Man, that had to hurt.

[Sisco]

From the local newspaper:
http://www.gctelegram.com/news/2003/April/21/story5.html

A Garden City police officer was in good condition at St. Catherine Hospital this morning after what Police Capt. Mike Utz is calling an accidental shooting in the leg.

Utz said patrolman Hector Bernal, 22, was accidentally shot at 2:30 a.m. Sunday in the officer's home, 3501 N. Campus Drive. Bernal was off duty at the time, and his wife and two children were the only other people in the home when the police arrived, Utz said.

Utz said he would not speculate on how the accidental shooting occurred.

The gun fired in the accident was Bernal's police weapon, a 40-caliber semiautomatic pistol. The bullet entered and exited through the officer's left calf.

Utz said Bernal's wife called 911, and Bernal was transported to St. Catherine, where he underwent surgery.

Utz said there will be a Kansas Bureau of Investigation probe into the case. He said the investigation is standard procedure.

Bernal has been a patrolman with the force since March 25, 2002.

Utz said he couldn't recall the last time there had been an accidental shooting of an officer.

"This is very, very rare," Utz said." It's been at least over 10
years."

*******
Guess someone should tell Capt. Utz that there are no AD's only ND's!

 

[Jim March]

Ehhhh...this is puzzling, no?

I'm trying to figure out if this is a reholstering accident. If you're sitting down and have your strong-side leg cocked out funny, it's *possible* to line up a holster with the calf. The bullet would enter the rear of the calf and exit the front, possibly blowing out a bone. Should be easy to spot. Reholster accidents are the number one cause of accidental self-inflicted leg shootings; the good news is, with the femorals down the inside of the thigh, death is highly unlikely from these.

If it's not that, it's VERY careless handling of some other sort. Or his wife got pissed at him .

 

[Flashpoint]

That's what you call getting time off from work the hard way.

 

[larry_minn]

I wonder if he was left handed? Cross draw holster? Shoulder rig? Any idea of type of gun?
To think I had 4 loaded guns on me tonight. I loaded/holstered/unloaded etc all of them and none of them went off UNTIL I pulled the trigger.

 

[Sisco]

Any idea of type of gun?

Glock. Not sure what model.

 

[Flashpoint]

Larry,

Just out of curiosity, how where you carring 4 guns?

 

[larry_minn]

So it was a Glock that explains it. Every Glock I have goes BANG every time I pull the trigger with a live round in the chamber. Of Course to be fair I have only had one gun that didn't go bang every time. And that was because my grip was catching the slide so it didn't go fully rearward. A slight change in grip and TAurus pt908 was reliable. Heck even my $50 .25 auto goes bang when I pull the trigger.

 

[jsalcedo]

I've read about 20 some odd reports of glock reholstering incidents in the last 2 plus years.

It seems that a strap or edge of the holster gets into the trigger guard as the gun is being pushed down into the holster.

This was the case last year when an officer showing her service pistol at a school fired her glock while reholstering and a richochet
hit an 8 year old in the face.

Since the safety is on the trigger itself there is no way to stop this other than the officer paying much closer attention to what he or she is doing.

I would dare say this is something to consider when choosing a sidearm / holster combination for police officers or CCW.

I've had a thumb break holster snap get in the triggger guard of
my Taurus 92. Luckily I caught it just in time. I had a full double action pull and a safety as back up to my own carelessness.

 

[Henry Bowman]

AD vs. ND

At least they didn't say, ". . . and the gun went off."

 

[RustyHammer]

.... I'm hoping it wasn't a case of: "Hey, Dad, what is this?"

 

[larry_minn]

This was the case last year when an officer showing her service pistol at a school fired her glock while reholstering and a richochet
hit an 8 year old in the face
Are you sure about that? I seem to recall the gun was OUT of her control with just mag removed when this happened. NOT the thumb brake. Have to look it up to be sure.


.Flashpoint "Just out of curiosity, how where you carring 4 guns "
Sorry about that. I decided to clean out safe and dug out some guns I had not handled for a while. So tried a few combos and went outside "after some unloaded dry fireing" to draw/shoot from concealment. One was a Ruger Vaquero Bisley in 45LC
I have carred more then 4 loaded guns when a New part time officer joined the local PD. Was set up he was to practice searching me. After he was done I started laying guns on the table. I considered carrying unloaded but what is the point in that? It was LOW pressure in office after intro and it LOOKED like Cheif handed me ONE gun to stick in waist band. "I.E. South of border style"
I had in shoulder rig "that he missed with TWO mags off side" Ankle holser "miss" in boot "miss.etc Only thing he caught was Mex carry P89 and knife clipped to pocket. It was late fall and he didn't have me remove my jacket.