Posted on 04/07/2009 10:44:42 AM PDT by earlJam
Arrest warrant: Deputy Ryan Huizenga had finger on trigger instead of trigger guard before he shot GVSU student Derek Copp
by John Tunison | the Grand Rapids Press
Tuesday April 07, 2009, 11:25 AM
HOLLAND (MICHIGAN) -- Ottawa County sheriff's Deputy Ryan Huizenga, accused of shooting Grand Valley State University student Derek Copp during a drug raid, had his finger on the trigger of his .40-caliber handgun, rather than outside the trigger guard, an investigator said in obtaining an arrest warrant.
"Based on my investigation, Derek Copp posed no threat to the officers, including Deputy Ryan Huizenga, and that his finger should've been on the outside of the trigger guard, not on the trigger unless he was intending to shoot," state police Lt. Curt Schram told a judge.
The Grand Rapids Press today obtained a transcript of Monday's hearing, which provides the most complete details yet as to how the controversial shooting occurred.
Huizenga, 37, is charged with careless discharge causing injury in the March 11 raid at Copp's off-campus apartment in Georgetown Township. The charge is a misdemeanor, carrying a maximum two years behind bars.
The 14-year-deputy's employment status was changed from paid to unpaid leave Monday after an outside prosecutor announced the charges.
Schram said WEMET officers, with a search warrant, approached the sliding door of Copp's apartment when another deputy shined a flashlight into Copp's eyes as Copp opened the slider.
"As (Copp) opened up the door, opened up the curtain, he shielded his eyes from the flashlight," Schram said.
"Deputy Huizenga ... was reaching for the door with his weak hand and shot with his strong arm a departmental-issued .40-caliber Glock. The bullet struck Derek Copp in the chest. ... It caused serious injuries to him and he was immediately taken to the hospital in Grand Rapids."
Holland District Judge Bradley Knoll, who signed the warrant, asked if the deputy should have kept his finger off the trigger.
"That would be correct," Schram responded.
"All right," the judge said. "And from your investigation, it indicated that Deputy Huizenga's finger was -- rather than being outside on the guard -- was in fact on the trigger?"
"That is correct, sir," Schram replied.
Schram told the judge he has been in contact with Huizenga, who was out of state on a pre-planned vacation. Huizenga indicated he would turn himself in, Schram said.
Huizenga was cooperative in the investigation and posed no flight risk, Schram said. The judge set a $10,000 personal-recognizance bond.
The case is expected to be handled by Knoll or Holland District Judge Susan Jonas after Hudsonville District Judge Kenneth Post disqualified himself, Knoll said.
Ummm..., watch where you put your fingers... :-)
Sympathetic muscle action: grabbing & manipulating an object with one hand usually causes a comparable (if lessor) action in the other hand.
Ah, the ole 4 rules of gun safety............ Sounds like he broke at least one of them and maybe more.
And a 14-year veteran should have been following procedures, no.1 of which is don’t point a firearm at someone you don’t intend to kill.
Yup:
Rule #2 - don’t point it at anything you are not willing to destroy.
Rule #3 - keep yer finger off the trigger ‘til sights are on target.
Nifty thing about Cooper’s 4 Rules: even though there’s only four of them, you have to break at least two to cause harm.
There is a valuable message here for those that have CCW and for those clearing their homes in the dark.
If you do not have a target in your sights, and have not made the decision to fire, keep your booger hook off the trigger!
I’m getting a little concerned on what’s happening in this war on drugs. The enforcement is mostly on low-level users or dealers and the raids on these chumps are done with a lot of military-style force. Illegal drug prices and availability seem little affected by the war on drugs so far. The big drug crime guys get richer and more violent as time passes. Maybe we need to rethink what to do about illegal drugs.
Is it time to make the banned drugs available to users via a government controlled entity at an cheap price as long as the users do education on how the drugs mess you up, plus fund rehab? This can’t be any more destructive to our society than the spill over into crime and human waste that is now happening.
Since they are charging the officer for a mistake not malice; he will be able to sue his department for faulty or inadequate training and Glock for making a firearm that works when you pull the trigger. I’m sure this will be necessary, so he can be dropped from the law suit the unfortunate shootee will have filed by now. The city has much deeper pockets than this poor ill trained victim officer. (Your warranty says, you the individual just can’t screw up all by your self, there are people with more money to blame.)
On a personal level, I sympathize with both the officer and shootee. Neither of their lives will ever be quite the same.
You said — If you do not have a target in your sights, and have not made the decision to fire, keep your booger hook off the trigger!
—
Good advice, well worth it to save you loads of trouble in the future, as one can have a “reflexive action” with that finger on the trigger, if something jumps out and frightens you...
Kidding, Right?
Create a whole demograph of suicidal, depressed, homocidal non-empoyable leeching “legal” druggies that are then “treated” by the tax funds generated by the very use of these destructive chemicals....
Just so we can say the war on drugs is over?
Kidding, Right?
Thanks again, War on Some Drugs.
Ditto.
I don’t really blame the cop (I believe it was an error, not an intentional abrogation of his duties) so much as I blame the WO(S)D for putting him in this position.
When we point loaded weapons at people for the simple “offense” of growing and/or consuming a weed, we’re GUARANTEED to get such outcomes.
You’ve been reading too much government propaganda.
Every one of the traits you described can be the outcome of the EXCESSIVE consumption of almost any LEGAL drug (including alcohol, which causes far more damage to society).
Yep.
Much better to live in a police state, where doors are kicked in and unarmed citizens shot.
Freedom, Buddy.
It ain’t for everyone.
It sounds like they’re saying he should’ve had his finger wrapped around the trigger guard instead of wrapped around the trigger. That would make it pretty easy to have it in the wrong place.
When you index your finger along the side of the gun, parallel to the slide, it’s a pretty unmistakeably different feeling. You’re pointing versus pulling.
—b—
As opposed to creating a whole demograph of suicidal, depressed, homicidal non-employable leeching illegal druggies whose existance has been used to demolish civil rights and freedoms ever since prohibition?
With all due respect your honor, that is PRECISELY how that huge, gaping hole suddenly appeared in the suspect.
I don't know what the solution is to the drug problem, but paramilitary police goon squads isn't it. From my vantage point I see the use of Fallujha like tactics being used on low risk targets for the adrenalin rush and property forfeiture boost it gives the SWAT teams and PDs.
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