How does a police officer mistake a taser for a pistol?

I don’t know how it happens, but the how really needs to be figured out and addressed so that it absolutely can’t happen.  Police offers are supposed to keep their gun on their dominant-handed side and their taser on the opposite side so they don’t mess it up, but apparently that doesn’t work.  It’s still an accident waiting to happen, but it’s an accident that’s already happened several times before.  In fact, Daunte Wright was the 13th death from a police taser-gun mix-up in the USA since 2001.

He/she doesn't. It was just an excuse...................DUH!!!

Maybe the simple answer to the question is racisum  because racisum and hate can cloud a persons mind and put them in a dark  place. Cheers!

After watching the video on the news tonight, you can see that Potter's taser was YELLOW, get when she held out her arms to shoot, she had a BLACK gun.  Is the color blind?  How is it that she didn't realize that what she held in her hands was not her taser?

Being a former police officer myself, I'll try to tackle this question. Yes, the training that some police receive is shoddy at best and definitely needs to be changed. That said, most training that cadets receive is quite good. Under most circumstances, this training will lend to a professional and peaceful solution out on the street.

However, under certain circumstances, especially when the officer is under a lot of duress,  even the good training they have will sometimes falter and it's inevitable that mistakes will be made. There's no such thing as human perfection at any level regardless of what you do for a living. Mistakes can be and are made.  That's why they always have an investigation after every incident to determine what really happened.

Unless a person is placed into situations that many police officers are, they can't begin to understand what happens to one's mental state at that moment of crisis. Many officers are exposed to death and mayhem on a daily basis. That's a huge mental strain. Some can't handle that, especially when children are involved, and they will sometimes quit the force. Some may develop PTSD. And some commit suicide.

Training is very necessary but training, no matter how good it is, cannot and will not always prepare you for every circumstance that may happen on a given day. I may be repeating myself but, are there bad cops? Absolutely and they need to be removed immediately. Are there good cops? Absolutely. Most are. Unfortunately, far too many people focus on the few bad cops and come to the conclusion that all cops are bad.

And the media stokes this "all cops are bad" fire with their erroneous, incomplete, incompetent reporting and outright lies. The media rarely investigates "all" of facts leading up to an incident. They instead focus on the outcome, especially if this outcome may put the cops in a bad light. Sadly there are a lot of people who simply believe everything the media says instead of investigating it for themselves to make sure what the media says is true or false.