Recklessly Shooting at a Random Truck, Injuring Innocent Women, Is Not Enough to Get Bounced from the LAPD

The good news is that it is against Los Angeles Police
Department policy for its officers to just recklessly open fire on
random people after confusing them with a suspect in a crime. The
bad news is a pack of officers who violated this policy may not
even get so much as a slap on the wrist.

The eight police officers who a year ago, during the hunt for
ex-cop-turned-killer Christopher Dorner, opened fire on two women
in a truck delivering newspapers, are going back out on the field.
From the
Los Angeles Times:

Eight Los Angeles police officers who violated department policy
when they mistakenly opened fire on two women during the hunt for
Christopher Dorner will be retrained and returned to the field,
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said in a department-wide message
Wednesday.

The message, sent on the LAPD’s internal computer network and
obtained by The Times, notes his disapproval in the actions of the
seven officers and one sergeant. 

“While I understand supervisors and officers were required to
make split-second decisions regarding the perceived threat
presented before them I found it to be very concerning that
officers fired before adequately identifying a threat; fired
without adequately identifying a target and not adequately
evaluating cross fire situations,” Beck said.

But apparently none of those extremely terrible decisions should
keep these officers from going back out onto the field with their
guns. The Times notes that the decision to return the
officers to the field doesn’t prohibit Beck from disciplining them,
but sources told the paper it’s unlikely. No discipline at all for
just lighting up a truck in a hail of gunfire.

Last year, Reason TV interviewed the lawyer for the two women,
Maggie Carranza and Emma Hernandez, injured by the police in the
shootings. Watch below: