I've followed this case very closely and honestly cannot find another reason other than, we trust cops to do the right thing and your line of "If every cop who accidentally shot or killed someone got charged with murder or manslaughter nobody would want to be a cop.". I don't see how this man was shot for anything other than being black. He did exactly what you are suppose to do. That cop is a murderer IMO and should never be on the streets much less policing them.
I haven't seen much of the officer's testimony in the news sites, it all talks about the girlfriend/wife and mother. Of course it's tragic, but only hearing it from his girlfriend/wife's perspective and his mother's is going to give you a very one sided view. I distinctly remember a young man who was killed while robbing somebody's house and his mother was going crazy about how good of a kid he was, can't remember the name.
I've seen enough of these types of situations that show the footage some bystander takes which makes the cops look undeniably terrible, then show the cop's body cam or some other perspective and it turns into a totally different story. I'm willing to give the judge/jury the benefit of the doubt.
It blows my mind how people who live 1000's of miles away and have a very limited amount of evidence are confident that they are better equipped to decide who is a murderer than a local judge and jury. It happens with every single high profile case.
If every cop who accidentally shot or killed someone got charged with murder or manslaughter nobody would want to be a cop.
edit: And this is yet another situation in which body cameras would have been extremely helpful.
If by accident you mean justified but tragic, I agree cops should not be charged.
If by justified, you mean the cop screwed up and and killed/injured somebody through over aggression or incompetence, then they should definately be charged.
Police, if anything, are given too much of the benefit of the doubt in these situations. If police were afraid of prosecution, tactics would change to avoid certain situations (no knock warrants, playing soldier). 99.99% of cops are great. It's the small minority that need reigned in.
Agree with you on the body camera's.
By accident I mean killing or shooting someone who actually isn't a threat. Whether that's a shot at a suspect that goes through a wall and hits someone, or a misunderstanding. You don't have to be overly aggressive or incompetent to have a misunderstanding.
https://www.policeone.com/use-of-force/articles/8097484-Video-Anti-police-protester-undergoes-use-of-force-scenario-training/There's a video of a reverend who was very critical of police killings. He went through a training class with the local PD and was "killed" in the first scenario when he hesitated. He ended up "killing" the suspect who was unarmed in his second scenario. In the third he did well and apprehended the suspect. He was 1/3 on nobody dying in his training. Afterwards he talks about how important compliance is specifically, how you need to do exactly what the police officer says.
I just read an article describing the Castile dashcam footage. It says he hands the officer his insurance after he was asked for his insurance and license, and then tells him "I have to tell you I do have a firearm on me." The cop says "don't pull it out," he then reaches for something, he says his driver's license, the cop says the gun, and the cop yells two more times "don't pull it out!" before shooting. Castile says "I'm not pulling it out" in between the two yells. If a cop is yelling "don't pull it out!" at you, STOP REACHING for whatever it is. Freezing in place is probably a good choice, and asking them how to proceed. It was probably an honest mistake, but if a cop knows you have a gun, sees you reaching for something, and you don't stop when he yells at you twice, I can see why he might think you're a threat.
If police were afraid of prosecution? Do you really think officers see these high profile trials like this one and think "Haha he got off totally clean, looks like we're still good to go!" The officer had all charges dropped, so his only consequences were losing his career, forever having his name associated with being a racist cop who murdered someone, and having a target on his back for the rest of his life. Yeah, definitely something I'd want to emulate if I was a cop, seems like a really great life.