It's pretty clear this was an accident. However, if you can make a mistake like this, you shouldn't be a cop. And people shouldn't be pulled over for stupid crap like air fresheners.
I hate to see the immediate reaction that it's racism though. I don't know how many 'I accidentally used my gun instead of a taser' shootings there are of any race but plenty of other races get shot too. In fact, as many as twice the number of whites are shot each year as blacks. You just don't hear about that because it's not as good for ratings.
Having said that, when you consider the numbers on a per capita basis, blacks are shot at nearly twice the rate of whites. On the other hand, whites are shot at nearly twice the rate of Asians. Are police racist against whites in support of Asians? Probably not. I don't think this is as much about race directly as it is rich vs. poor. Or at least poor vs not poor. Poor neighborhoods tend to have more crime. This leads to a greater police presence and more opportunities for these kinds of things to happen. Many poor neighborhoods are predominantly black. There are a variety of reasons for this with racism, especially past racism and the continued fallout from that being one component. Point being that I don't believe that in most cases in which a black person is shot that the cop was necessarily racist.
But in addition to rethinking stupid ass laws about air fresheners and other laws designed to be able to pull people over just to check things out, can we also say it's incredibly stupid to run from the police? In almost every single instance (including this one it appears) where a shooting happens, regardless of race, the victim had at some point been struggling with or running from the police. I'm not saying that justifies taking someone's life. It does not. But when that happens, you are putting law enforcement in a difficult position. Fear, adrenaline, anger.... all natural consequences and a bad combination that makes mistakes and poor reactions all that much more likely.
There are problems here but if they aren't accurately identified then the problems can't be fixed. Accusing the cop of being racist while sometimes accurate often is not and when it is not, such accusations are counterproductive.
The issue of class does often supersede the race issue.
Poor people are more desperate, and desperate people do desperate things.
I'm not even sure if anyone is accusing the officer of being racist.
The entire system is racist, and she's just a tiny cog in the broken machine.
Well, the OP stated these mistakes don't happen to white people which to me implies racism by the cop making the mistake. I'm pretty sure there have been plenty of racism accusations.
As far as the system itself being racist, how so? What could be done to make it less racist? What explains whites getting shot at twice the rate of Asians on a per capita basis? Systemic racism too?
That's a really disappointing question.
Kinda like if I was trying to have a conversation about physics and someone was like:
Yeah but how can we be sure 2+2=4?
Minorities Who 'Whiten' Job Resumes Get More Interviews
Many Black Americans aren’t rushing to get the COVID-19 vaccine – a long history of medical abuse suggests why
Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice
This stuff barely scratches the surface.
Multiply by x100 to get an idea of what we are dealing with.