Rifle accidentally "goes off" as cop shoots partner

[ceetee]

I wouldn't want to be on the same force as this cop. Unfortunately, these are my county's finest... How does a disassembled rifle just "go off"? I'm really glad it wasn't powerful enough to pierce the other cop's vest!

2 deputies in accidental shooting in Pahokee ID'd
By Jerome Burdi | Sun-Sentinel.com
9:03 AM EDT, August 17, 2007

PAHOKEE - The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office released the names Friday of two deputies involved in an accidental shooting during a traffic stop.

Deputy Jon Snow, 36, a member of the Sheriff's Office since July 2005, was handling a rifle during a traffic stop about 2:45 a.m. Thursday when he accidentally shot Deputy Jonathan Wallace in the chest, authorities said.

Wallace, 23, was wearing a bullet-resistant vest and was not injured, sheriff's spokesman Paul Miller said. Wallace has been on the force since since May 2006.

The deputies had pulled over William Venable, 44, of Pahokee, for driving past a stop sign in the 200 block of East Main Street, Miller said.

They saw a rifle in the back seat of Venable's car and Snow attempted to take it apart, Miller said. That's when the gun went off, he said.

Venable was charged with several traffic citations, Miller said.

The case is under investigation. Both deputies remain on active duty.

 

[SASS#23149]

another sad example of cops not being ''gun people' necessarily.
glad the shot officer was not injured,could have easily been killed .

 

[Harley Quinn]

They saw a rifle in the back seat of Venable's car and Snow attempted to take it apart, Miller said. That's when the gun went off, he said.
****************

Why would he want to take it apart It is a lucky and happy ending and I'd never work with the guy again.

The rule that you never point it at any thing you don't want to shoot applies here. The officer who shot the other one should be suspended and other things I am thinking.

I remember in days of old and at 114, there was an incident where an officer shot his partner with a rifle, bad technique on entering a building and finger on trigger.

I don't know the final out come, but it destroyed both lives as I remember.

HQ

 

[30 cal slob]

vest stopped the round. hmmmm...was it a rifle or pistol-caliber carbine?

 

[MD_Willington]

Hmmm, kind of put a damper on the argument of:

"Only LEO's and Military should have firearms because they are trained to use them"...

 

[strat81]

I'm not a cop, but do they really train cops to disassemble firearms as part of a traffic stop? Even if it was a felony stop, what business does the cop have disassembling a gun? I can understand clearing the weapon while it was pointed in a safe direction, but disassembly? Sheesh.

 

[billhilly66]

"disassembling" probably meant he was trying to figure out how to clear it. I wouldn't think he was actually trying to take it apart, he just didn't know how to run it.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

That's the reason I don't like the idea of officers "securing" your weapon "for their safety" during traffic stops. I've heard about other incidents where officers didn't know how to clear a 1911, XD, etc. monkeying around with the slide, sometimes with fingers on the trigger. That's just begging for a ND.

I'm glad everyone was ok but I think they need a refresher course on the 4 rules (you'd think "Don't point a gun at your partner" would be pretty high on the list of SOPs) and should re-examine their policy for checking weapons found in stops. It could have been much worse.

Think they'll reimburse the owner for the round they fired?

 

[CountGlockula]

Cops should have a gun smith course or a gun armorer class in the academy.

This will "slightly" guarantee them on how to effectively handle various firearms and diffuse fiddling with guns they're not familiar with.

 

[Cougfan2]

One of the few times I have been pulled over, Californiad a stop sign.......my bad, I presented the officer with my drivers license and CCW. He asked if I was carrying to which I replied yes. I handed him my Bianchi bag with my Sig 232 inside. All he would have had to do is set the bag on top of my truck or his squad car, Instead he funbles around for a good minute trying to figure out how to remove the magazine while ejecting rounds into the gravel.:banghead: I reserved comment.

 

[ftierson]

I agree with 30 cal slob...

Must not have been much of a rifle to have been stopped by a IIA or IIIA vest...

Probably one of those really dangerous .22LR tubular magazine autoloaders...

Nothing like a Marlin 60 to look really dangerous just laying there in the back seat. And the shooter was probably just clearing it. He probably pulled back the bolt on an empty chamber, which then chambered a round when the bolt went forward and then pulled the trigger...

(Obviously, I'm making up the Marlin 60 part and the sequence of events)...

The officer who was shot was very lucky that a real rifle cartridge wasn't involved...

Forrest

 

[RNB65]

It was probably a .22 or something chambered in a hangun caliber that the officer wasn't familiar with and didn't know how to clear. Why he pulled the trigger is a mystery. Threre's either more to this story than what's contained in the article or a serious lack of common sense by the officer handling the gun.

 

[Mikee Loxxer]

Personally I have just about had it with the attitude that because you are in law enforcement or have served in the military that you are a “gun expert.”

I have seen a cop not know how to unload a Browning Pump Shotgun. I have also had a Korean War Vet tell me that since the north Koreans rifles were .31 caliber (Mosin Nagant, 7.62X54R) that they could use our .30 cal ammo (.30’06), which of course although I have not tested this it sounds incorrect. I can’t seen how a 63 mm long cartridge (.30’06) would chamber in a rifle that uses a shorter cartridge (54mm).

 

[40SW]

Innanimate objects don't have the capacity to animate themselves. Guns don't "go off". Operator error. I wish the mass media would promote safety as opposed to dimentia.

 

[avmech]

and our sheriff wants to arm our all deputies with M-16 rifles (full rock and roll)...........welcome to Palm Beach County

 

[Scorpiusdeus]

I wonder if he'll ask for a new partner.

Knowing LE humor, this poor bastard is in for it for years to come.

 

[41magsnub]

"I can’t seen how a 63 mm long cartridge (.30’06) would chamber in a rifle that uses a shorter cartridge (54mm)."

Push the bolt forward REALLY hard?

 

[GRIZ22]

The agency I worked for required a clearing weapons class every year. It was pretty comprehensive and covered just about every type of firearm. I always ended it with "if you're not sure wait for someone who is". Agents took note of this and any time they found a weapon during a warrant or a weapon needed to be secured that wasn't something they carried and were familiar with they waited for myself, one of the other firearms instructors or someone who knew what they were doing to secure it.

 

[dhoomonyou]

DUH.

 

[40SW]

Reminds me of an old Cops episode where a young rookie cop is fumbling with a CZ52 in trying to find the slide stop.:banghead: ( Yes, I realize the irony).

 

[PPGMD]

I don't see how people can be silent while an officer that doesn't know what he is doing is messing with my firearm. Rifles aren't cheap if they have nice optics on them, or are specialty rifles like SBR or piston.

 

[General Geoff]

I don't see how people can be silent while an officer that doesn't know what he is doing is messing with my firearm.

Speak up, you get chided by the officer. Stay silent, and you're blamed for not assisting the officer. Lose-lose for the civilian.

 

[Harley Quinn]

It could go bad for the guy who owned the gun, lucky the officer was not injured.

I believe if he was injured or killed the DA could file on the owner for having a loaded weapon in his vehicle and go to the slam for it, the officer getting some time off or not.

Weird I know, but stranger things have happened.

Thing is he was commiting a violation that led to the final outcome.

They could even file something like attempt manslaughter or some such thing.

Depends on the background on the person whos gun it was etc..

He should not have done anything except put it in a safe location and not pointed it at his fellow officer

I was at a call prowler now, we get there and the guy is carrying a 35 Rem Marlin lvr rifle, pointed to the ground.
He is asked if it is loaded and said he could not remember if he loaded it or not. The rifle is pointed to the ground and we mention he needs to keep it pointed at the ground and hand it over to us.

He pulls the trigger, as he is handing it over, it goes off into the blacktop, spraying rock, gravel and everything else you can think of all over the place.

I whip out my revolver an he just drops the thing. Like bad news, he had been drinking etc.. Not a good deal. We had many reports to make but nothing else. Horse country

He kept the gun and the detectives handled later.

Hmmm So many stories so little time.

 

[ceetee]

I was thinking that it was probably some kind of take-down rifle like an AR-7, with the buttstock off. Odd for someone to be carrying around a takedown 22, loaded, with the stock off, but not illegal in Florida.

 

[sig228]

Unbelievable

Only in Florida....

UGGHHH!!!!!