Posted on 02/06/2002 11:44:28 AM PST by inflorida
This just reported on Fox news. A 10 year old child in Pennsylvania was accidentally shot in the head during a school demonstration by an off-duty cop.
The child is expected to survive.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/2617916.htmChild wounded by officer's gunshot in show-and-tell
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERSShortly after a Philadelphia policewoman passed around a loaded handgun among students during a show-and-tell at a Germantown charter school, the weapon accidentally discharged this afternoon, grazing a 10-year-old boy in the face.
The student, fourth-grader James Reeves, received five stitches at Temple University Children's Hospital and returned home tonight in good condition, while police and school officials continued their investigation into the incident at Imani Education Circle Charter School in Germantown.
The officer, Vanessa Carter-Morange, 39, a five-year veteran assigned to the Ninth Police District in Center City, was removed from street duty and is now the subject of an internal affairs investigation, police said.
Philadelphia police Capt. Edward Chiodetti said that about 3 p.m., the officer went to the school to pick up her son and was interacting with the students in the boy's classroom. Chiodetti said the children first wanted to see her badge, which she displayed, and then asked to see her weapon, a 9 mm Glock semiautomatic.
Officials said the officer removed the clip from the weapon and then passed it among the children. Although a clip, which contains the bullets, is removed, a round can remain in the chamber unless it is removed separately.
A girl who was among the 23 children in the classroom at the time of the incident, 9-year-old Aatiqah Johnson, said: "Everybody was passing it around."
The weapon eventually was returned to the officer, but as she handled it, she dropped it. When the officer picked it up from the floor, it went off.
The girl said there was a bang, and then she saw blood.
"She accidentally pulled the trigger," said Aatiqah, as she was leaving school holding hands with her mother, Melita Johnson.
Other students said they were told to return to their rooms after the incident as police descended on the campus on the 5600 block of Greene Street.
Chiodetti said that when the officer attempted to put the clip back into the gun, it discharged.
The bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed Reeves' right cheek.
"The gun should not have been pulled out," Chiodetti added.
Imani Principal Francine Fulton said that the school encouraged parents to participate in such activities and that the school was aware of the demonstration. Fulton declined to discuss details of the discharge.
Throughout the afternoon, concerned parents arrived at the school to pick up their children. Many of the parents had heard of the incident from news reports or from friends, and already knew that their own children were fine.
Tim Williams, whose son Armani is in kindergarten, said he wanted to know more about what happened.
"I was relieved to find out that it was an off-duty officer and not another student," Williams said. Still, he was concerned about a gun being brought into a classroom. The entire incident, he said, "was too close for comfort."
Another parent who rushed to the school, Rhoshanna Morgan, picked up her first-grader, Nadirah, 6.
Morgan said that she learned of the discharge from relatives who work at the school and that said she hoped future show-and-tell programs would be safer.
"I just hope all the children would be safe," Morgan said.
The incident came five days after an off-duty school district police officer who was working as a part-time school-bus driver came under investigation when students from Imani and another charter school told their parents he threatened them with a handgun.
Police said that officer, who at the time was driving a school bus, stopped on the route after school to calm unruly children. The officer, whose name was not released, hollered at the kids to sit down and be quiet and made reference to his gun. He was not charged, but the matter remained under investigation.
Barbara Boyer's e-mail address is bboyer@phillynews.com.
Inquirer staff writer Robert Moran contributed to this report.
The Ultimate Wheelgun: (8-shot .357 Magnum)Try THIS
349 posted on 2/6/02 8:32 PM Pacific by Lazarus Long
"Page cannot be found"
This woman needs to go to the bighouse, with the same extreme prejudice a white man civilian would suffer. If she doesn't, then, there is no justice left in Amurika.
She won't; you can bet the farm on it.
"...The weapon eventually was returned to the officer, but as she handled it, she dropped it. When the officer picked it up from the floor, it went off..."At least we now have an admission that it did NOT fire from dropping it on the ground.
How did she pick it up - by the TRIGGER?
"She accidentally pulled the trigger," said Aatiqah, as she was leaving school holding hands with her mother, Melita Johnson.
From #365.
Just to clarify, that's on a DAO like all Law Enforcement uses, right?
Thanks, anyway.
Drawing your weapon in a classroom.
Handing your weapon to children.
Dropping your weapon.
Picking your weapon up by the ... trigger?!
Yes.
For some reason, Glocks seem to end up in the hands of people who don't understand that if you don't want a gun to fire you shouldn't have your finger on the trigger.
Manual safeties allow for safe firearms to be constructed with lighter trigger pulls than would be acceptable without them. This is very useful on things like target pistols. In a carry piece, however, a manual safety just adds one more thing to go "wrong"--if it's set on "fire" by mistake, the odds of an unintended discharge are much higher than with a Glock, and if it's left on "safe" by mistake when the gun is needed, the owner may fail to stop an attacker from killing him.
Must've been one of Clinton's "100,000 cops".
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
