NYPD officer NDs, wounds innocent man

[ELB]

I waited a couple days on this to see if it got any better.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... ews_nation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A drug raid went awry Saturday when a [NYPD] police officer accidentally fired his gun and wounded the suspect's elderly father, authorities said.

[The]father wasn't alleged to have done anything wrong or to have had any knowledge of his son's crimes, police said.

It didn't.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bron ... kn1WHF0APN" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Emergency Services Officer Andrew McCormack ... was trying to light up the dark Soundview apartment where a drug raid was under way early Saturday and reached for a flashlight attached to his gun, the police source said.

"He went to hit the button to put the flashlight on," the source said -- but instead, the weapon fired.

All by itself. Shazam.

[MadMonkey]

But only cops are highly trained enough to carry guns...

[RoyGBiv]

But only cops are highly trained enough to carry guns...

My first thought exactly.

[RPB]

But only cops are highly trained enough to carry guns...

My first thought exactly.

Mine too, but NY training may be lacking, I recall when who was it? Lee Brown himself, carried a Glock there, but restricted the Dept to revolvers, because they couldn't handle a semi-auto? Necessitating the "New York" trigger.

[i8godzilla]

This is twice in recent memory of NDs due to flashlight mounted on a LEO's duty weapon.

[Lonest4r]

This is a bad practice, officers should get out of the habit of using the light on their weapon to illuminate people or things they don't have the justification to use deadly force against. Kinda violates the rule about not pointing a gun a something you don't want to destroy. If you need a flashlight, carry a flashlight, but don't use your gun as your flashlight. The light is there to prevent non-threats from getting shot and to help officers place their shots better while avoiding collateral damage (and to momentarily blind dangerous suspects). It should not increase an innocent person's chance of being shot.

[Keith B]

This is a bad practice, officers should get out of the habit of using the light on their weapon to illuminate people or things they don't have the justification to use deadly force against. Kinda violates the rule about not pointing a gun a something you don't want to destroy. If you need a flashlight, carry a flashlight, but don't use your gun as your flashlight. The light is there to prevent non-threats from getting shot and to help officers place their shots better while avoiding collateral damage (and to momentarily blind dangerous suspects). It should not increase an innocent person's chance of being shot.

The point of the pistol mounted flashlight is to light up what you have your gun pointed at. They are not just dragging out their guns to use the flashlight feature. However, this brings the potential of hitting the wrong switch (as we have now seen twice) and shooting someone you only intended to illuminate with the flash light instead of muzzle flash.

Bottom line, while these lights are good tools, better training and/or a more foolproof switch design (pressure pad on grip, etc.) will resolve these ND's.

[Texas Size 11]

Time for the Brady Bunch to try and pass a bill so cops can only carry nerf baseball bats to apprehend BG's.