BART cop accidentally kills fellow officer

[Dr. Strange]

BART cop accidentally kills fellow officer

A San Francisco Bay transit officer was accidentally shot and killed by a colleague Tuesday as they searched a suspect's apartment to serve a warrant, officials said.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit officer was the first killed in the line of duty in the department's 42-year history, said BART Police Chief Kenton Rainey.

The identifies of both officers were not immediately released.


More: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/21/california-bart-officer-killed-accidentally/4737493/

I don't have a big enough face palm smiley for this.

[sibelian]

1. Hm.

Don't think I'll be sneering at this one, thanks.

[lostincalifornia]

2. agreed, someone got killed is nothing to sneer at

[NightWatcher]

3. If they can't find a bad guy to shoot, they'll...

Maybe the transit cops should leave the tracking of bad guys to real police officers and they can stick to the BART lines

[A Little Weird]

4. Sad

Do transit police normally serve warrants or search apartments? That seems odd. I thought they had a much more limited role.

[bobduca]

9. My thoughts too when i read the story but...

A BART police officer joins task forces with county sherrifs and other police when checking on probation of individuals convicted of crimes under their jurisdiction. ie. A BART cop is just as trained as other police to do this kind of parole enforcement and they end up being involved for crimes that happened on or near BART stations.

I gathered this info from the comments on the sfgate article, whose comment section is seemingly mecca for a bunch of illiterate right wing blowhards.

[MineralMan]

5. Why were they serving a warrant in the first place.

Did someone take a free ride on BART? It happens. I can't see the need for any warrant in such cases.

[Dr. Strange]

7. That does seem odd.

Like ICE interrogating a guy for wearing Google glasses to a movie. How do these organizations end up creeping into all these areas?

[seveneyes]

6. Idiots with guns

Licensed to kill. There are too many megalomaniacs sworn to the public roles and they are unqualified for such duty.

[nilesobek]

8. Up here in Idaho

they like flash bang grenades they throw inside houses to set off raids of medical marijuana growers. Sometimes women and children get injured by these grenades. They also use a strange variety of law enforcement officers to participate in the raids. They have been using fish and game officers or any other agency officers who want a crack at it.

This might explain why BART officers are being used in this way. Its just "training."