Police Officer Accidentally Shoots Motorcyclist, Blames Muscle Memory - Video

[sarisataka]

Police Officer Accidentally Shoots Motorcyclist, Blames Muscle Memory - Video

Footage has surfaced of a Minnesota police officer accidentally shooting a motorcyclist after stopping him for speeding. And what follows is one of the most Minnesota situation ever.

The shooting took place last June in the Twin Cities suburb of Eden Prairie, but video of the incident was only recently uncovered by local television station KMSP. In the video, Eden Prairie Police Sgt. Lonnie Soppeland pursues 21-year-old motorcyclist Matthew Hovland-Knase at speeds reportedly in excess of 100 mph. Eventually, the latter slows his motorcycle and pulls into the dirt shoulder of the road.

Soppeland quickly steps out of his patrol car, and in the process of shouting, "Get your hands where I can see him," fires a shot that hits Hovland-Knase in the arm.

In the unedited version of the video, Soppeland can be heard hissing, "Oh, sh*t. F*ck. F*ck," in much the same tone one might use after spilling really hot coffee into one's lap.

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/police-officer-accidentally-shoots-motorcyclist-160004024.html

I have noticed several times in police shooting videos that the officers fire (usually two shots) immediately after drawing. That s exactly how they train on the range- draw, fire two shots, evaluate. It may be time to reconsider that routine as people will resort to base training under stress.

I am a bit acquainted with Sgt. Soppeland from when I worked in Eden Prairie a couple of years ago. I remember him as a fairly average guy, genial and not one who would be out to 'bag a bad guy'.

[KamaAina]

1. Well, he can always catch on with the BART police

[Brickbat]

2. Oh god, this is actually hilarous. It is indeed very Minnesotan.

[Mika]

4. Hilarious?

WTF?

[Brickbat]

5. You didn't watch the video, I take it.

If you're not familiar with Minnesota nice, it's an excellent example of the genre.

[Mika]

15. I did watch it. I do know Minnesota nice. But, the biker got shot for no good reason.

Somehow I don't find it hilarious to see people shot for no good reason - despite the Minnesota nice.
But, that's me I guess.

[Brickbat]

18. "But, that's me I guess."

Nicely done. The shrug is perfect.

[uppityperson]

20. Yup.

[Mika]

21. Apt, imo.

[Act_of_Reparation]

23. No, it's not just you.

Unfortunately, there are others who can't help but get all indignant over simple gallows humor.

[uppityperson]

6. Run over to the guy you accidentally shot, have everyone apologizing and

saying they understand the other one didn't really mean it, reassuring each other. They didn't discuss the weather or the route they took to get there though.

[Brickbat]

8. No, no -- that comes when it's time to take their leave.

Check the weather, offer coffee, linger at the side of the road for some time...

[uppityperson]

9. You need to ask how their drive down was when they arrive AND ask how they

are planning on going when they leave. Yup.

[Brickbat]

11. Yah okay den.

[sarisataka]

13. Don't forget to promise

to stop by the house when you are in the neighborhood. Drop in anytime, no need to call first.

[Brickbat]

14. Did you like this coffee cake?

Why don't you just take the rest of it? I'll make more. It's no trouble. Here's some of the ham leftovers too.

[uppityperson]

16. Perfect!

My adult child looked aghast at me when talking about church potlucks with molded jello carrot celery chunk salad, good with tuna/mayo in the middle but ok with just plain mayo. And the secret ingredient of hot dish is.....?

[Brickbat]

17. Cream of mushroom soup, OBVIOUSLY.

Unless you're a barbarian who uses cream of celery occasionally.

[uppityperson]

19. Ewwwww, cream of celery

my husband makes mac and cheese and rolls his eyes when I tell him if he'd just add a can of tuna and some frozen peas it'd be better.

[uppityperson]

3. What do they mean, "Minnesota accent"? It sounds all normal to me. Yup.

For real

[Lizzie Poppet]

7. I can see a training issue, yes.

While "shoot or no shoot" drills are part of any proper training regimen, a lot of drills that aren't designed to refine that decision process do indeed involve drawing and firing as two components of essentially the same motion. I consider that to be a big mistake. For anything other than marksmanship drills (in which case the weapon won't be drawn as part of the drill...the officer will simply be shooting at the target), anything that involves drawing the weapon, there should be a "shoot or no shoot" phase, just like there is in real life. Until the decision to shoot is made, the trigger finger should be outside the trigger guard.

That's not an easy thing to remember under stress...which is why all "draw your weapon" drills must include shoot-or-no-shoot component.s

[TeamPooka]

10. another one with more bullets than brains. nt

[Separation]

12. The double tap

When I used to have to go to the pistol range, every 3 months. Every once in a while we would have a "guest" teacher. One of the times a guest speaker came and told us some really whacked out scenarios.

The FBI keeps every FBI shooting documented. What some of these shootings found out where interesting. Quite a few officers that where killed in the line of duty where found to have brass in their pockets. During range time they picked up their brass as they moved down the firing line. Training especially muscle memory training can be a bad thing sometimes. So what they ended up doing obviously is they stopped doing any kind of brass call and taught them to drop their magazine and move on.

Now to the response of the "double tap". It's taught not because they are super seal team 6. It's taught because during the majority of times when an agent had to fire his sidearm they found out that the first shot normally ended up 2-3 feet in front of him/her.

FBI, Police, Military, etc aren't super robots, we aren't able to "aim" for the legs during a firefight, but people. When a huge dump of adrenaline hits the body, people react differently. This officer obviously had it going during the 100+ chase.

When we trained, we never shot in pristine conditions. We would shoot during what's called stress shooting. Meaning your heart is at least 120bpm, because this is what is going to happen when that time comes.

I was in a unit that had the opportunity to shoot every day. We fired thousands of rounds a month. Most officers or agents, even military fire maybe hundreds of rounds a year due to cost. If I had the ability to teach these officers to train, I would definitely stress the importance of stress shooting.

[yellowcanine]

22. Officers are trained to draw their guns on a traffic stop?

That seems wrong. I know, it was not a routine traffic stop, the guy appeared to be running from the cop at excessive speed. But he also was on a motorcycle. The cop can see him clearly. Why not train the cop to crouch behind the cruiser with his gun holstered until he can determine the intent of the rider?

[NutmegYankee]

24. How is this an accident?

He pulled his gun, aimed it, and squeezed the trigger at his target. Seems pretty deliberate to me.

An accident is shooting yourself in the ass while reaching for the wallet.