Looks Like A bad Shoot...Might Not Be

St. Louis:

An off-duty officer who lives nearby heard the commotion, grabbed his service pistol and headed to the scene to assist his fellow officers. He arrived as the other officers were carrying out the arrest.

The other officers ordered the off-duty officer to the ground, then recognized him as a fellow policeman and told him to stand up and walk toward them.

As he approached, another officer arrived and shot the off-duty officer in the arm, “apparently not recognizing” him, police told the Associated Press...

The shooter, a 36-year-old officer who has been on the force for eight years, told investigators he had feared for his safety.

In this case, the "I was afraid for my life" doesn't look like it's going to pass muster. Whether the officer "recognized" the off duty officer or not, he had just gotten on scene. He did not know the current situation and therefore took it upon himself to fire at a man. Had he said something along the lines of "I feared for the lives of my fellow officers because it seemed like someone was approaching them with a gun", it would have made more sense. But to, as the report says, pull up, get out and start shooting, the whole "I was afraid for my life" story becomes verysuspect.

That there is no claim of the officer trying to find out who the "strange man" was or to instruct said man to stop, put hands up, or anything that would have informed him of the situation suggests negligence.

The Reasonable Doubt Argument:

I predict that should there be a criminal proceeding, the defense will say that the officer arrived and saw a person who fit the general description of the suspects at large get up from the ground. He would say that when he saw this "suspect" get up he thought that the person was attempting to effect an escape and/or harm the officers. So fearing that the suspect was armed and would shoot any or all of them, he fired his weapon.

It is highly unlikely that any charge requiring criminal intent will be charged and if they are, they will be unable to prove criminal intent. I'd not even waste time on such a charge.

If there is a civil case filed, the argument will be the same BUT since the burden of proof is "more likely than not" (51%) it will probably be the same argument. The key will be when the officer arrived and what he did and did not know at the time.