Bad cop! No donut!

[Bungleau]

From Yahoo Weird News///

Students claim police chief who shot himself was careless RIVERDALE, Utah - The police chief who shot himself in the ankle was waving a loaded pistol and being careless, according to two students who were attending his class to qualify for a concealed-weapons permit. "We were told the gun is the chief's personal sidearm, but it looked to me like he didn't know anything about the gun," Lewis Walker said. Bart Ulm, another student seeking certification to carry a concealed weapon, said he was surprised Chief Dave Hansen was using a loaded gun to show how it worked. "Right then, I was very leery, because there's no need to have live ammo in a gun in the class. But I figured he's the chief, so he must know what he's doing," Ulm told the Standard-Examiner of Ogden. Hansen held the Glock 40 under a table to disassemble it when a bullet fired, Walker said. The chief cried, "I'm hit," and fell over. Students who were screaming "Officer down!" were urged to call 911. The gun went off in a conference room Saturday at Riverdale police headquarters. Hansen was taken to McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden for surgery and released Monday, Lt. James Ebert said. Ebert said the findings of an internal investigation would be announced Wednesday. He declined to offer specifics but disputed the accounts of Ulm and Walker, describing the pair as "disgruntled." Other students "did not share that feeling" about the chief, Ebert told The Associated Press. Walker said he didn't have confidence in the investigation. "I think Riverdale police are just trying to keep this quiet and act like the chief is a hero. But if you ask me, he's really stupid," Walker said. "His state certification to teach concealed-weapons classes should be taken away from him. This was totally gross negligence." Ulm said there was a moment of levity during the emergency. He said an officer at the scene joked that "instead of shooting himself, he should have used the Taser."

Okay... stupid things I see here...

1. Using a loaded weapon in safety CCW (or any!) training class... Felix, correct me if I'm wrong.
2. Not having the safety on the thing
3. Not unloading it before trying to disassemble it
4. Disassembling it *under* a table? Since when would that be part of gun safety CCW Training?

Reminds me of this other officer... although kudos to him, he used his mistake as a training example for that class he was in front of.



Oh, joy.... just realized I'm going to be in Salt Lake City in a couple of weeks, less than an hour from Chief Jethro Bodean... well, I won't go *north* in my travels...

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

Um... Is there a way to accidentally shoot yourself that's *not* careless? How is there a dispute about this?

[Bungleau]

More input from a local newspaper...

Police chief recovering after accidentally shooting himself May 5th, 2008 @ 4:00pm Gene Kennedy reporting Riverdale's police chief will be out of the hospital tonight after accidentally shooting himself over the weekend. Riverdale Police Chief Dave Hansen will likely be on crutches for weeks. On Saturday morning, the police chief was teaching a class on concealed weapons permits. His gun accidentally went off, and the bullet went through his ankle. He was using his Glock as a display. He was teaching gun safety to about a dozen citizens at the Riverdale Police Department. He pulled the clip out of the gun, and then he was making sure the chamber was clear. Neil Hansen, the police chief's brother, said, "He pointed it down, pulled the trigger because he didn't want to give it to a classmate not knowing for sure whether a shell was in there. And at that point, the gun discharged and [the bullet] had gone through his ankle." It's not the first time a gun training session has gone bad. On the popular site, YouTube, there is a video of a drug enforcement officer who accidentally shot himself in the leg while teaching a class. In the video, the officer is heard saying, "I'm the only one in this room professional enough, that I know of, to carry this Glock 40." The officer continued his presentation as if nothing happened. That's not what happened for the Riverdale police chief. Neil Hansen said, "After it have gone off, he tried to stand up, and that's when he realized his ankle was so damaged." The chief's brother, Utah Rep. Neil Hansen, said paramedics were next door. They rushed the chief to McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden where he spent the weekend recovering. Neil Hansen said, "It looks like he may have to have a surgery or two. Right now, they have a rod on the outside of his ankle to kinda hold it together." The police chief and his officers have been told to not make public comment because the incident is an open investigation. But Steve Brooks, the Ogden City attorney, told Eyewitness News there's been an obvious mistake in procedure. He said, "We're not admitting that Chief Hansen did everything correct here. Obviously, something wasn't done correctly, and unfortunately, he's the one who paid the price for it." The investigation on this incident will last about two weeks. The city attorney said the chief won't be able to return to work for at least a month.

Okay, I'm no rocket scientist, but pulling the trigger to make sure there's no round in there? I'm sorry, but *THAT* has GOT to be a bad habit that should be eliminated immediately. Obviously he's got no programming background, or he would have considered what would have happened when his ELSE clause got executed....

PROCEDURE pull_trigger:
DEFINE INPUT PARAMETER bullet_in_chamber AS LOGICAL NO-UNDO.

IF bullet_in_chamber = FALSE THEN
MESSAGE "Click".
ELSE
RUN Whoops_Crap_Help.

END PROCEDURE.

As for your question, Illumina, I am pretty sure that *any* accidental shooting can be traced back to carelessness.... can anyone think of a situation where it *wouldn't* be carelessness?

[wellard]

guns and people, never a good combination.

[Attalus]

Hi, Wellard. Who's "Zartan?"

[Lord of Alcohol]

The first rule of picking up a firearm is always consider it loaded. Drummed in my head in bootcamp with good reason. Like this idiot found out lol. Just glad he didnt hit anyone but himself!


edited for typo

[DrowArchmage]

At least he didnt fall over and start screaming.
Gotta give him props for that.

[Lanesra]

No Donut??!!!!!

[ocellis]

Originally Posted by Illumina Drathiran'ar Um... Is there a way to accidentally shoot yourself that's *not* careless? How is there a dispute about this?

Well, there was this time when a mosquito had bit me between my toes and scratching brought no relief...

[DrowArchmage]

i had that happen to me too.