Transparency. It’s a good thing, not a bad thing. Especially when you’re talking about public servants who have a remarkable tendency to abuse the power bestowed upon them by their fellow citizens. Double especially when these public servants are in possession of firearms. So here’s a huge Bronx cheer to all those police departments who refuse to release the names and photographs of officers who create a negligent discharge by their, uh, negligence. And trust me, this kind of cover-up and obfuscation is the norm. Example? I’m glad I asked. miami.cbslocal.com takes us to the 30th floor of the Lawson E. Thomas Courthouse around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday . . .
A Miami-Dade Police Officer, according to police, was demonstrating a scenario to a judge during a training exercise . . . when he accidentally fired a single shot from his department-issued rifle, an AR-15.
The bullet hit the floor, leaving a hole about the size of a fingertip in the carpet near a sofa in the hallway.
No one was hurt. In fact, several people in the building at the time told CBS4 they didn’t even hear the shot.
A sign in the courthouse lobby warns law enforcement officers to secure their firearms in gun lockers if they’re there on personal business.The cop in this instance was there on official training business.
Police say there’s nothing unlawful or against policy about him having his weapon.
But questions remain, including “Why was the gun loaded during training?” and “Should the safety have been on at the time”?
Police have not yet released the name of the officer who fired the gun.
They gotta do that! How else are we going to know to whom to send the IGOTD hardware?
Anyway, anyone here buying the idea that the cop was “training” the judge? How about showing off? Thought so. Anyone else wanna bet the cop gets anything other than a wrist-slap for NDing his “assault rifle” (curious how bashful the media are when it comes to using that term for police rifles)? Thought not.
Just get out to Miami ASAP and look for the Judge and Officer holding their ears and saying MAWP…MAWP…
“Wait, is the phone not… Damn you tinnitus! You’re a cruel mistress. But seriously, do you not hear that?”
I know a great ENT doc that can help.
For the uninitiated http://youtu.be/Tekhh7Iy-sM
Raw meat dangling in front of the ever-eager anti LEO bias of some around here….
This will be fun to watch.
Granted, what the idiot did was something not even a self-respecting Boy Scout who has earned his firearms merit badge would have done.
We calls ’em likes we sees ’em, hoss. Your basic quarrel is with reality, not with the astute observers who properly heap ridicule on overconfident, under-competent, so-called civil servants.
Not anti-LEO – just anti “Rule for me, and rules for thee.”
when he accidentally fired
At least the article doesn’t say, “when the gun accidentally fired”. That’s progress.
Yup. Baby steps, but I’ll take ’em.
Still probably BS, I’d bet he pulled the trigger on purpose, if he was demonstrating something to the judge. He (and quite possibly others) failed to personally confirm the chamber was empty. What possibly saved the day here was muzzle discipline.
Or dumb luck. We’ll probably never know, however, as these types of incidents are never investigated properly and the results made public.
john Q public NDs a gun anymore, they get reckless endangerment charges. Cops? Well they walk on water.
When the press talks about ARxx they are Patrol Rifles for the cops, but OMG Dangerous high power blah blah blah Assault Rifles for the rest of us not toting a badge.
I’ll say it.
Glad the judge didn’t have a seeing eye dog….
Just a typical case of American blind justice.
So bobmcd, is the judge not going to look at the 27 8×10 glossy pictures…?
Of course they didn’t name the negligent cop — because police have a duty to no one and the people have no right to know.
Is that so hard to understand?
What if it was the judge that ND’d? Even more embarrassing for the cop…
and tougher for the Chief to explain…
Just for fun, I followed up on Officer Santiago (from linked stories): Officer Juan Santiago looked up from his lap where a thin ribbon of smoke was rising from a hole in a cloth gun pouch, blood trickling from a corresponding hole in his left thigh.
“Why didn’t you tell me the gun was loaded,” he asked his breakfast mate, Detective Juan Gonzalez.
On Tuesday morning, the 56-year-old Santiago, a 29-year veteran of the police force, surrendered at the State Police barracks in Bethany, where he was charged with unlawful discharge of a firearm — a move many in the community said was long overdue.
The charge is a misdemeanor and Santiago was released on a promise to appear pending arraignment in state Superior Court here on Feb. 18. In the meantime, Santiago is on paid administrative duty. His lawyer, John R. Gulash, declined comment.
Hey, these things happen…
I agree. Humans always have a margin for error, but the lack of transparency, responsibility, and and punishment is why the general public are losing faith in those paid to protect us.
Yeah but in the scheme of things that happen, these are not as excusable as things like car accidents. Gun safety just isn’t that hard.
I had an interesting discussion with a retired police officer in a LGS a week or so ago. As far as he was concerned, it was OK for him to break gun laws (like California’s ban on acquiring 10+ round magazines after Jan 1, 2000), or carrying 10+ mag in San Francisco (which by ordinance bans all such mags except duty mags issued to active LEOs) because “no police officer will ever arrest me for it.” When I suggested that he believed officers-or in his case former officers–were “special” he decided he did not want to talk to me anymore.
Our civil servants have become our civil tyrants. People keep cashing their welfare checks and blabbing away on their Obama phones and don’t even notice.
Well, to avoid possible obnoxiousness (is that a word?) may I assume that before attacking him on the subject, you asked if he believed that because he was a former LEO, or simply believed that current LEOs would not arrest ANYONE for that stupid “offense”?
Jason M an Robert Ws comments made me lol. Anyways showing off sounds about right. After all most stories begin with “look what I can do”
“Transparency. It’s a good thing, not a bad thing.”
Said by someone who has never seen their grandma in a neglige, I guess.
Bad, Bad gun! It was just sitting there, in my hands, and all by it’s self it went BANG. Bad, Bad gun!
I thought the AR
Was a Battlefield Weapon
Why do cops have them?
So all you pro LEO (they do no wrong types), if a regular citizen discharges a firearm by accident in public, is he arrested? Ya, I thought so.
In other news, more pics of the hottie reporter plz.
You think that is a good question, try adding “in a courtroom with a judge present”.
What else is new? Cops gotta skate.
Um, don’t they make solid rubber repliguns? In blue even? Maybe that’s a better training option than a loaded duty weapon.
Those are good for drawing practice or retention drills but not functionality. Learning the function is best done with the gun in question. Unloaded. At a range or somewhere with a safe berth. Not so much in a court house.
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