Posted on 04/07/2006 9:08:49 PM PDT by ncountylee
A 13-year-old boy showing off his father's gun in a crowded school bus Thursday afternoon accidentally fired it, with the bullet passing several students' heads but injuring no one, Prince William County police said yesterday.
The Woodbridge teenager, a student at Saunders Middle School in Manassas, faces criminal charges, and his father, a U.S. Park Police officer, is the subject of an internal investigation, authorities said.
Sgt. Dennis Mangan, a Prince William police spokesman, said that an investigation of the incident "revealed he didn't bring the gun to school to harm anyone, he just brought it to show off, and the gun went off accidentally. It was just lucky that he didn't have it pointed at anyone."
The gun, police added, had been at the school that day.
"It remained there all day, but no one reported it," Associate Superintendent Alison Nourse-Miller said. "We are tremendously grateful that no one was hurt but horrified that this incident could ever have happened."
The teenager, whom police are not naming because he is a juvenile, was charged in family court with reckless handling of a firearm and possession of a firearm on school property. The boy will not be allowed to attend school until the School Board decides a penalty, and the student to whom he was showing the gun also was suspended because he did not report it before it was discharged. Expulsion is possible, district spokesman Phil Kavits said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Anyone think that that will happen here?
Why hasn't Papa taught the kid boo about gun safety. Oh wait, it's a cop.
The bullet passed through several students' heads - but, as these were completely empty, did not injure anyone. Long life pablik idukashn!
You are in a thread where the posters are "whatever-the-cop-does-is-wrong" would-be McKinney supporters. Don't expect a bunch of reasoned discourse... they're too busy trying to figure out ways to "stick it to the man."
Oh, loosen your tie-dyed neckerchief, then when you can breathe again tell us what happens by evolution when a certain class of gun owners get treated with kid gloves when they Screw up vs. all others getting railroaded for it. Riiiiiight.
Try to not engage in collectivist thinking. "A certain class of gun owners"? I know that you're not a DU person, why do you want to use their "class warfare" model?
We don't have enough facts to make any informed statements about this situation. It may be that the Park Ranger left his weapon out. It may be that the 13 year old had to get the weapon from a location that the Ranger believed to be secure. We don't know.
What we do know is that automatically blaming the cop is, historically, the modus operandi of Cynthia McKinney, the DU, and other leftists. Why side with them, FRiend?
Tie-dyed neckerchief? LOL!
I wonder if it was a Glock.
Maybe the gun control advocates should focus on taking guns away from the cops? Make them carry them in the holster with a trigger lock on it? ;)
Seriously though.. we had a local undersheriff (aka a chief deputy in some places) who was showing off to a couple young ladies one evening. He was wowing them about how you can hold pressure against the muzzle of a .45 colt auto. and how doing so will push the barrel back a bit and keep the gun from firing. Where it got interesting is when he relesed the pressure from the end of the barrel, but had not released the trigger. BLAMM! Big smoking hole thru the palm of his hand.
The little window on this kind of thing afforded by the MSM, seems to bear that out. The cop, statistically speaking, won't be slapped as hard for a mishap as will a honest-but-careless nonpolice gun owner. The latter is much more likely to find himself or herself a non-gun owner in short order. Police unions might have some role in this "comedy."
I cannot speak for other parts of the country, but what I have seen with the police in our county, you are absolutely right. Just to give an example, a few years ago, two of our deputies were caught by a Missouri Hiway Patrol, drag racing two new county cop cars down U.S. Hwy 71. I kid ya not! Their punishment? 2 weeks suspension WITH PAY.
I am sick of seeing public servants, from cops all the way up to presidents who commit perjury before a grand jury, getting off for what you or I would go to jail for. Public servants, due to their position, should be held to a HIGHER level of accountability, and should have DOUBLE the sentence the common citizen would incur. This cop should pay a greater penalty than a civilian, since as a trained professional he should KNOW BETTER.
woops.
take the guns away from the police and tell them they still have to do their job-like bloomberg he don't need armed police because guns are to dangerous-let them see what the real world is like for the rest of the people-
"The bullet passed through several students' heads - but, as these were completely empty, did not injure anyone."
LOL, I read it that way at first too!
It's all horseplay until someone gets hurt.
" What we do know is that automatically blaming the cop is, historically, the modus operandi of Cynthia McKinney, the DU, and other leftists. Why side with them, FRiend? "
Not quite, the sentiment here is that when a cop effs up, they get a slap on the wrist. When John Q, effs up, don't freakin pass go, don't collect 200 dollars, straight to the big house and then we throw away the key.
That's the sentiment.
Now as far as freepers being anti cop, I don't think that is the case as much as freepers are anti "the kings men" attitudes of a lot of those in law enforcement.
When it does, you will already be on another thread, claiming some other LEO is getting preferential treatment.
The only problem with that is that it's not the truth...
When a cop screws up, typically, his career is over. Defense attorneys would have a field day with any cop who has screwed up and at some later date has to testify against someone. In situations where an officer fouls up, the Department usually starts looking for his replacement.
I've seen it take as little as not filling out paperwork about two kids calling each other names and being told to go home. That officer lost a career over a non-incident. Real situations usually involve law suits.
In your job if you make a mistake, you probably won't get fired, sued, or arrested (not to mention the opportunity to get shot or stabbed if you really mess up).
I suspect that I know a helluva lot more cops than most here on FR. I know of only two with the "king's men" complex you're talking about. I don't subscribe to that thinking, but I understand it.
If you had to deal with hostile criminals, a non-supportive agency, and people who automatically blame the cops when anything goes wrong, you might understand that mentality a bit better. It might help to not paint with such a broad brush too...
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