Dumb emotional people simply do dumb things. There are some cops that are not naturally inclined or streetwise to be cops. Ex Marines are perfect. Many people and some woman, go after the job just for the generous pay and benefits. This below is just in my local area.
Cry of ‘Gun!’ Is Claimed in Fatal Shooting of Fellow Officer
part:
However, someone seems to have yelled something: officers have said that a civilian at the chaotic scene — possibly a retired New York City police sergeant — was heard yelling “Gun! Gun!” or words to that effect just before Officer Geoffrey J. Breitkopf, who was in plain clothes and carrying a rifle, was shot on Saturday night, Mr. Carver said.
If the account is accurate, it adds a member of a third police department, albeit retired, to the scrum of officers outside a crime scene where a lack of recognition among officers proved fatal. The officer who fired the fatal shot was from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s police department.
more
www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/nyregion/15nassau.html
Friendly fire by ex-Nassau cop likely killed hero ATF agent at drugstore holdup:
part:
INVESTIGATORS believe the federal agent who heroically foiled a Long Island pharmacy robbery was killed by friendly fire from a retired Nassau County police lieutenant, sources said Monday.
John Capano, 51, an off-duty agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, was picking up cancer medicine for his elderly father when he got caught up in the stickup at Charlie’s Family Pharmacy in Seaford on Saturday.