Wednesday, April 09, 2008

The Sean Bell Case Wraps Up

Defense lawyers for the three detectives accused of killing Sean Bell with 50 shots wrapped up their case Tuesday.

...A crime scene expert, who testified on Monday that it took the detectives just seconds to fire 50 rounds, conceded that pulling the trigger that many times took some doing.

"My finger was getting worn out," said Alexander Jason, who was put on the stand to counter accusations the cops were trigger-happy. "It took a lot of effort to pull that trigger."

Jason, who tested the weapons that killed Bell, said triggers on NYPD weapons are calibrated to make them harder to pull - and thus avoid accidentally spraying dozens of bullets at a target.

As always, its hard to tell who knows less; the "experts" or the reporters that comment upon such supposed expertise.

The NY1 and NY2 triggers were created by Glock so as to lessen negligent discharges. The NYPD was infamous for reholstering their weapons with booger hook on bang switch, and the 8 to 12 pound pull made it more difficult to shoot off a toe. One of the reasons officers equipped with such add-ons cannot hit the broadside of a barn from inside and must discharge multiple rounds to make contact with an intended target is due to the effort required to squeeze the trigger.The gun is less accurate in untrained hands (such as the NYPD) but surgeons at NY hospitals balked at establishing a special surgical unit to minister to "Glock-Leg", hence the necessary switch.

There was never a time when the normal Glock trigger configuration resulted in "accidentally spraying dozens of bullets at a target". Glocks used by the NYPD are semi-automatic, and not machine pistols.

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