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County brushes off gun misfire at Schererville center
July 19, 2007
By Piet Levy Post-Tribune staff writer
SCHERERVILLE -- It sounds like something out of a "Police Academy" movie.
Cook County correctional officer Jermaine Bell, 36, of Lynwood, Ill., was at the Schererville Golf and Fun Center with his son late Sunday when he took out his gun and accidentally fired it into the ground.
Schererville police responded to the scene at 10:11 p.m. Bell told them he was trying to put the safety on when he accidentally fired the weapon. Bell showed police his Cook County officer's badge, and said he was carrying a Glock 7 handgun.
But Cmdr. Randy Reno of the Schererville Police Department said a Glock doesn't have an external safety switch. And a Glock 7 isn't even a real gun. It's a fictitious, porcelain gun-type fabricated for the 1990 action movie "Die Hard 2."
Reno said Schererville police presented a case for criminal recklessness to the Lake County Prosecutor's office, which declined to file charges. Prosecutors deemed the case an accident, saying it failed to meet the criteria for the charge.
Reno said he was disappointed by their decision.
"Fortunately nobody was hurt," Reno said. "It was a very poor case of judgment on (Bell's) part."
Reno did say Bell will be cited for discharging a firearm within Schererville limits, a violation of a town ordinance.
Penny Mateck, spokeswoman for the Cook County Sheriff's Office, said that Bell has been a nighttime guard at the Cook County Jail in Chicago for more than two years.
Mateck said Bell was de-deputized Wednesday, pending an internal investigation.
Contact Piet Levy at 648-3102 or
[email protected]
on our Glocks...