Officer's gun misfired
Probers say malfunction cost policeman's life
By PEGGY O'HARE
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
Veteran Houston police officer Charles R. Clark's gun failed him at
the worst possible moment, costing him his life.
As he barreled into a southeast Houston check-cashing store trying to stop a robbery in progress, he was gunned down in a horrifically cold-blooded fashion after his own weapon malfunctioned, according to investigators who recounted the crime to the Chronicle on condition of anonymity.
The revelations offer a harrowing picture of what happened inside the Ace America's Cash Express in the 5700 block of the South Loop East when Clark responded, alone, to the April 3 robbery.
Clark, 45, was the first of two officers to arrive at the robbery. He
didn't wait for back-up, but ran inside, knowing a store employee was in distress.
Clark was shot in the shoulder. He managed to return fire with one round, but his gun jammed.
As the wounded officer tried to call for help, speaking his last
words, someone placed a gun very close to his head and pulled the trigger. The bullet slammed through the top of his skull.
Clerk Alfredia Jones, who had been dragged from the back of the store to the front and was standing just a few feet away from the officer, had no chance to hide, investigators said. The 27-year-old single mother of two was killed next, evidence and statements indicate.
Dashan Vadell Glaspie, 21; Elijah Dwayne Joubert, 23; and Alfred
Dewayne Brown, 21, are each charged with capital murder and are being held without bail in the slayings of Clark and Jones.
At least two of those men were armed when Clark confronted them just before his own weapon malfunctioned, said Houston Police Lt. Nelson Zoch. Investigators still are waiting for an official report from the ballistics lab to find out why that happened.
"Why it malfunctioned and what caused that, I can't tell you that,"
Zoch said Tuesday. "If you're alone there and your gun's
malfunctioning, and two other people have guns -- that's a cop's worst nightmare.
"It was a tragic day, and the only thing we can do to make that dayn better is to get the guys who did it," Zoch said.
Clark was carrying his own weapon that day, a 9 mm with which he was qualified, police officials said.
HPD does not provide guns and ammunition to its officers. Rather,
officers bring their own guns to the job and must qualify with their
weapon once a year in order to keep their certification as peace
officers, as required by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards.
Over the years, HPD has tried to establish some uniformity and
standardization in the type of weapons approved for uniformed duty.
In September 1997, the department narrowed the type of weapons to .40-caliber semiautomatic pistols, manufactured by Smith and Wesson, Glock, Baretta and Sig Sauer. Officers such as Clark, who were with HPD before those latest regulations took effect, were grandfathered in and allowed to continue using the weapons they'd relied on for years,
as long as it was a .38-caliber weapon or bigger.
Clark's death, said Hans Marticiuc, head of the Houston Police
Officers Union, "was one of those flukey-type deals. You don't know about a mechanical breakdown until it happens."
Investigators said they were not aware of Clark reporting any previous problems with his gun.
Any number of reasons could cause a weapon to malfunction, officers said, such as improper lubrication and cleaning; faulty ammunition; moisture seeping into the powder inside the ammunition, perhaps if the gun had recently been cleaned and oiled; human error made by recoiling or "breaking" the wrist improperly after the gun is fired or perhaps bumping the gun against something as it was fired; or the gun being
altered by an outside source.
Probers say malfunction cost policeman's life
By PEGGY O'HARE
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
Veteran Houston police officer Charles R. Clark's gun failed him at
the worst possible moment, costing him his life.
As he barreled into a southeast Houston check-cashing store trying to stop a robbery in progress, he was gunned down in a horrifically cold-blooded fashion after his own weapon malfunctioned, according to investigators who recounted the crime to the Chronicle on condition of anonymity.
The revelations offer a harrowing picture of what happened inside the Ace America's Cash Express in the 5700 block of the South Loop East when Clark responded, alone, to the April 3 robbery.
Clark, 45, was the first of two officers to arrive at the robbery. He
didn't wait for back-up, but ran inside, knowing a store employee was in distress.
Clark was shot in the shoulder. He managed to return fire with one round, but his gun jammed.
As the wounded officer tried to call for help, speaking his last
words, someone placed a gun very close to his head and pulled the trigger. The bullet slammed through the top of his skull.
Clerk Alfredia Jones, who had been dragged from the back of the store to the front and was standing just a few feet away from the officer, had no chance to hide, investigators said. The 27-year-old single mother of two was killed next, evidence and statements indicate.
Dashan Vadell Glaspie, 21; Elijah Dwayne Joubert, 23; and Alfred
Dewayne Brown, 21, are each charged with capital murder and are being held without bail in the slayings of Clark and Jones.
At least two of those men were armed when Clark confronted them just before his own weapon malfunctioned, said Houston Police Lt. Nelson Zoch. Investigators still are waiting for an official report from the ballistics lab to find out why that happened.
"Why it malfunctioned and what caused that, I can't tell you that,"
Zoch said Tuesday. "If you're alone there and your gun's
malfunctioning, and two other people have guns -- that's a cop's worst nightmare.
"It was a tragic day, and the only thing we can do to make that dayn better is to get the guys who did it," Zoch said.
Clark was carrying his own weapon that day, a 9 mm with which he was qualified, police officials said.
HPD does not provide guns and ammunition to its officers. Rather,
officers bring their own guns to the job and must qualify with their
weapon once a year in order to keep their certification as peace
officers, as required by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards.
Over the years, HPD has tried to establish some uniformity and
standardization in the type of weapons approved for uniformed duty.
In September 1997, the department narrowed the type of weapons to .40-caliber semiautomatic pistols, manufactured by Smith and Wesson, Glock, Baretta and Sig Sauer. Officers such as Clark, who were with HPD before those latest regulations took effect, were grandfathered in and allowed to continue using the weapons they'd relied on for years,
as long as it was a .38-caliber weapon or bigger.
Clark's death, said Hans Marticiuc, head of the Houston Police
Officers Union, "was one of those flukey-type deals. You don't know about a mechanical breakdown until it happens."
Investigators said they were not aware of Clark reporting any previous problems with his gun.
Any number of reasons could cause a weapon to malfunction, officers said, such as improper lubrication and cleaning; faulty ammunition; moisture seeping into the powder inside the ammunition, perhaps if the gun had recently been cleaned and oiled; human error made by recoiling or "breaking" the wrist improperly after the gun is fired or perhaps bumping the gun against something as it was fired; or the gun being
altered by an outside source.
