No Charges For Officer Who Mistook Gun For Taser In 2019
Prosecutor Said Shooting Was ‘Neither Criminal Nor Justified, But Was Excused’
Video surveillance from the inside of a holding cell showed a man being shot in the abdomen by a police officer who yelled “Taser!” as a warning but accidentally drew his gun.
According to new reports in 2021, Brian Riling who was shot in a police holding cell in Bucks County in 2019, is suing the officer who shot him.
“The lawsuit also claims that at the time of the shooting, many of the officers, including the one who shot Riling and the New Hope police chief, had not been certified in Taser usage since at least 2016, when certification is supposed to be renewed yearly,” according to WFMZ.
This incident appears to be very similar to the police shooting of Daunte Wright who attempted to flee from police and the officer drew their gun instead of their Taser.
The officer from New Hope Pennsylvania retired after the incident and his name was not released.
“Given the totality of circumstances, the officer would have been justified in using his Taser to regain control of Riling inside the holding cell, as the officer had a reasonable belief the scuffle posed a danger to his fellow officer,” he said. Because the officer believed he was pointing a taser at Riling, Weintraub said, “he did not possess the criminal mental state required to be guilty of a crime under state law,” reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Surveillance footage showed Brian Riling placed into a holding cell and was asked to remove his belt but when he did, a small object fell to the floor and Riling stepped on it to hide it from the two officers standing nearby. The officers attempted to retrieve it thinking it was drugs and then all three men were into a struggle.
Riling yelled at the officers to claim that it wasn’t his.
During the fight, one officer ended up pulling out his gun and yelled “Taser” before pulling the trigger and Riling fell to the floor holding his abdomen in pain.
“Was that a gun?” he asked the officers. “What are you doing? Did you shoot me with a gun?”
Riling was on the floor, told the officers he was hurting and asked for medical attention.
“Fully eight minutes went by before the officers pulled Riling from the cell. Medics then took Riling to St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne, where he remained in critical condition for several days, according to the District Attorney’s Office. He was later released,” according to the outlet.
“The district attorney noted that the officer had holstered his Taser directly in front of his gun, both on his dominant side, his right. Authorities said that was a violation of department policy, which requires officers to keep Tasers holstered on their non-dominant sides.”
“It was not immediately clear Friday which model of Taser New Hope police officers carry. Generally, the devices operate in similar fashion to a gun and fire electrically charged prongs when a trigger is pulled.”
Watch Surveillance Footage Here (GRAPIC IMAGES And LANGUAGE)
https://youtu.be/m5o_OZBhqFU
