V. Barbarino Posted May 31 Report Share Posted May 31 sourceWed May 30, 11:01 AM ETSTRATFORD, Conn. - An off-duty New Haven police officer shot and critically wounded his 18-year-old daughter, apparently mistaking her for an intruder after she sneaked out of their Stratford home and re-entered through the basement.ADVERTISEMENTEric Scott, 41, on the New Haven force for nine years, has not been charged in the Tuesday shooting."Mr. Scott was under the impression his daughter had gone to bed for the night," Stratford Capt. Thomas Rodia said. "He did not expect his daughter to be outside or down in the basement."Investigators said Tasha Scott left her home late Monday to meet a boyfriend. She triggered a backyard motion sensor light as she tried to enter through a basement door.Awakened by the light, Eric Scott spotted someone moving in the basement bathroom, police said. He fired his department-issued pistol once, hitting the teen in the knee. The bullet traveled up her leg and lodged in her thigh area, police said.Her father called 911, authorities said.The teenager underwent surgery and was listed in critical but stable condition Wednesday morning.Scott has been on leave since being struck by a truck while on duty in November. A telephone listing for him had been disconnected Wednesday morning, and a message left for him at the New Haven department was not immediately returned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan2772 Posted May 31 Report Share Posted May 31 aren't cops supposed to have a natural tendancy to yell "freeze" before shooting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest yume Posted May 31 Report Share Posted May 31 Some people should not have guns. Especially the ones that are too eager to use them. I know people who went into the military because they WANT to see action. I'm sure some cops are the same way. They choose that type of job for a reason. Sounds like this guy was one of those types. He didn't think before he acted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest endymion Posted May 31 Report Share Posted May 31 He didn't think before he acted.He couldn't think before he acted. The human brain isn't wired that way.When your heart rate goes over about 170, your rational brain shuts down and your unconscious instinctive brain takes over. It makes decisions by recognizing patterns and acting immediately. That part of your brain learns from experience just like your rational brain does. The unconscious part of a cop's brain that is making decisions in the first second or two may be more likely to interpret the sudden appearance of an intruder as a life-or-death encounter with a malicious person, because they encounter that pattern repeatedly and their lower brain trains itself to recognize the life-threatening pattern and immediately react.A cop could be even more likely to make that mistake than an ordinary person. A cop's instincts are trained to react to situations where the suspect really is likely to be malicious.For more information, read Blink, which includes an entire chapter about this effect. The chapter features a tragic police shooting incident similar to this, and analyzes what went wrong in those critical first two seconds to cause the shooting. I suggest this book over and over because it's easy to read and very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jbit Posted May 31 Report Share Posted May 31 He didn't think before he acted.Hindsight's 20/20 ... I bet she wont sneak out of the house again though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest yume Posted May 31 Report Share Posted May 31 He didn't think before he acted.He couldn't think before he acted. The human brain isn't wired that way.When your heart rate goes over about 170, your rational brain shuts down and your unconscious instinctive brain takes over. It makes decisions by recognizing patterns and acting immediately. That part of your brain learns from experience just like your rational brain does. The unconscious part of a cop's brain that is making decisions in the first second or two may be more likely to interpret the sudden appearance of an intruder as a life-or-death encounter with a malicious person, because they encounter that pattern repeatedly and their lower brain trains itself to recognize the life-threatening pattern and immediately react.A cop could be even more likely to make that mistake than an ordinary person. A cop's instincts are trained to react to situations where the suspect really is likely to be malicious.For more information, read Blink, which includes an entire chapter about this effect. The chapter features a tragic police shooting incident similar to this, and analyzes what went wrong in those critical first two seconds to cause the shooting. I suggest this book over and over because it's easy to read and very interesting.I see what you're saying, but shooting before you even see the person? That's jumping the gun a bit. (no pun intended)I'll check out that book though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V. Barbarino Posted May 31 Author Report Share Posted May 31 He should have called out the names of his family members before firing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest endymion Posted May 31 Report Share Posted May 31 Hindsight's 20/20Hindsight is 20/20 because it occurs in the thinking, rational upper brain. The decision to pull the trigger happened in the pattern-recognizing, immediate-action lower brain.He didn't make a decision at the critical moment to aim, because aiming the gun in the direction of the flashlight came from his police training so he was tracking the beam with his gun the whole time. It all came down to a blink moment where the cop saw a pattern that his lower brain recognized as a threat. The gun was already aimed, the lower brain pulled the trigger.If his heart beat was too high then his upper brain had no opportunity to intervene. He had no opportunity to call out the names of his children, because his lower brain just knew that the only thing moving in his basement was either an animal or an intruder. It recognized the wrong pattern in the critical 1-2 seconds after he recognized that he was looking at a person in the beam of his flashlight. His lower cop brain thought that he was about to get killed himself, and his upper human brain was temporarily switched off.Aside from gun safety lessons, there are two big lessons in Blink: One is that your lower brain can be trained and educated. The other is that if you are aware of your two brains and how they work, then you can avoid making a common type of mistake. The mistake of making a judgement with the wrong brain. Some judgments are best left on autopilot, the book cites art dealers and firefighters and soldiers and others who intentionally shift to their unconscious pattern recognizing brain at certain times. Some judgments are best handled by your rational, thinking brain. If you want that brain to be in charge then you have to stay calm and keep your heart rate down.If you're analyzing how to avoid making critical mistakes then you have to focus on the things that you have control over. The cop's only mistake that he actually had control over was that he was too excited. He was too aroused and aggressive because it was his own house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JMT Posted May 31 Report Share Posted May 31 unless he sleeps in the basement, the guy had time to retrieve his gun and think. he is a 9 year veteran. what he did was done out of stupidity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest endymion Posted May 31 Report Share Posted May 31 the guy had time to retrieve his gun and think.Yes, exactly what I'm saying. His mistake was that he did not stay calm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan2772 Posted May 31 Report Share Posted May 31 i think she should stop whoring around town Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest drlogic Posted May 31 Report Share Posted May 31 Or simply keep a taser gun/riffle easily assessable in your home instead of the common ballistics weapon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest yume Posted May 31 Report Share Posted May 31 i think she should stop whoring around townlol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jason_B Posted May 31 Report Share Posted May 31 Or simply keep a taser gun/riffle easily assessable in your home instead of the common ballistics weapon.I want one of those!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest endymion Posted May 31 Report Share Posted May 31 Wow neat. Hard to see the readout on the back of the Taser and work its trigger though. You have to aim with the rifle and then reach down and shoot the Taser left-handed? You only get one shot, that setup kind of sucks.I really think that somebody else who was NOT a cop in that same situation would have hesitated before shooting long enough to avoid shooting his own daughter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest michael^heaven Posted June 1 Report Share Posted June 1 Anyone see that episode of Cops where this teenager sneaks her boyfriend through the bathroom window? A neighbor calls the cops because they see someone climbing into a side window of the house. The cops show...her grandfather answers the door...unaware of what his teenage granddaughter is up to. The cops enter the bathroom to find the teenage girl & her boyfriend taking a "bath" together.[move]CHAPPED!!!! ;D[/move] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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