Posted on 05/18/2013 2:41:56 PM PDT by nickcarraway
An investigation by a division of the Maine State Police was unable to determine why a lieutenant’s firearm accidentally discharged during a computer training session.
Lt. Shawn Currie, commander of the state police commercial vehicle enforcement division, was not disciplined after the Feb. 27 incident.
Currie was attending the training at the agency’s former headquarters at 36 Hospital St. when his gun belt reportedly rode up, according to a synopsis of the incident that the Bangor Daily News obtained Friday after submitting a request under the Freedom of Access Act.
The gun belt “was causing discomfort to his hip so he pushed down on the back of the grip with an open palm after extending his right leg out in front of him. He stated that as he pushed on the back of the grip, his handgun discharged,” Maj. Gary Wright of Maine State Police Operations wrote in his incident review report.
While no one was injured, the discharged round of ammunition ricocheted off the floor and struck Trooper Shane Northrup, who also was attending the training session, in the back of the leg, Wright wrote. Currie suffered a small powder burn on his right leg from the discharge and Northrup had a small red mark on his right leg from the ricochet, he noted.
Northrup removed the magazine from Currie’s firearm, an HK .45-caliber handgun, and then removed the gun from the retention holster it was secured in, the report states. Currie reported the incident to Motor Carrier Supervisor James Wright, who also was attending the training, and to Sgt. William Keith, the agency’s primary firearms instructor.
After a cursory safety inspection and function check, Currie’s gun and holster were secured in the state police armory and he was issued replacements. Currie was advised to prepare a memo documenting the incident, which he did, the report shows.
Extensive testing by Keith and Detective Robert Burns, firearms examiner at the state crime laboratory, indicated that neither the gun nor the holster were defective and that function testing on the gun “indicated that all safety features functioned properly and as intended,” according to Keith’s memo of the findings.
Keith also offered the following additional conclusions.
“Testing conducted could not recreate an unintentional discharge when utilizing the same variables that were present at the time of the incident,” he wrote. “Only when introducing an obstruction, ie. material into the trigger guard, were the testers able to cause the HK45 to discharge by pushing down on the back of the weapon while it was locked into the holster.”
Keith also noted that “the HK45 was not capable of firing without the trigger being drawn to the rear,” Wright reported.
In Keith’s report, which was attached to the incident review, Keith concluded that Currie’s description of the incident “was duplicated in the lab and the pistol was unable to be discharged.
“During testing, the pistol discharged only when removed from the holster and a foreign object (cloth, finger or strap) was introduced into and or through the trigger guard and the pistol was reinserted into the holster.”
Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland said the incident did not result in a change in policy for state troopers.
“The report was reviewed with Lt. Currie and discussed with him and he was apprised of the findings,” McCausland said Friday. “There was no disciplinary action.”
Good thing he wasn't using "cop killer" bullets.
There you are — it proves that guns are themselves inherently bad.
Maine State Police was unable to determine why a lieutenant’s firearm accidentally discharged during a computer training session.
How about someone pulled the trigger.
Damn thing just went off.
Question for the state of Maine. What would you do to a citizen who had the same issue? Bottom line, don’t force a double action into a holster.
Maybe it wasn’t accidental. Too many Vista blue screens of death would
test any computer trainee’s patience.
They make no mention of something (piece of shirt, jacket, etc) being inside the holster that could have possibly made the trigger go backwards and fire the gun. They were pretty specific covering the details.
The logical conclusion is the cop had his finger inside the trigger guard and fired it while adjusting his belt. And did not report it this way. For obvious reasons.
This is not a case of ammo overheating or a pressure issue, or being dropped, or a mechanical failure of anything. Barring these kinds of things, guns simply do not go off by themselves.
Well..., It’s like that famous philosopher Barry Obama said once upon a time “Sh!t Happens”.
A CCW person doing this in a class would have his license gone. Plus no cops would sit there and believe/affirm his lie about it.
Double standard hypocrisy. Government agents treated far, far better than the average joe.
Maybe he had a chunk of old doughnut that somehow fell in the holster and it caused the discharge after pressing down on the butt of the gun.
Really, what POS holster allows a weapon to travel far enough into. It and then force the trigger back far enough to cause a small explosion ?
I own several types of holster s and the only one that might allow that is the one made from ebbing. Still, it is customize d to fit a specific pistol and I don’t think there is any room for movement.
Certainly, this officer was carrying a modern holster such as a Serpa . That type of holster doesn’t allow the weapon to travel more that a millimeter , if that.
Sumpin ain’t right about this story.
I bet no one sits next to him anymore!
That would have been my first guess too. Isn't it amazing, the BS that is thrown around about issues like this? I am so cynical, that I think that many of these stories come out, so as to further the agenda of the gun grabbers, by demonstrating how dangerous guns are.
The trigger was pulled and the gun functioned as designed.
With my doctor style scratch, I would be bankrupt in short order. I did a little bit of driving for what turned out to be a nightmarish asset recovery operation with a psychotic manager. The guy was a reserve Missouri State Trooper with enough arrogance for several normal cops. After I got home to SC after a 14 hour day plus being ordered to drive from Jax to Columbia that same evening, I found out anger is a good adrenaline rush. It kept me going. Later I found out after some dust settled from other things that he would not take responisiblity for that he had never done any recovery in his life, just barking orders from behind a desk.
As soon as I got reimbursed for my expenses I quit and went to tech contracting.
There was supposed to be 2 of us on the trip but someone wanted to make more money at corporate so it was cut to me at the last minute. I couldn’t leave the truck parked at the dock at Citibank for more than a few minutes, I had to have an escort everywhere and the guy would call and scream at me saying that I was so behind. I kept calmly repeating my circumstances. He said in essence I was making it up and it never happens. I don’t miss that bunch of lying slave drivers based in St. Louis.
You can bet nobody wants to be his partner....
| Action | User | Date/Time |
|---|---|---|
| Append keyword "banglist" |
redreno |
05/18/2013 2:59:50 PM PDT |
| Append keyword "badcopnodonut" |
redreno |
05/18/2013 2:58:44 PM PDT |
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