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According to nydailynews.com, “An unarmed Bronx bodega worker fleeing a botched armed robbery at his uncle’s store was accidentally shot dead by a police officer early Friday, cops said. While witnesses said Reynaldo Cuevas was killed in a lethal case of mistaken identity, police said his death came after the officer’s gun went off as the two collided outside the store . . . Cuevas was sprinting with his head down when he slammed into the officer, who was standing with his gun drawn, according to [NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul] Browne. As the two tumbled to the ground, the cop ‘accidentally discharged his firearm’ — inflicting the mortal wound, Browne said.”

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52 COMMENTS

  1. Ill just leave this here, courtesy of the RAND corporation.

    (NYPD)Refresher Firearm Training and Requalification
    The semiannual firearm requalification consists of three parts:
    • Lecture: A two-part lecture to remind officers of current safety and tactical issues. The first lecture consists of 38 overhead slides that review drawing the firearm, fundamentals of shooting, accidental discharges, firearm maintenance, and the basics of using OC spray. The second lecture covers epartmentwide firearm discharge reports, use of force, reflexive shooting, patrol tactics, dogs, and firearm
    safety.
    • Practice: An opportunity to fire 45 rounds of ammunition at stationary targets at 7-, 15-, and 25-yard distances. Practice is unscored on a tactical pistol course.
    Requalification: This included firing 50 rounds at stationary targets at 7-, 15-, and 25-yard distances. A minimum of 39 hits is required to qualify.

    • “Requalification: This included firing 50 rounds at stationary targets at 7-, 15-, and 25-yard distances. A minimum of 39 hits is required to qualify.”

      I like the min requirements of 39 on a stationary target. All officers should have to pass with 100% on stationary targets. Hell if I can do it for fun, they should be able to do it for their job.

    • Have “hits” count only if they’re in the torso and make the passing requirement 50 out of 50 for both trials, then we’ll talk. If you can’t train yourself close to perfection with your duty weapon then you’re benched ’til you do, simple as that. I understand we’re all human, but in an environment as urban as NYC the current training program is absurd at best.

    • Wow, I shoot more than that at monthly IDPA matches – not counting when I go to the range to practice between matches.

  2. I think its safe to say that “NYPD level shot placement” has become a running joke in departments elsewhere throughout the country. Hell at this rate, we might as well keep a tally and form an over-under betting pool as to how many innocents are shot as a result of future bonehead moves.

  3. he accidently shot the man with the nypd 12 pound trigger. time to require and 18 pound trigger to cut down on accidents.

  4. A whole 45 rounds of unscored practice. I guess keeping score would hurt their self-esteem. Does eveyone get a trophy too?

    Glock already had to invent the “New York trigger” for these idiots. Maybe they could crank it up to a forty-seven pound trigger pull.

  5. Furthere proof that citizens with guns lead to accidents, not safety, and LEO are the “only ones” qualified and competent with dangerous weapons.

    Oh, wait …

  6. This travesty should put to rest forever the question of which job is more dangerous: cop or bodega owner in the Bronx.

  9. If I hear his highness the Mayor say, “Highly trained police officers” one more time, I’d like to kick his ‘nads up under his teeth. I realize that there is a LOT more to being a police officer than shooting, stuff like law, crime statistics, procedures of arrests, etc. but 39 hits out of 50 is considered good enough at distances of 75 feet or less? I’d put money on my 77 year old dad with his tri-focal glasses being able to shoot better than that. Heck 10 years ago, my mom could have done it, but her hands shake too much now, and she is 78.

    • gonna have to disagree with you on that. he’s nypd, if he’d aimed and fired at the man he would’ve missed. had to have been an accident cause he hit the man.

      • +100!!
        With all respect to the deceased
        Workers family we now know that the optimal range for an NYPD Officer to accurately hit a target is at exactly “jump on the end of the barrel” range or for numbers people exactly 0 feet and 0 inches!!!
        ND at best and negligent homicide in reality!!!
        My ? Is: Why didn’t the dumbass cop just step out of the way?? The owner had already ran out the same door a few feet ahead of the worker who was killed!!!
        Something smells mighty fishy in this “Report”!!!

  13. So what’s the count for the year by NYPD cops. How many have been shot “accidentally?” Anyone keeping count?

  16. Dang, the NYPD is racking up quite the civilian casualty count.

    How many innocents have been killed by legally-carrying citizens this year?

  17. Isn’t that put the accidental deaths from shot’s fired by police officers in the last 30 days almost up to 1 a day? Kind of sounds to me like the cops need to have their guns taken away. They seam to be shooting more Innocent people then the bad guys are…

  18. No such thing as AD, and in this case it was definately and ND. No finger on the trigger means no rounds discharged, means bodega clerk alive and well. If they can’t master basic safety and pistol manipulation, what makes anyone think they will be able to hit what they aim at? TRAINING! If you want to keep the people of your city disarmed under the premise that the police will protect them, they better be damn well better prepared than this to do it!

  19. Time to start handing out ballistic vests to the unarmed NYC public. I wonder if there is a special insurance rider for residents and visitors of and to NYC that covers NYPD caused deaths or severe injuries ?

  20. The control freaks keep telling us that these are the people worthy of having firearms. The government of New York City should be handed over to upstate regions where folks have better sense.

  21. RF, you should start keeping track of the number of citizens killed by LEOs in NDs, and compare it to the number of cops killed on the clock by firearms. It would be a good article.

  24. I still can’t believe he did not shoot the first guy.

    I watched it a few times in a row and the first guy must have been screaming his head off “DONT SHOOT” but the second guy out was heading right for him and surprised him with no time to identify his target and since he was not following ANY gun safety rules and had his weapon in his hand, yet another innocent civilian has been kill by new yorks finest.

    Of coarse NOTHING will happen to this POS officer other than being put on paid vacation, get an administrative slap on the wrist, and a quite transfer to somewhere else in the country where he can do this all over again to someone else.

  25. ok, i support our police officers that are trying to do an honest job. but can we get a different category? there are different kinds of leo’s, state, federal, county etc. can we have an entirely different classification for the nypd? i dunno, like maybe keystone or something like that.

  26. NYPD seems to be actively vying for the most inept PD award. AD or ND what happened there never should have happened.

  28. If the discharge was due to the collision between the cop and the clerk, the cop’s finger would have to be forced back without the gun moving back, and that finger was inside the trigger guard. Otherwise, the gun and hand would be pushed in against the cop’s body in unison. But what else is the NYPD going to say, contradicting the fact that the heavy trigger pull was specified to avoid accidental discharges?

    It would be interesting see stats on departments and their approved guns versus the number of on-target hits and missed hits.

  29. There was a moment in time when I packed a 2″ M-10 S&W Square Butt 38 spl (yeah, go figure).
    Our issue ammo was 148 grn lead hollow based wad cutters, loaded backwards, at the time the ultimate CQB load for a 38 spl.
    Useful to distances of 12 feet,,,OK 18 feet,,,when it hit, was devestating. We practiced ALOT and learned that the bullet started to flip over @ 16 feet, to the left.
    If it hit, the damage was incapacitating.

    • I’ve heard of the reverse hollow base wadcutter load. That has to be the ultimate hollow point. I’m assuming it was a factory load? Who loaded it?

      • the only ones i ever saw were handloads. this was a time when hollowpoints were expermental and hard to find. when loaded in the manner they were meant to be the hollow based wadcutter was very accurate. but as RIGHT! says, when loaded backwards they had a mind of their own.

  30. In the end that officer murdered a person without any threat to his life or the life of others, wether it was accidental discharge or not, he should be tried for murder with a firearm and should loose his job, he clearly doesn’t have an idea what he’s doing, so why leave anything to chance?

    A quick question, I wonder if we shouldn’t just see all scenario’s where cops have killed a person as a murder case unless it is shown that that person posed a lethal threat to him or others, just like the law aplies to civilians?

  31. I’ll take a different tact here. Lets take the daily news link as fact and put yourslef in the cops shoes. Youre on your beat and someone tells you armed robbers just hit a store . Thats all you know. Theres a threat out there. Your adrenalin goes up and you’re nervous as hell. Unholstering your gun becomes a debate point here. Right or not you pull yours out. Then someone crashes into you. Is your first instinct sayig “oh this is OK” or “$&@&&& someone is attacking me”? This is a tragedy all around– 2 people trying to do the right thing and their intentions literally collide.

  32. Here’s one for you!!!
    On Aug 12th 2012 a Little Rock Ar police officer shot and killed an15yr old LR youth who was driving a car at a High Rate Of Speed in the officers general direction.
    The officer fired at the driver out of fear for his life striking and killing the youth!! The teen and others were breaking into cars in an apt complex parking lot.
    After numerous story changes and witness statements the officer was arrested Sep 7th for a Class C felony!!!
    Now this is the real pisser: Even though that officer unjustly fired upon and killed a teenager he has been on paid admin leave and still is on paid admin leave as of this morning and has bonded out on a $15000 bond!!!
    NYPD aren’t the only PO PO dept in need of some serious help and training!! I know LR get’s worse all the time but crap!! Paid leave after bonding out?? Hell I was born and raised in LR in the early 60’s but you would think the PD had gotten a little better since then!!!
    The article is in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette(ArkansasOnline.com)!!

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