Prometheus 6

“The cop that fired 31 shots, he faces having to show that his actions under the circumstances were reasonable. The number of bullets does not denote whether it was reasonable or not.”

vs.

It is known in police parlance as “contagious shooting” — gunfire that spreads among officers who believe that they, or their colleagues, are facing a threat. It spreads like germs, like laughter, or fear. An officer fires, so his colleagues do, too....

Just what happened on Saturday is still being investigated. Police experts, however, suggested in interviews yesterday that contagious shooting played a role in a fatal police shooting in Queens Saturday morning.

You know, if everyone had a rule requiring the prosecution to wait a couple of days before even talking to them, very few people would actually be in jail.

In Trial Over Police Killing in Queens, Focus May Be on First 2 of 50 Bullets
By MICHAEL WILSON

It has become widely known as the “50-shot” case, but as the trial of the detectives accused in the killing of Sean Bell approaches on Monday, the defense is expected to concentrate in particular on 2 of those 50 bullets: the first one fired by each of the two detectives who are charged with manslaughter.