Posted on 08/09/2016 9:02:24 PM PDT by grundle
A woman is dead after she was accidentally shot by a Florida police officer in a citizen training academy roleplay scenario gone wrong.
Mary Knowlton was one of two participants randomly selected from a group of 35 for a shoot-don’t shoot simulation during a two-hour training Tuesday at the Punta Gorda Police Department, Chief Tom Lewis told reporters at a press conference.
“During the first scenario, in a horrible accident participant Mary Knowlton was mistakenly struck by a live round,” Lewis said.
She was transported to the local hospital where she was pronounced dead.
“I am asking that if you pray, you pray for Mary’s husband and family and the officers and witnesses involved in this incident,” Lewis continued. “Everyone involved is in a state of overwhelming shock and grief.”
Florida Department of Law Enforcement is already on scene investigating.
“The Punta Gorda Police Department realizes that our community will have many questions about this incident. However, we are taking care not to jeopardize the investigation,” Lewis said.
He declined to answer any questions from reporters on scene and did not address why there were live rounds in the weapon.
The officer, who has not been named, is on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Punta Gorda is a city of 17,000 located on the Gulf Coast, located just over 20 miles northwest of Fort Myers.
Pile on???
Stupidity is stupidity.
>>Liberals shoot from the hip, while conservatives look for facts. While it is obvious that this was not a life or death situation for a police since it was a citizen training “exercise”, it is also a very tragic accident. You all seem to act like this was a planned execution of this 73 year old woman.
No one is calling this an execution. Who’s acting like a liberal here? FACT: a loaded gun was present during an exercise where guns would be pointed at innocent people. FACT: an innocent person died and there was no need to shoot anyone. FACT: the cops present were the “experts” at training in firearms at that event.
The fact that some cop may or may not be “totally upset” with his negligent homicide is irrelevant. This was criminal negligence and the cop who pulled the trigger needs to spend time in jail for manslaughter.
Thanks for the gratuitous insult, and no, those of us who feel that way are not “ignorant”.
I know you said you don’t care if we “call you a copsucker”, so let me be the first. We are well aware it was not a “planned execution”, but some mistakes deserve swift, severe punishment.
Your joke sensor is out of cal...
Plus, don’t you remember the kids who got in trouble for finger guns and pop-tart guns at school?
My joke referred to them.
Sorry; I did understand the reference, but thought you were under the impression that civvies were “pulling the trigger”...
My apologies!
30 years ago we had a fairly close acquaintance who actually earned a criminal justice degree at a 4 year private university. He was not able to find a job on a police department or the state patrol because he kept failing the psych tests. We felt sorry for our friend but we were also somewhat relieved because we were always a little worried about how his emotional issues might affect his performance. We enjoyed being around him, and did not feel threatened but there were reasons that the police psychologists felt he was a risky candidate. He was a body builder, tall, with an intimidating appearance but he was always very paranoid and never left the house without having at least two holstered firearms and a knife. The strangest thing to us was that he was very afraid of dogs even our miniature dachshunds. But in hindsight he has never got in any trouble in the more than 30 years we have known him and is a very good citizen.
I worked with the police on an almost daily basis for 25 years after that on a fire department. I was always comparing their temperament to our friend. I met so many who I thought were less stable than him. And as someone else pointed out, it was a complete mystery how some of the affirmative action hires were able to have ever gotten on in the first place let alone make it through their probationary periods. My feeling is that they have continued to lower the standards over the years, at first so they could get the affirmative action hires the department wanted, but in the last few years it has been much harder to attract good candidates. So all this negative perception is actually having a negative affect on the quality of police officers in my opinion.
Many places will not train unless there is a blue trainer available.
Cops, thugs, pigs, badge heavy goons, trigger happy bozos, SWAT team a##wipes, choose one, have used up ALL their good will. Gargoyle glasses, skin-head haircuts, black, bloused combat pants, combat boots, Batman utility belts with 6 spare mags, And Mace, And taser, black body armor, (With yellow SWAT tag.), black leather gloves, 'roided to the max, using their "command" voice on some 90 years old lady who didn't signal, do NOT make for a good impression. The police had better become aware of the optics.
There isn't a driver in CONUS that doesn't have the $200 license plate bulb ticket story. We don't care anymore if cops get home tonight. There is an entirely innocent housewife who didn't get home because of some sh!thead f#ckwad with a gun and a badge. There are "X" number of times that TV libs can glorify LEOs, before the BS factor gets too overwhelming.
After flash bangs in baby cribs, dead Pomeranians, shot dead vets, shot dead grandmothers, no-knock raids at the wrong address, and the ultimate insult, "Admin leave, with pay"? Are they, and apparently, you, so tone deaf?
Just because racist, socialist morons like BLM take shots at cops DOES NOT justify total hugs and love for the Sheriff of Nottingham's men. You do NOT have a no-limit hunting license. Getting butt-hurt when you are called on it does not help your case. It might hurt to have a few of your bro's in blue hung out for a public lynching, for some spectacularly criminal goof, like this one. Until you can prove that all of you can be trusted with anything more than a Nerf gun, he shouldn't be allowed to have a gun at all. (That's a hint, about a felony conviction...)
Which amendments to the Constitution do you also wish to dispose of?
For your sake, I sincerely hope that if you, or a loved one, should accidentally cause the death of someone and are placed on trial, that none of the jurors sitting on your case have determined their desire to return a guilty verdict upon you before hearing all of the facts.
Call me what you must, however, your insults have zero affect on my thinking things through, instead of easily following my emotional sentiments.
did not address why there were live rounds in the weapon.
Thank God for Police Training, unbelievable, But I would charge him with Negligent Homicide with a Special Circumstance of using a Firearm during the commission of a Violent Felony, 25 to Life.
What you said. Furthermore, "administrative leave?" WTF!! Jail and get bail just like any other case of criminally negligent homicide.
First rule of the Dunning-Kruger Club is that you do not know you are in the Dunning-Kruger club
LOL I though the first rule was that you thought you WEREN'T in the Dunning-Kruger club
[Exactly. If a blue trainer wasn’t available, you damn-sure make sure the weapon is empty. Then you double and triple check, then get someone else to check it too. No excuse for this. That guy belongs in prison for the negligent death.]
Hell, make a “gun” with your hand if you don’t have a prop gun.
This was just sheer stupidity.
There is no excuse for not using a fake gun and/or checking his weapon so no accident. Yank his badge and fire his butt.
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I’m pretty sure there are guidelines for this kind of activity that include making sure that what happened can’t happen. Someone didn’t follow the rules and got someone killed, negligence, that means man slaughter, Jail time is deserved.
Yeah, if you or I had done that, we wouldn’t get to say “Woops!” and be suspended.
We’d already be in jail, and likely staying there for a stretch.
I found this rather light hearted episode from the vintage Police Story. It’s well worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIj6O5SBA9s
No apologies necessary, I’m glad you mentioned it. I think of that incident whenever I am tempted to get lazy around firearms.
No apologies necessary, I’m glad you mentioned it. I think of that incident whenever I am tempted to get lazy around firearms.
No apologies necessary, I’m glad you mentioned it. I think of that incident whenever I am tempted to get lazy around firearms.
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