Jonathan Wackrow, a former agent with the U.S. Secret Service and a CNN law enforcement analyst, questioned claims that an ICE agent who killed a woman on Wednesday needed to fire on her car.
CNN host Sara Sidner played two videos of the incident in Minneapolis that left 37-year-old mother Renee Nicole Good dead. One video showed the incident from behind, while the other showed the incident from the front.
"When you look at this video from all of the angles that you have seen there, and there is that shot through the windshield there, the bullet hole. Was the officer, from the standpoint of law enforcement, was his action reckless or justified in this deadly shooting?" she asked.
Wackrow noted that the incident will likely be evaluated through two lenses.
"The first lens is through law and DHS policy," he began. "And that's going to answer whether or not this shooting was permitted under the law, and by policy. Did it meet the standard for the use of deadly force in that moment?"
The second point, he said, dominated most of the conversation in the immediate aftermath.
"The second optic, which is really talking about the agent's judgment. And that's going to address whether or not that was the right call. And when we look at what administration officials are talking about, when they come out very forcefully, you know, supporting this agent. They're looking at it purely from the use-of-force policy of DHS and what the law permits," Wackrow explained.
He noted that the policy states that deadly force can be used, but only when necessary and "when the officer reasonably believes that in that very moment, the person in front of him poses an imminent threat, not just to themselves, but potentially to others around them."
An important rule under DHS policy says that deadly force may not be used to stop someone from escaping, Wackrow cited.
"So, that is from the policy standpoint. Now, we've had a lot of conversations around [were] there other options? Could the agent have stepped out of the way, to your point earlier. The car looked like moving to the right," he added.
Wackrow also discussed law-enforcement training protocols and revealed that he'd been in a similar situation several years ago while working for the Secret Service.
"During an arrest, I was in that exact position at the front of a vehicle. I had my weapon drawn. We knew that there was a potential imminent threat inside that vehicle. It was coming towards myself and my partners," he recalled.
"In that moment. I chose not to fire my weapon because firing a weapon at a moving vehicle is a high-risk, very dangerous option. One, because, you know, there's an order of consequences," Wackrow explained. "That is a moving vehicle — the rounds could ricochet. Once you potentially neutralize the driver, that vehicle becomes an errant vehicle. It can go into crowds. It could cause additional damage."
The independent investigation will be critical, he said. In large part, because it will reveal what the officer saw inside the vehicle that made him draw the weapon and shoot at the driver again and again.
