Another UK cop shoots himself

Status
Not open for further replies.
F

Fred West

Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2007
Messages
71
Location
Gloucester
http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/ne...05395.0.police_officer_shot_by_own_weapon.php

Police officer shot by own weapon
A WILTSHIRE police officer was airlifted to hospital after accidentally shooting himself in the hand.

The firearms officer, who has not been named, received a gunshot wound as he was cleaning a weapon at Wiltshire Police headquarters in Devizes.

He was airlifted to Frenchay Hospital, in Bristol, for treatment.

A force spokesman said the incident happened in a secure area at police headquarters and nobody else was injured.

It is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: "A firearms officer sustained a gunshot wound to his hand believed to be as a result of the unintentional discharge of his weapon during a cleaning process at the end of his tour of duty.

"No-one else was injured as a result of this incident.

"This incident occurred within a sterile safety area on police premises and no members of the public were endangered at any time.

"This incident has been referred to the IPCC, which is mandatory with all incidents of this nature and an investigation has commenced."

8:26am Tuesday 22nd July 2008


This is getting to be a habit.
Apparently it discharged whilst he was cleaning it. Yeah, right. Everyone says that after an ND. More likely he was messing around or showing off in front of his female colleagues.
I suspect his idea of cleaning it was to give the outside a good polish.
Joking aside, I hope this officer's injuries are not too serious and he makes a complete recovery.

Fred.
 
Last edited:
at the end of his tour of duty
Click to expand...

Makes it sound like he was fighting insurgents, or at least gun toting gang bangers.
For those of you who don't know, Wiltshire is a fairly rural county with a lower than average crime rate. I imagine his tour of duty involved sitting in a police car eating doughnuts :), but I could be wrong.

Fred.
 
received a gunshot wound as he was cleaning a weapon
Click to expand...

I really hate this excuse. "As he was cleaning" means he was in the act of actually wiping it down, scrubbing the bore, etc. What they really mean is "while he was handling it in an unsafe manner while preparing to/immediately after cleaning it." The very first step in cleaning is "make sure it's not loaded." If you miss that, you're not cleaning yet, you're breaking safety rules. :banghead:
 
In reportings such as this I always wish they would specify the make, model and caliber of the gun.

Why they don't do it, I cannot figure out. It's defnitely in the What, Who, When, Why matrix.

In this case, I'm forced to guess it was a GLOCK. But it's just a guess.
 
Often when the coppers say "he was clearning his weapon", the media will report "cleaning his weapon".

Methinks/mewouldguess agency SOP is to clear weapon in sand barrel and then lock in armory at end of shift. UK copper forget to unload before decocking his Glock.
 
"Well Regulated". People who do not have a background cannot be "well regulated" as to bearing arms. You can give these people a firearm but that doesn't mean they will "work well" with them.
 
Frenchay Hospital is 2 miles from where I live … had I have known, I would have popped around to give him a copy of the 4 Rules for some bedtime reading, and also taken the opportunity to thank him for inspiring such a belief in me that our Firearms Officers are competent enough to look after my safety when I am deemed by my Gov not to be:rolleyes:
 
Thank goodness. Otherwise he could have gotten an infection!
Click to expand...

They really do view firearms as a form of pathogen over there. They believe if you let them loose they will breed and multiply. Though truth be told when I look at my own collection it *does* seem to get larger on its own.
 
A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: "A firearms officer sustained a gunshot wound to his hand believed to be as a result of the unintentional discharge of his weapon during a cleaning process at the end of his tour of duty.



Yeah right. I hate that excuse. He doesn't seem like the kind of person that would not unload his gun before cleaning it. Or would he? :confused:
 
Mrs., what I've seen cops do at the end of shift is John Wayne the pistol out of the holster as they are tired and a support hand will go a-wanderin' instead of being up on the chest where it belongs.

Methinks he John Wayned it out, his support hand went forward and then then "decocked" the Glock to either clean it or put it in the police armoury. Even even Wiltshire *chirp, chirp*, cops get tired and distracted and things break apart.
 
When you must clear your weapon after EVERY shift, ND potential doubles each time. Most cops here do it when they have to= a lot less ND's. G*d forbid a Brit cop has a loaded gun off duty. Joe
 
Sounds like a Glock.

You need to press the trigger as part of the disassembly process. Why a bullet was still chambered...well, I guess he learned his lesson.
 
At least they did say that it was an unintentional discharge instead of the "OMG it magically went off" that we seem to get here in the states when there is an ND.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

D
  • Locked
Police marksman accidentally shoots civilian/ UK
2
Replies
26
Views
2K
chrisloie
C
T
  • Locked
Yet Another Danger of Trigger Locks
2
Replies
35
Views
2K
WeedWhacker
W
W
  • Locked
Does this happen a lot?
Replies
22
Views
1K
beemerb
B
3
  • Locked
ND Injuries Soar Amongst UK Cops
Replies
13
Views
898
packnrat
P
D
  • Locked
(AK) Officer shoots himself in foot ( w/ shotgun)
2 3
Replies
52
Views
2K
El Rojo
E
Back
Top