Gun's holster is blamed for officer wounding himself

Chesterfield Observer ^ | May 24, 2006 | Greg Pearson

[real saxophonist]

May 24, 2006 

Gun's holster is blamed for officer wounding himself

Richmond officer sues two Chesterfield gun shops seeking $1.2 million over accident

By Greg Pearson STAFF WRITER

A sergeant in the Richmond Sheriff's office is suing two Chesterfield gun shops for an accidental shooting two years ago when he shot himself in the hand. He alleges the holster is to blame.

According to the court filing, on May 9, 2004, while Sergeant Naitraj David was getting ready for a family trip to Kings Dominion, the gun discharged, hitting him in the left hand, "causing serious injury." He alleges a "5 1/2 inch strap became wedged between the trigger and the trigger guard and subsequently caused the firearm to fire."

According to the court filings, the gun shops were to "use reasonable care in assembling, marketing, selling, shipping and/or distributing the holster and had a duty to provide adequate instructions, training, and warnings to those in the chain of distribution."

From the gunshot wound, David "suffered physical pain, discomfort, mental anguish substantial expenses for doctors [and] lost earnings from employment" and is not able to perform his job as before.

The suit was filed against Town Police Supply on Courthouse Road in Chesterfield County while the suit against Southern Gun World on Midlothian Turnpike was filed in Richmond.

According to David's Charlottesville attorney, Bryan Slaughter of Michie Hamlett Lowry Rasmussen & Tweel, David was unsure of where he bought the pancake-style holster, thus requiring two lawsuits.

"There is a slight chance the holster was purchased at Town Police, but I think the suit with Southern Gun will be the one that goes forward," said Slaughter. "Sergeant David is 95 percent sure he bought it at Southern Gun. It's ongoing litigation so I don't want to comment further."

When contacted, David said, "It's in my attorney's hands, so I have to follow his instructions."

"Our records indicate he didn't buy that holster from us," responded Karen Allen, owner of Southern Gun. She said David was also suing the manufacturer. "He'd better have a lot of money because G&G [Gould & Goodrich Leather, the manufacturer in Lillington, N.C.] has never lost a lawsuit."

Both suits against the retailers are similar and seek $1.2 million in damages with interest from two years ago plus legal costs. David, who is licensed to carry a weapon off duty and resides on Kentwood Forest Drive in Chester, wants a jury trial.

The owner of Town Police did not return a call from the newspaper.

[Richard-SIA]

What, another infallible cop who could not exercise due care in handling his firearm?

So naturally, he being an infallible cop, it HAS to be the holster maker and dealers fault!
So sue EVERYBODY, and maybe get lucky if one of them does not have the best possible lawyer.

Note that his infallible majesty is not even certain WHERE he bought the holster, so sues both local dealers to cover his A$$,er bases.

BTW, proper procedure would be to remove the excess strap material after the holster has been fitted to a particular gun.
But if you are a cheap-skate you leave the extra material in place so you can use the holster for several different guns.

This suit should be tossed before it ever gets to court, and the "officer" cited for wasting the courts time!

Then demote this dummy down to Mall-Ninja.

[archy]

He alleges a "5 1/2 inch strap became wedged between the trigger and the trigger guard and subsequently caused the firearm to fire." ... .

According to David's Charlottesville attorney, Bryan Slaughter of Michie Hamlett Lowry Rasmussen & Tweel, David was unsure of where he bought the pancake-style holster, thus requiring two lawsuits. ... .

"Our records indicate he didn't buy that holster from us," responded Karen Allen, owner of Southern Gun. She said David was also suing the manufacturer. "He'd better have a lot of money because G&G [Gould & Goodrich Leather, the manufacturer in Lillington, N.C.] has never lost a lawsuit."

All the Gould and Goodrich [and most pancake rigs] holsters I've ever seen either omitted the *suicide strap* and were strictly open-top or used a thumbbreak.

[Richard-SIA]

Ugh, sure, except when it stove-pipes, short cycles, or fails to feed.

John Browning stated that when he designed the Hi-Power her had "finally got it right".

Guess which I carry, loaded, chambered, no safety, at half-cock, and NO PROBLEM ever.

[Richard-SIA]

I hope so, about 12 million and change should cover it. ;-)

[archy]

i don't see it in the article, but let me make a guess. cop had a glock right? have these cops *still* not learned that its a very bad idea to carry a DA pistol with a round chambered?

Don't let Gaston hear you call it a Glock a DA. He insists on calling it Safe Action. In reality, it's a pre-tensioned constant-action intermediate between DA and SA. We really need a new term.

Unfortunately for you and Gaston, the BATF, who feel they are the ultimate authority on such matters and may kill your household peets and family members if you disagree with them, call the Glocks *double action.* Oh, and btw, Gaston also refers to all his products as GLOCK, with all uppercase letters.

[absalom01]

Well, not all negligent discharges are accidental, and not all accidental discharges are negligent -- though in this case we would probably not be too far off the mark with ND (which was, by all accounts, also accidental).

My dept. still uses "AD" (and treats all as ND until proven otherwise).

Hard to teach an old dog new terminological tricks!

[Ramius]

Let me guess... this thread will be full of infallible people who never make mistakes and will never have anything go wrong, ever.

[Ramius]

Yup. I wonder how I knew that.

The one group of people that I'll never go shooting with are the people that think they're "above" mistakes. They're the most dangerous of all.

[RogueIsland]

Unfortunately for you and Gaston, the BATF, who feel they are the ultimate authority on such matters and may kill your household peets and family members if you disagree with them, call the Glocks *double action.*

The BATFE are wrong on this, regardless of their feelings on the matter.

[nonsporting]

Sounds like he may have reached around with his left hand (if he carries on his right side) to hold the holster in order to 'horse' the gun out, then shot his hand.

If one places his finger on the trigger WHILE DRAWING, the weapon will fire. (Don't try it, but you can see why.) This should be a slam dunk for the defense.

The article is short and doesn't indicate the EXACT circumstances of the negligent discharge. Was he drawing or reholstering? Some use the weak hand (LEFT if you are a RIGHTY) to hold open the holster while reholstering. This unfortunately results in SOME WHO HAVE BAD/UNHEALTHY TECHNIQUE TO COVER THEIR LEFT HAND WITH THE MUZZLE.

Now, these failings in isolation would not be critical. One must violate NUMEROUS safe-handling laws to SHOOT THEMSELVES.

Let's assume he DID NOT have his finger on the trigger. I have seen ND due to a SHIRT TAIL in the holster while reholstering. But in this case the weak hand will NOT be covered. The body part covered is usually the buttocks.

[RogueIsland]

Finally, there ain't nothing DA about the Glock action. You have to cock it before it will fire, and the trigger press does one thing, and one thing only: it releases the striker.

Actually, pulling the trigger does more than release the striker. Your striker is pre-tensioned, not fully cocked. Here is what I found on-line:

Safe-Action Trigger System The topic of endless debate, ridicule, and confusion, the Glock Safe-Action system is neither single-action (SA) nor double-action (DA).

The Glock, unlike most centerfire handguns, does not have a hammer which is dropped to push a firing pin when the trigger is pulled. Instead, the Glock has a striker which is completely enclosed within the slide. Whenever a round is in the chamber, the striker is partially retracted under tension. There isn't enough tension to fire the gun if for some reason the striker were forced forward from this position.

When the shooter pulls the trigger, the striker is retracted the rest of the way to full tension, wherefrom it can fire the gun. Because the trigger action needs only retract the striker part way, the trigger stroke is shorter and lighter than traditional DA designs.

From http://www.f-r-i.com/glock/misc/overview.htm

[nonsporting]

Let me guess... this thread will be full of infallible people who never make mistakes and will never have anything go wrong, ever.

I haven't had an AD or ND YET. However, we're only human. So, we try to formate SYSTEMS to decrease or eliminate risk. Cooper's 4 laws are such a system. And they work, if followed ALWAYS. ALWAYS. ALWAYS.

If something should become lodged within the holster creating an AD risk, then law number 2 will save your keester.

[absalom01]

Son of a gun.

Learn something every day!

[FreedomPoster]

I must have missed where anyone declared that. Link?

[Armedanddangerous]

Nothing wrong with carrying a glock with a round in the chamber. I do it every day. One just has to be smarter than the gun they carry.

In this gentlemans case, that doesn't seem to be true.

[FreedomPoster]

I'm curious as to the distinction between the two, in your dept's terminology.

[Armedanddangerous]

Basically, it goes back to people who aren't skilled enough in their presentation to consistantly draw and engage the grip safety in the proper manner.

A good instructor will cure a shooter of that problem with about five minutes of instruction.

[Still Thinking]

Guns don't kill people; HOLSTERS kill people!!

[Still Thinking]

And what the hell is the moron doing with a round in the chamber??

[absalom01]

Well, that's just it: there isn't one. An AD is just the term used to describe an ND. The distinctions I posted were my own.

There is a current (largely positive, IMO) trend to use the term ND, however the term AD can, and usually does, carry the same opprobrium. That said, it's mostly a semantic difference -- in some exceedingly rare cases, you might have an equipment failure of some sort, or get frapped by a bolt of lightning and be deemed non-negligent but anytime your pistola goes off and you don't mean it to, you'll have a whole lot of 'splainin to do!

In the present case, the only unusual element, unfortunately, is the part of the anatomy the poor guy put a hole through. The old "strap got caught in the trigger" is a time-honored way of blowing up legs and knees and toes. The traditional way of shooting your off hand is to try to hold the strap out of the way with our off hand whilst re-holstering with your gun hand finger is on the trigger.

Lou Awerbuck had a good piece about this in SWAT magazine a few months back -- worth looking up and reading. Lou's point was that it can happen to anyone -- all it takes is a fraction of a second's inattention, lapse, etc. and tragedy can strike.