Damn, [filtered word]!!
THOMSON --- A firearms instructor was placed on administrative leave Wednesday after an accidental shooting wounded a fellow law enforcement officer outside the Georgia State Patrol Post.
Larry Schnall, a spokesman for the Georgia Department of Public Safety, identified the firearms instructor as Sgt. Lee Robertson.
The instructor had been checking a weapon outside the patrol post about noon when it accidentally discharged, wounding Officer Johnny Pearson, authorities say.
Officer Pearson, who has worked several years for the Georgia Department of Public Safety Motor Carrier Compliance Division, was struck in the right leg, just below the knee.
He was taken by ambulance to Medical College of Georgia Hospital, said Capt. James Brummett. His condition was not made public.
Mr. Schnall said Sgt. Robertson will be paid while on administrative leave pending an internal affairs investigation.
Mr. Schnall said the shooting occurred when Sgt. Robertson was inspecting a handgun, which reportedly had a problem.
The weapon discharged, and the bullet went through the trunk of a patrol car, then ricocheted out the side, striking Officer Pearson, who was standing beside the vehicle, Mr. Schnall said.
Comments
Damn, [filtered word]!!
Well they said the weapon had a problem, accidents happen. Atleast nobody was killed.
I knew Officer Pearson from when he worked for Georgia DOT lab. He's a good man. Hope he'll be alright.
Kind of ironic the instructor shooting someone on accident!! ahaha
This is a complete non-story...why is this even in the paper??
An accideent is an accident. Anyone not know what the term accident means? Never been involved in and accident?
What do you mean dumb [filtered word]? Accidents do occur. I doubt that he intended for a fellow officer to be wounded. It is mind baffling how some people despise law enforcement.
I agree with karmakills123 on this one. This is a non-story. Accidents are simply that. . . accidents. I'm simply glad that no one was more seriously injured.
Dumb [filtered word] sounds right to me....EVERY law enforcement agency has a specific area set for "testing" firearms. That area is not where there are going to be other people standing around who could get hurt.....So yea, DUMB [filtered word]!
To answer the question: this story is in the paper because a cop got shot. And I don't believe in the word "accidents". It's a euphemism for bad things that happen when somebody messes up. Any accident investigator can tell you that virtually every "accident" could have been avoided, if only. This includes stupid things that I have done too.
Wonder if that's the same cop You Tube had discharging his piece in a classroom. Hate it for the casualty though, I pray he recovers and the other guy learns a REAL good lesson about which way the "business end" is pointing ALWAYS.
You cannot guess which way a bullet is going to ricochet. He seemed to have had it pointed in a safe direction, but nobody told the bullet that.
POFWE.. Calling someone a dumba** is not nice.. nor respectful to law enforcement (Those who protect and serve you and your family) If you read the article and interpreted it as 99% of the normally functioning public would, you would see the Gun had a functioning problem, he was obviously trying to clear a jam. It went through a vehicle in a ricochet , before it hit the other officer.. great feat for a bullet and an obvious freak accident. Geesh..sounds like your one of those "cop haters". Accidents happen, A quick recovery to the injured officer and Im sure the officer involved in this accidental discharge feels horrible.
If this wasn't reported, people would be screaming that "a police officer was shot, nothing was said publicly, it's a police coverup".
So either way, they can't win.
I mostly agree chuchi. Most "accidents" are due to someone being negligent, but also there are some that no one had any control over happening. But the actual word accident has several different meanings. Sounds like this instructor did not have the weapon pointed at anyone, I have had fireworks make a uturn and land in my lap when pointed the completely opposite direction and was sitting approx 6 car lengths away. Sometimes even while taking all appropriate safety measures accidents can still happen. What ticks me off is when people call drunk driving wrecks an accident, or when an armed robber "accidently" shot someone because they were scared and had their hand on the trigger but didnt mean to, or the mugger pushed the lady down when stealing her purse and she hit her head and died. Things like this are not accidents, they are deliberates, they are results of selfish ignorant law breaking behavior and they should be severly punished. To call them accidents are a slap in the face to the victims!!
All good points, TakeAStand. The word "accident" is used inappropriately in many cases.
Man, are you guys serious? Someone could have been killed, and the best you can come up with is "accidents happens"? You must be the same ones who drink and drive and think nothings ever going to happen to you. There were ways of preventing this "accident" from occuring. The most obvious one being not pointing the weapon at anything that may cause a bullet to ricochet. This is basic gun safety. Do you think that maybe the officer could have pointed the weapon at the grass? The word that comes to mind is careless, not accident.
No big deal the first couple of times that I was shot I pulled out the bullet with my teeth.
Accidents certainly can and do happen, usually unintentially. And, while we should never jump to conclusions, there are always ways to re-educate and train in an effort to reduce them from happening again. Often times, violations of policies, laws, or simply not properly thinking through a situation or rushing are contributing factors or causes of accidents. We must not forget that we are humans, all make mistakes, etc. and when we do this without malice of forthought or unintentially, it is a lot different than making a conscious decision to do something wrong. I pray that officer Pearson recovers quickly.
When I was in the Marines they used to say there is no such thing as an "accidental discharge." There are only "negligent discharges."
The article says nothing of the circumstances under which the discharge occurred other than that the officer was "checking his weapon outside of the patrol post." It is far from obvious that he was clearing a jam.
Regardless of whether or not that is the case, when clearing a weapon it shouldn't be pointed at a vehicle. He was negligent/had an accident and will not make the same mistake again.
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