Police leaders realized decades ago that firing into moving vehicles was a recipe for disaster. The idea is intuitive: Officers are unlikely to hit their target—indeed, only two of the 14 bullets fired at Brown hit him—and might strike bystanders. The results can be even worse if their aim is good. “If you actually hit the driver and are successful, now you’ve got an unguided missile,” Geoffrey Alpert, a professor at the University of South Carolina and an expert on police use of force, told me. “It’s just as likely if you shoot someone that a foot’s going to go on the gas as on the brake.” That’s what happened with Brown. Many departments prohibit or discourage firing into moving vehicles, including the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office. Yet police keep firing at cars. On April 11, as jurors nearby in Minneapolis heard the trial of Derek Chauvin, police in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, pulled over 20-year-old Daunte Wright. They discovered that Wright had an outstanding warrant, and attempted to arrest him. As Wright wriggled free of handcuffs, dove into his car, and began to drive away, Officer Kim Potter pointed her pistol at Wright, then fired a shot. After Potter shot Wright, his car went a short distance before striking another car, as well as a barrier.