Pines school won’t discipline first-grader who mistakenly took father's gun
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A Hollywood police officer's 6-year-old son, who mistakenly took a backpack containing his father's unloaded handgun to school last week, will not be disciplined, Broward County School District officials said.
"This is a strict case of mistaken identity," district spokesman Joe Donzelli said Wednesday. "There was no credible threat to other students or faculty members."
The school district, like many others around the nation, has a "zero tolerance" policy when it come to weapons. Under most circumstances, students who bring weapons to school or on school buses are automatically suspended and often expelled. But in this case, the child clearly had no idea he had a gun, Donzelli said.
On Oct. 16, the Chapel Trail Elementary first-grader opened his book bag to retrieve some school materials and saw an empty brown holster.
"This is my dad's backpack, and it has a gun in it," the boy reportedly said aloud. Another student told the teacher, who put the backpack in a vault, the report said. About the same time, the boy's father, Officer Dwayne Chung, was driving home, realized the mistake and called the school, the report said.
Chung, who has been with the department 10 years, was not available for comment.
Both backpacks were navy blue Jansport packs with suede bottoms, weighed about the same and were in the car's back seat. The gun, a Walther PPKS, was never removed from a zipped pocket, the report said.
"The child is being praised," Donzelli said. "He and everyone else did exactly what they were supposed to do."
The handgun was Chung's off-duty weapon. Officers often carry handguns off-duty that are smaller than their department-issued H&K .45 caliber automatics with 5-inch barrels, Hollywood police Capt. Tony Rode said. The department requires officers to keep their duty weapons in lockboxes at home but does not have a policy addressing how off-duty weapons are carried.
Once Pembroke Pines police and the school district finish their investigations, their findings will be forwarded to the Broward State Attorney's Office, which could file charges. After that, the Hollywood Police Department's internal affairs unit will do its own investigation, Rode said.
Vicky Agnew can be reached at [email protected] or 954-385-7922. Email story
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Copyright © 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
This is a first...
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/lo...ct23,0,2796560.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
A Hollywood police officer's 6-year-old son, who mistakenly took a backpack containing his father's unloaded handgun to school last week, will not be disciplined, Broward County School District officials said.
"This is a strict case of mistaken identity," district spokesman Joe Donzelli said Wednesday. "There was no credible threat to other students or faculty members."
The school district, like many others around the nation, has a "zero tolerance" policy when it come to weapons. Under most circumstances, students who bring weapons to school or on school buses are automatically suspended and often expelled. But in this case, the child clearly had no idea he had a gun, Donzelli said.
On Oct. 16, the Chapel Trail Elementary first-grader opened his book bag to retrieve some school materials and saw an empty brown holster.
"This is my dad's backpack, and it has a gun in it," the boy reportedly said aloud. Another student told the teacher, who put the backpack in a vault, the report said. About the same time, the boy's father, Officer Dwayne Chung, was driving home, realized the mistake and called the school, the report said.
Chung, who has been with the department 10 years, was not available for comment.
Both backpacks were navy blue Jansport packs with suede bottoms, weighed about the same and were in the car's back seat. The gun, a Walther PPKS, was never removed from a zipped pocket, the report said.
"The child is being praised," Donzelli said. "He and everyone else did exactly what they were supposed to do."
The handgun was Chung's off-duty weapon. Officers often carry handguns off-duty that are smaller than their department-issued H&K .45 caliber automatics with 5-inch barrels, Hollywood police Capt. Tony Rode said. The department requires officers to keep their duty weapons in lockboxes at home but does not have a policy addressing how off-duty weapons are carried.
Once Pembroke Pines police and the school district finish their investigations, their findings will be forwarded to the Broward State Attorney's Office, which could file charges. After that, the Hollywood Police Department's internal affairs unit will do its own investigation, Rode said.
Vicky Agnew can be reached at [email protected] or 954-385-7922. Email story
Print story
Copyright © 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
