"Round in chamber?" That's how you should carry a gun for self defense.
"Safety off?" Revolvers and many double action only pistols don't have manual safties.
"Firearm training?" Yep!
The biggest problem seems to be crappy holster was used. You gun should not fall out of your holster when you drop your pants. I wonder if in this particular case the officer was stupid enough to just stick the gun in his waistband.
A good holster should maintain retention of the firearm even in some unusual situations, dropping your pants to use the restroom isn't even an unusual situation.
The real key is that guns don't go off unless you pull the trigger. The gun should have remained in a holster which completely covered the trigger guard so that pulling the trigger unintentionally was impossible.
When the holster failed to do it's job, the officer should have let it fall. Modern firearms will not go off from being dropped a few feet even onto a concrete floor.
This officer was dangerously negligent in how he carried and handled his gun.
When i bought my holster, my "salesman" ;) if you want to call him that, told me i could be upside down and my gun won't fall out. :) :) I haven't been upside down, but it's a darn good holster for the price.
Considering the end result, one could possibly make the case he was criminally negligent. The article wasn't too big with detail. Either way, he just landed the other guy a nice cash settlement
There is no way any one will fire a revolver or double action only firearm twice accidently. Even once would seem a remote possibility given the length of trigger pull on most of them. Letting it drop would have been the safe thing to do. My bet is it didn't happen the way he says it happened.