. Besides, i promise you, everyone in Noble knows who this moron was.
J. Random Citizen would already be in jail awaiting trial. The fact that this fool isnt is evidence of special treatment.
Thats right - AND he's been trained when NOT to, which makes his actions even less forgivable. This was entirely preventable. It was not an imminent danger situation under any circumstances, ergo - there was no legitimate reason for him, or anyone else, to shoot. In addition, he failed miserably at following the basic rules of gun safety. The fact that he received any kind of training actually makes him MORE wrong than just Joe Average.
You'd think so - wouldn't you? Yet, he obviously did NOT.
MAYBE if he made a bad judgment call?!?!?!?! He did make a bad judgment call! That much is freaking obvious! You did notice there's a dead kid here right? You call that good judgment?
Hm...lets see.....

According to any legal dictionary, negligent homicide is homicide caused by a person's criminally negligent act. Discharging a firearm without proper regard to the conditions thereby causing a death of another person is a criminally negligent act. Don't believe me? Go ahead - try it yourself. See what happens.

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In case you were wondering, yes, there really ARE more idiots these days....technology has made natural selection obsolete.

This is sad. There were two police officers and, apparently, a land owner there, and no one thought to check their surroundings before firing. I’m sure the cops didn’t mean to do it, but they really should have known better.

I feel sorry for the grandfather. I can’t even imagine what he’s going through. He certainly has a valid point.

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Election 2008 – Addicted to Placebos

Man, I have to say, I've seen numerous posts on this forum where someone successfully dismantles an argument, but you've just raised the bar. You didn't destroy the argument, you decimated it. Well done.

I don't think I'll ever understand how someone can see this as "just an accident"...

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Sayeth John Drake - 10/13/08: "OK, you're right, I admit to LYING"

I'd say it's a safe bet that at least one LEO in Oklahoma is...

Which makes it all the more wonderous that he decided to aim his weapon up into a tree. Unless he absolutely hits his target, that bullet will land somewhere he doesn't want it to...

The facts of this tragedy dispute that...

No, it wasn't a "simple accident".

He's trained in the proper use of a firearm. He used his firearm improperly.

I'm not saying the guy is some scum-sucking maggot who deserves to die, but he's a poor law enforcement officer, whose negligent actions resulted in the death of a little boy.

He needs to answer for that...

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Obama's New "57 State Patriotic Pin":




Sayeth John Drake - 10/13/08: "OK, you're right, I admit to LYING"

No way man, most snakes are useful, especially on farms and stuff.

Live in a big old house? Don't have any mice? Probably means you have a snake.

This clearly isn't a case where gun control would have helped. Even most of the hardcore gun control type people in the US would not advocate Cops not being armed. I know it's different in UK and Australia and the like, but I think most of us want our cops armed here.

No doubt Mr. Police Officer feels super terrible, as would any semi-human creature, but that doesn't mean he should be punished. On the contrary, he should absolutely be punished for two reasons. One, as Eric pointed out, he should face the same music as ordinary gun owners, and two, it needs to be clear that while yes, you can own your gun, you MUST be responsible with it.

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"Jesus said: I have cast fire upon the world, and behold I guard it until it is ablaze."
Gospel of Thomas

Was I the only one to be struck at how ghoulish this seems phrased?

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Depends, how big was the snake? Was it a huge 20 footer that was poisonous and could have killed? I don't know much about OK state wildlife (i assume you're more familiar) but a thick big snake would have help the bullet, we don't know anything about the snake or anything about the distance between the snake and the child.

He's been placed on administrative leave, which is generally what happens to law enforcement in situations like this though usually when in the line of duty. Otherwise cops would be afriad to ever take action if they thought they'd get fired and incarsirated every time they shot someone or something.

He may not have even been able to know whether there was a kid there or not had he not gone upto the point the snake was and even actually beyond that, who knows if he even saw the kid anywhere nearby. Sure it job to check but what if he would have had to go past the point of where the snake was to have known the kid was there?

Yes assuming the kid was in his sight or in his vision, if he wasn't the guy would have had no idea the kid was even there. I don't know that he did see the kid before he shot and even knew the kid was there.

He's been put on administrative leave, if this was that bad and as criminal as you make it out to be why hasn't this guy been charged by the D.A.'s office or the state attorney General? They'll investigate as is the usual protocol and decide after that like they usually would right?

If you say so, but if they did charge someone with that it would be based on more than they have released as far as information goes in this instance. If there are reasons to believe he was responspible (criminally) for this kid's death i'm sure they'll charge this guy with it. Its not a case of this guy has got nothing to worry about, he's been placed on leave and so far an investigation is under way.

Oh well that makes it all okay doesn't it? Leaking his name to the prison population...hmmm tell me do you think the same should apply to the same BCP agents in jail now as well for shooting a mexican drug dealer and covring it up? Heck why don't we just let you go in there and beat the guy to death? I very much doubt that those in jail would be too fussed by this guy's crime if he was sentenced, the fact he was a cop maybe. They'll probably be having too much fun doing what you've advocated before which is to abuse the crap out of child rapists and perverts. But i doubt it'll happen because i don't see this going to court even.

Once he is arrested? Well we see i guess. As for everyone knowing in Noble, well let's see how they react and see what they make of it; if anything happens tohim or not.

Not neccessarily, it would have to be deemed the guy was criminally responsible first. At this point that's being determined, there hasn't been much information given out yet, nobody knows the full details of what went on.

Well something must have caused him to shoot, or do you think he just randomly shot at the snake for the fun of it? He has been trained when to shoot and when not to and if he did take that into account there must have been some underlying reason for him to shoot, if he decided to fire having weighed up the whole situation.

See you think it was not an imminently dangerous situation, he probably thought different. You and i weren't there and with the amount of information given out i don't think anyone can say with any certainty that this guy has done anything wrong yet.

What the heck has this got to do with Gun safety, this is about his judgement of whether he should have fired or not. This is just simply about his assesment of a situation and whether it warranted him to shoot or not.

Or that having made the decision to shoot he woukd more qualified than most to actually go through with it. He had his collegue there with him, maybe it was his call? Maybe this guy wasjust the one who fired the shot.

Well he made the call to shoot, whatever his reasons were. like i said he could have radio'd this back in and could have been told to shoot or whatever the circumstances were, we don't know. Heck he could have slipped (there was ater around there) and misfired and accidently hit the kid, who knows?

Yes but his call wasn't to kill the kid! His intentions were not for a 5 year old to wind up dead. The decision was to shoot the snake, what then happened after as a result of his decision to shoot at the snake wasn't his intention. He may not have been able to even include the kid as a part of his decision to shoot or not; he may have had no idea the kid or anyone was even there.

Well we'll see what happens to this guy, let's see if they determine his actions to be criminal in the first place. Maybe he did take into account of the conditions but couldn't account for what he didn't know about. Let's see what happens, i say nothing and he goes back to his job soon enough.

It does not matter if he could see the child or not.

No snake is going to stop a major caliber pistol round (9mm, .357, .40. .45). Modern pistol ammo is designed to penetrate a minimum of 12 inches of tissue.

And even if he could not see the child, he could see what was behind the snake, and should have exercised proper care and judgment to determine that there was a safe backstop before firing a round.

IMHO, the officer was clearly negligent when he discharged the firearm and he failed to use the care that a reasonable person with a similar level of firearms training and experience would have used.

Matt

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De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

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Considering that this took place in Oklahoma, I expect the officer to be promoted when he returns from his paid vacation.

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"I think—tide turning—see, as I remember—I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of—it's easy to see a tide turn—did I say those words?"—Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006

"[T]he illiteracy level of our children are appalling."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004