We are not certain if Denver Police Officer Brandon Ramos’ decision to fire at a suspect in LoDo last summer, injuring bystanders on a crowded bar patio behind the armed man, was criminal or just a horrible mistake. Five bystanders were injured and could have been killed by the bullets Ramos fired.

But we do know two things without hesitation:

First, an impartial grand jury weighed the evidence, including video recordings of the event taken from police cameras and witness statements, and recommended Ramos be charged with: reckless endangerment, assault, and prohibited use of a weapon. The line between a mistake and criminal negligence when it comes to professionals whose job is to make life-and-death decisions in emergency situations is murky enough that we are glad Ramos will either risk taking the question to a jury or will seek a plea deal in this case.

Second, Denver Police Protective Association President Tyson Worrell is absolutely wrong in his interpretation of the facts of this case.

“To charge this officer with a felony crime, jeopardizing his career, his liberty for acting as he was trained, in the public interest, with no malice, ill intent or lack of concern, is unfortunate and sad,” Worrell said in a news conference this week.

If Ramos was trained to fire his weapon, even in cases requiring immediate action, with disregard for putting others in harm’s way, then the Denver Police Department must immediately update its training, and perhaps the individuals responsible for that training should face repercussions rather than Ramos. But we think it’s more likely Ramos was not acting as he was trained. The question is whether his mistake was criminally negligent.

These are the most difficult cases for America’s judicial system. We have advocated many times for Colorado lawmakers to update state statutes when it comes to criminal negligence and self-defense.

Police officers aren’t the only ones caught up in our murky laws. In recent years we have seen a plastic surgeon in Arapahoe County charged with the criminally negligent homicide of a patient who died. We’ve seen a truck driver sentenced to prison for 110 years for accidentally killing multiple people when the brakes on his truck failed. We’ve seen employees at an assisted living home in Grand Junction charged and take plea deals for accidentally leaving a woman in her wheelchair in the hot sun to die of heat stroke.

In all of these cases, it was minutia of the facts of the case that likely led to charges — the doctor is accused by staff of refusing to call an ambulance after the patient went into cardiac arrest, the truck driver was accused of knowing his brakes were hot before he started down the steep hills into Denver, and the employees of the assisted living home tried to cover up their mistake.

There is a case to be made that ruining another life over a mistake that was not malicious is not the best use of our criminal justice system. The bar must be set very high. But there is also a case to be made that without harsh criminal accountability, too many would act with reckless disregard for human life and safety, sometimes in pursuit of money.

We hope Worrell will join us in advocating for clarity in the laws rather than trying to defend the indefensible — firing a weapon while knowing there are innocent bystanders in harm’s way.