FBI agent pays fine in shooting into hotel cooler

An FBI agent who fired two rounds into a walk-in cooler at a Strip hotel in May has paid the Barbary Coast $12,517 for the damage and paid a $105 fine after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge, authorities said.

John Hanson III still faces investigation by his agency, said Special Agent Todd Palmer, spokesman for the FBI Las Vegas office.

Police reports indicate that Hanson, who was in Las Vegas to attend an accounting seminar, was caught on surveillance cameras firing his .45-caliber handgun into the walk-in cooler. No one was inside at the time, although there was a lobster.

Hanson was charged only with a misdemeanor because of the late-night time of the incident, and the fact that the freezer was in a back area with no one inside, District Attorney David Roger said.

"The only victim in that case was a lobster, and Nevada statutes don't provide for attempted murder of a lobster," Roger said.

"I can tell you anybody else with the same record and same circumstances would have received the same deal," Roger said. "He pleaded straight up to the charge, made restitution and paid the fine."

After the shots, security officers at the hotel detained Hanson, recovered the shell casings and called police, who confiscated the gun. They then called supervisors to tell them an FBI agent was involved in the incident.

The weapon and a copy of the tape were given to another agent, who was in town for the same seminar as Hanson, the police report indicates.

According to the police report, Hanson said he did not remember firing his Glock handgun. Officers cited Hanson with a misdemeanor, discharging a firearm, and released him.

Hanson has been an instructor at the FBI training academy in Quantico, Va., but Palmer said he could not say whether Hanson still was on duty. Disciplinary action against Hanson could range from leave without pay to firing.

Wow, I guess that really did happen...

LOUISBURG, NC — An experienced parachutist filmed his own two-mile death plunge after he fell from an airplane while carrying a video camera but apparently without realizing he had no parachute, investigators said Tuesday.

Officials declared the death Saturday of Ivan Lester McGuire, 35, of Durham, an accident.

Franklin County sheriff's Capt. Ralph Brown said there was no foul play and no indication of suicide, although "a man who has jumped 800 times ought to remember his parachute."

The videotape shows McGuire leaving the plane, apparently without problems, Brown said. Other parachutists then jump and free fall, but disappear when they pop their parachutes and McGuire plunges on toward the ground at 150 mph.

McGuire, who was carrying a video camera mounted on his helmet, was filming a student and an instructor at Franklin County Sports Parachute Center about 20 miles from Raleigh.

The plane's pilot, Mark Luman, couldn't be found for comment and had no telephone listing. Brown said the pilot "wasn't in any position to see what happened in the back of the plane."

The videotape showed the divers making preparations around the plane's door; then the camera went out with McGuire.

With the camera aimed up toward the plane, the tape then shows the instructor and the student jump and freefall somewhat above McGuire. The jump appeared to be proceeding normally until the instructor and student opened their parachutes and receded rapidly from view as McGuire hurtled below them.

"The pictures get to moving real fast because he's approaching the ground at 150 mph" "It kind of appears he reached for his parachute and didn't have one," Brown said. "But the release for his (McGuire's) parachute is on his right hip, and when that right hand goes down, the left hand comes forward and it comes into camera view."

After several seconds of jerky motion, the tape shows the ground approaching. "Then the pictures get to moving real fast because he's approaching the ground at 150 mph," Brown said.

McGuire's body was found in woods about 11/ 2 miles from the airfield. Footage of the final stage of the plunge was destroyed on impact and what tape remained had to be spliced in places, officials said.

Brown said blood samples will show whether McGuire had alcohol or drugs in his system and test results should be ready in about a week.

Although an expert jumper, McGuire could have forgotten to put on his parachute because of fatigue or preoccupation with his video equipment, Mrs. Fayard was quoted as saying.

A Federal Aviation Administration investigator said Monday he was checking to see if the pilot knew whether McGuire was wearing a parachute when he entered the airplane, as FAA regulations require.

Sheriff Arthur Johnson said Tuesday the investigation showed the pilot thought McGuire was wearing a parachute. But Walter L. Riggsbee, the FAA investigator, said the video equipment may have been mistaken for a parachute.

Copyright © Associated Press, April 5, 1988

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