Trooper Accidentally Shoots Man (Homeowner in Shower in PA)

The Morning Call (New Jersey) ^ | March 5th, 2004 | David Slade

[Travis McGee]

State troopers, alerted by contractors there might be a burglar in a Schuylkill County home they were working in Thursday, cornered a man in the upstairs bathroom and accidentally shot him while trying to arrest him.

The man turned out to be the homeowner.

David L. Freed Jr., 51, of Wayne Township was hit in the shoulder by a bullet from Trooper Kirk Kirkland's .40-caliber handgun, Trooper Ray Albert said. (Click link for rest.)

[Travis McGee]

How about, "Don't shoot naked wet men in the bathroom when you don't know who it is?"

The point is, LEOs get a gimmee every time when their incompetence leads them to shoot an innocent party. If a civilian did this, he'd be in jail facing 20 years. Plus, the LEOs immediately begin to bargain their CYA by hinting at charging the man they shot. This stinks, in a free country.

[Travis McGee]

It reminds me of a guy who was shot a few years ago by mistaken cops. He was carrying a big white hair drier, which they thought was a gun. In his own house, coming out of his own bathroom.

[RatSlayer]

an't s/b can't

DAMN TYPOS!

[Fresh Wind]

Since when do burglars break into houses to take showers? The idiot contractors should have known better, and so should the cops.

[cynicom]

I love it when any police entity "investigates" itself.

[Squantos]

Agree......Oughta be a law !

Stay Safe..........;o)

[Kakaze]

How big is this house that they searched for 5 or 10 minutes before finding him in the shower....if the shower was on I'd hope they could hear water running? 5 minutes let alone 10 is really a long time to be going room to room, sounds as if these guys can't judge time or they were just plain damn scared. My bet is on scared which is why a crouching naked man is now shot.

You have to love real life, you just can't make this stuff up.

[xm177e2]

He never would have been shot if he hadn't been taking such long showers. That's what you get for decadence and moral degeneracy--the complete breakdown of society. I, for one, and glad we have law enforcement officers capable of upholding common standards of decency and environmental responsibility in the face of water-wasters.

Well, it sounds better when you say "illegal drugs" intead of "such long showers."

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

He might have loofa-ed them and escaped.

ROTFLMAO!
As I young boy I remember having a soap on a rope shaped like a revolver. Back then every single toy that a boy had was shaped like a gun. We had lots of time and many indians to kill. And everything was in kodachrome and nice bright colors, and aquamarine, aquamarine.

[NEPA]

This probably took place in PA unless NJ also has a Schuylkill County and a Morning Call newspaper.

Morning Call is an Allentown, PA paper and Schuylkill County is in eastern Pa coal country.

[agitator]

"I love it when any police entity "investigates" itself."

Reminds me of what bored monkeys do in their cages.

[leadhead]

Need a headline correction. Schuylkill Co., home of Yuengling Beer, is in Pennsylvania not NJ.

[jim35]

"...Since when do burglars break into houses to take showers?..."

It didn't say he was taking a shower, or that he was naked and wet, just that he was crouched down, hiding in the shower. The same "idiot" contractors could have just as easily foiled a burglary with a timely phone call if the circumstances had been different. Nevertheless, in general you are correct about this being a general mess up, but it hardly rises to the level of state despotism.

[jim35]

"...How about, "Don't shoot naked wet men in the bathroom when you don't know who it is?"..."

Where does it say that he was naked and wet? It only says that he was found crouched down in the shower.

"...The point is, LEOs get a gimmee every time when their incompetence leads them to shoot an innocent party. If a civilian did this, he'd be in jail facing 20 years..."

"...If a civilian did this, he'd be in jail facing 20 years..."

Maybe, or maybe not. Some civilians get off even when they dismember their victims and dump them into the ocean. Your being a little hysterical here.

"...Plus, the LEOs immediately begin to bargain their CYA by hinting at charging the man they shot..."


They merely said they were continuing to investigate.


"...This stinks, in a free country..."

This isn't despotism, this is simple incompetence on the part of a clumsy LEO, preceded by a misunderstanding.
Giving an automatic "gimmee" is wrong, to be sure, but crucifying them for making a mistake would be just as bad, for all of us. It would make it a lot easier on the crooks, though.

[wita]

The point is, if you wait for state despotism, you have waited too long. Police cannot make mistakes, in these circumstances. For over forty years, the US military handled nuclear weapons, flew them all over the world, had them at the ready, and NEVER made a mistake with them, because proceedures were in place to prohibit misstakes because one mistake was all you got. The same holds true with dynamic entry into the homes of citizens.

IMHO the government cannot afford mistakes, and any number higher than one, is too many. Which brings us to police/military style raids on the homes of citizens, and I contend that two police in suits with concealed weapons, is firepower enough. If you are serving a warrant, then serve it at your risk, not the citizens. That would show sufficient willingness to allow "innocent until proven guilty in a court of law" to prevail.

[bvw]

There are 21 counties in NJ, I can name every one of them from memory. Schuylkill County is NOT one of them.

There are over 60 counties in Pennsyvnia, I can name maybe 50 of them from memory.

Schuylkill County is in PENNSYLVANIA, near Harrisburg and Reading, and there is a Wayne Township there. (There's a lot of Waynes in Pennsylvania, and a few in Jersey, and there is definitely a Wayne in http://city.state-pa.us/Schuylkill-County/Wayne-Township)

[aomagrat]

Guns don't kill people, the government does.

[Glenn]

The guy is probably hard of hearing

As a recent convert to the deaf, it is one of my greatest fears that an officer will say something I cannot hear and I'll be put down for the offense of not complying with a lawful order.

Then again, I'm the paranoid type.

[Timm]

Police have filed no charges against Freed, but said they are investigating.

Well, good. Yeah, the cop negligently shot a restrained, unarmed guy who had been taking a shower in his own house, but let's not forget who the real bad guys are here.

[dennisw]

Another reason to rely on yourself to protect your domicile, rather than an ill trained or just plain dumb policeman.

Many great cops out there but many dummies too. Many of our public schools suck and will produce poor specimens for the police academies.