01-18-2026, 09:31 AM
"Minnesota shooting videos challenge administration narrative, policing experts question tactics"
"Policing experts say some of the choices the officer made in that moment defy practices nearly every law enforcement agency have followed for decades.
‘A dangerous decision to make’"
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"A third officer, who had been out of the way on the passenger side of the car then walks around the Honda’s hood, stands just in front of the driver and appears to be holding his phone up like he’s filming."
"“Why would he do that? Why would he put himself in a more dangerous position than he was already in?” asked Geoffrey P. Alpert, an expert on policing at the University of South Carolina, who called it “absurd” for an officer to use his body to try to block a 4,000-pound SUV.
Darrel W. Stephens, former chief of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, also pointed to this moment as the baffling first step in a series of questionable actions that most police departments have discouraged for years. As a police chief, he prohibited officers from standing in front of cars in the early 1990s."
"The Honda starts to drive forward, its tires turning to the right as the officer stands in front.“Why doesn’t he step out of the way? Why doesn’t he move?” asked Alpert."
"“And the reason is a good one," said Sharon Fairley, a law professor and criminal justice expert at the University of Chicago. “If the officer is successful at shooting the driver, then you have a motor vehicle, a two-ton vehicle that’s not being directed, and it creates a huge public safety risk.”
The officer shoots a second time. By then, he's at the side of the car, an arm’s length from the driver-side window. A third shot immediately follows.
None of the other officers draw their weapons."
"“Thank goodness no one was in the car she hit on the side of the road,” Alpert said, “and fortunately there were no kids playing out there and no one else got hurt.”"
The officer who fired the shots watches the car careen down the road and re-holsters his gun. The street is quiet for a moment."
"None of the agents immediately go to the Honda to render aid; a minute after the crash the pedestrian in the flannel shirt is seen in the video leaning alone into the open driver’s side door. A medic runs toward the crash site."
"One bystander trains her camera on the officer who fired the shots as he walks away from the crash and toward his colleagues at the parked federal vehicles, telling them to call 911. He does not appear injured."
"One alternative, Fairley said, was to have just let her leave, and go arrest her later."
Minnesota shooting videos challenge administration narrative, policing experts question tactics
Expects weighed in as did a Judge.
"Policing experts say some of the choices the officer made in that moment defy practices nearly every law enforcement agency have followed for decades.
‘A dangerous decision to make’"
---
"A third officer, who had been out of the way on the passenger side of the car then walks around the Honda’s hood, stands just in front of the driver and appears to be holding his phone up like he’s filming."
"“Why would he do that? Why would he put himself in a more dangerous position than he was already in?” asked Geoffrey P. Alpert, an expert on policing at the University of South Carolina, who called it “absurd” for an officer to use his body to try to block a 4,000-pound SUV.
Darrel W. Stephens, former chief of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, also pointed to this moment as the baffling first step in a series of questionable actions that most police departments have discouraged for years. As a police chief, he prohibited officers from standing in front of cars in the early 1990s."
"The Honda starts to drive forward, its tires turning to the right as the officer stands in front.“Why doesn’t he step out of the way? Why doesn’t he move?” asked Alpert."
"“And the reason is a good one," said Sharon Fairley, a law professor and criminal justice expert at the University of Chicago. “If the officer is successful at shooting the driver, then you have a motor vehicle, a two-ton vehicle that’s not being directed, and it creates a huge public safety risk.”
The officer shoots a second time. By then, he's at the side of the car, an arm’s length from the driver-side window. A third shot immediately follows.
None of the other officers draw their weapons."
"“Thank goodness no one was in the car she hit on the side of the road,” Alpert said, “and fortunately there were no kids playing out there and no one else got hurt.”"
The officer who fired the shots watches the car careen down the road and re-holsters his gun. The street is quiet for a moment."
"None of the agents immediately go to the Honda to render aid; a minute after the crash the pedestrian in the flannel shirt is seen in the video leaning alone into the open driver’s side door. A medic runs toward the crash site."
"One bystander trains her camera on the officer who fired the shots as he walks away from the crash and toward his colleagues at the parked federal vehicles, telling them to call 911. He does not appear injured."
"One alternative, Fairley said, was to have just let her leave, and go arrest her later."
Minnesota shooting videos challenge administration narrative, policing experts question tactics
Expects weighed in as did a Judge.
"The only journey is the one within."
