Brooklyn Center shooting puts 2002 Rochester incident back in focus

Sunday’s police shooting of an unarmed Black man in Brooklyn Center has brought renewed attention to a two-decade old incident in Rochester in which an officer mistook his firearm for a Taser and shot a man in the back.

The incident, which happened in 2002, led Rochester Police to replace its Taser guns with new versions that have a different color and grip than a standard handgun. The department also implemented a policy requiring officers to carry Tasers on the opposite side of their handguns.

What led to the Rochester shooting?

According to media reports from the time, Rochester officers were called to an apartment building after reports came in that a man, who had too much too drink, was fighting and damaging property. When officers arrived, the man, later identified as Christofar Atak, reportedly jumped in front of an officer’s car and was threatening suicide, saying “I want to die.”

When a second officer arrived, a struggle ensued with Atak — leading the second officer, Greg Siem, to pull out what he thought was a Taser and fire a shot into Atak’s back. The gun, however, turned out to be the officer’s .40-caliber Glock handgun. Authorities at the time said Siem was carrying the Taser in his cargo pocket below his handgun holster, and was unaware he grabbed the wrong weapon due to the “similar handle and trigger configuration of the Taser and his firearm, and the fact that he could not see the weapon while struggling with Mr. Atak.”

After realizing the mistake officers immediately called for medical assistance, according to a police press statement from 2002. Atak was treated for serious, though non-fatal injuries at St. Marys Hospital.

Multiple agencies, including the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, later determined the incident to be an accident; thus no criminal charges were ever filed. Atak did, however, reach a $900,000 settlement agreement after suing the city for excessive force.

Roger Peterson, who served as police chief at the time of the incident, also stated that he personally visited Atak at the hospital to apologize to him for the incident and to explain the results of the investigation.

Regular Taser training required in Rochester

While not common, there have been a number of instances since the Rochester shooting involving officers reportedly mistaking their Tasers for more lethal force. (One article published in 2012 in a law enforcement journal documented nine similar instances between 2001 and 2009. There was also a more recent example in Pennsylvania where an officer shouted “Taser!” before shooting an unarmed man in the torso.)

In response to the latest shooting in Brooklyn Center, Rochester Police Chief Jim Franklin reiterated on Tuesday that RPD officers do carry Tasers, opposite their strong hand. He also noted that the department “conducts annual training for all officers on Taser use and less lethal options.”

The shooting in Brooklyn Center has set off two nights of protests, and led to the resignations of both the officer involved in the shooting as well as the city’s police chief. The department has stated that the officer, 26-year veteran Kim Potter, mistakenly fired her handgun instead of her Taser when trying to detain the 20-year-old victim, Daunte Wright.

Cover photo: protesters clash with police in Brooklyn Center following the police shooting of Daunte Wright / licensed via Getty