There is a lot wrong with what happened to Dante Wright. Pulling him over because of air fresheners dangling from his rearview mirror!?!

(At this point I hear cops & supporters waxing self-righteous about visibility).

Then one cop evidently doesn't take the trouble to distinguish between her firearm & her Taser? Because she's afraid? Hyped up? Why? There were three cops & one young guy.

Still, he wasn't "innocent". He had warrants. Maybe they were bullshit warrants, but the cops had the right to take him into custody. Cops also don't let suspects re-enter their cars or houses. They just don't. They were also right to try to stop him.

Of course, the use of deadly force here was wrong. Completely wrong. Even if it was shown to be accidental as the chief suggested, it was a reckless homicide. It's not the first time a cop has allegedly mistaken his/her firearm for a Taser. Remember Oscar Grant? Fruitville Station? There is just no excuse. People are right to protest.

But I also think we have to honest here. Dante Wright was going to be subject to force once he broke away & got back into the car.

Lt Nazario in VA, on the other hand, was innocent. That encounter was wrong in every particular. Cops had no right to even talk to him, much less threaten, pepper spray & arrest him. What's really infuriating is the knowledge that the dept wasn't going to do anything about it until the video went public. I honestly hope that after he wins the lawsuit, Nozario gets some comrades together & looks up Guitierrez—probably greeting shoppers at Walmart now. But he's probably a better man than that.

Parenthetically, a slightly similar case came to light some twenty years ago when a woman driving alone slowly drove to the front of a small-town police station before pulling over. The cops who tried to stop her beat the crap out of her. Her fear of course was different: That they weren't real cops, while Nazario’s fear is that they were bona fide cops. Still, some cops believe that any attempt by a motorist to drive to a more public place before stopping disrespects them somehow. They argue drivers should pull over immediately & submit, regardless, & if they happen to be the Hillside Strangler or Red Light Bandit, well that's TFB!