Officer, daughter, wounded in gun accident

Josey1

Officer, daughter, wounded in gun accident JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) - Investigators have been looking into a gun accident that injured a police officer and her daughter.Officer Bambi Alexander told deputies her police-issued .40-caliber Glock semiautomatic pistol went off when she threw it on a bed. The bullet hit her hand and grazed her daughter's foot.Alexander and her daughter, Heather Wermuth, 20, were treated for injuries St. John's Medical Center.The Sublette County Sheriff's Department started investigating the incident on Jan. 25.The Jackson Police Department has temporarily assigned Alexander to administrative duties while her hand heals.Alexander has refused a follow-up interview with deputies, Detective Paul Raftery of the Sublette County Sheriff's Department said. He said he has been unable to obtain an interview with Wermuth."It doesn't appear at this time that anyone intended to shoot anyone else," Raftery said. "But guns don't typically go off by themselves."Alexander could face charges of reckless endangerment if the county attorney decides to prosecute, he said."There are certainly some misdemeanor charges that would fit depending on the circumstances of the discharge," he said. http://www.trib.com/HOMENEWS/WYO/18Officer_GunAccident.html

v35

I don't buy it.

idsman75

Yeah...let's throw loaded guns around. Looks like someone forgot that ALL guns are loaded!

travelor

I got an Idea...let's ban all police officers from carring/owning dangerous weapons....It's obvious they are evan a menace to everyone...including their families!!!!HEHEHEI thought Glock was known as one of the "safest" when it comes to accidental discharge? if this is true...then how could something as well cushioned as a matress cause a misfire?

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keep lots of extra uppers for your ar..you can change often enough to keep the thing from over heating...what ever caliber fits the moment..~Secret Select Society of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets~

concealedG36

Well, first, I think you're guess is exactly right SaxonPig.But, the Glock actually could fire if there was one in the pipe. I mean, the Glock is a safe gun. But, if the trigger(s) are pulled the gun goes bang. I think it is possible that part of the bed/pillow/tv remote on bed could hit the trigger just right. Again, how stupid do you have to be to throw your loaded gun around?????G36

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Gun Control Disarms Victims, NOT Criminals

JustC

well guys, An officer in my town had his glock go off it his duffle bag when it was sat on the bench in the locker room. The bullet ended up on the floor in the hallway after passing through the wall. I am not saying anything bad about glocks, just that I know for a fact it has happened before with less of a jar to the weapon. It was quickly swept under the rug after it made the news. No charges, etc.

Shootist3006

Sounds fishy to me.Travelor - No, the glock is one of the most UNSAFE when it come to 'accidental' discharges. The constant 'half-cocked' condition and lack of any positive safety make it so. Sounds like Wyo. needs the "New York" trigger. (Also sounds like saxon has it right. A quick examination of the bed, bed spread and pillows should prove it one way or another.)

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Quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem.Semper Fidelis

Josey1

Glocks have three (3) independent and automatic safeties as the trigger is pulled they sequentially disengage.The combination of the trigger safety,Firing Pin safety and drop safety make it the safest double action on the market.Most likely we are not hearing the full story on this one,Glocks don't just "Go off".99.9% of the time a AD in a Glock is caused by careless,unsafe handling of the firearm.(And yes I would consider stuffing a loaded glock with one in the pipe into a duffel bag without a trigger lock unsafe.)

UNIVERSITY50

when i went to glock school, we destoryed a new gun in class, the gun was loaded with blanks and drop off a 15 foot wall on to cement, and it would not go off, just about every other possible incident was done with it to get a accidental discharge and it would not. not until that trigger and the trigger safety were both depressed and pull. but, that is all it takes to get it to go boom! safe handling was not practiced in any of the above.

Lowrider

Officer "Bambi???"What more do you need to know?Glocks are just as safe as revolvers. How many of them go off by themselves?

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Lord Lowrider the LoquaciousMember:Secret Select Society of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets She was only a fisherman's daughter,But when she saw my rod she reeled.

JustC

for a study to be scientificaly correct, one would have to take, say, 100,000 guns from each manufacturer, drop them all off of a roof, and record the results of each manufacturer's products. ONLY THEN, can a ratio be developed and thereby quantify each manufacturers AD's to yield a percentage. One gun dropped makes absolutely no statement about ALL of the guns from that manufacturer. I have seen HK's dropped, SIG's dropped and even Rugers dropped, and have yet to see one misfire. I am sure they will happen, just not while I was there.

daddo

I know Glocks and they cannot go off by themselves-Period! A loaded Glock has the firing pin in the 1/2 cocked mode. The trigger MUST be pulled for the pin do go 100% and release. There are a lot of things in a duffle bag to pull a trigger- (the gun should have an empty chamber). I don't beleive stories of accidental discharges- do you think they are going to admit their stupidity? Throw it on a soft bed and it goes off? Right!

interstatepawnllc

mmmmmm,....Bambi!!

Txs

Due to the lack of details it's tough to say precisely what went wrong in this incident, besides obvious unsafe gun handling. I agree, this pistol didn't discharge from mere impact with the bed-SOMETHING pressed the trigger.As to the inherent safety of this pistol, it's design is one of the most unforgiving of careless handling. The only way the safety level of the Glock action can be considered comparable to a DA revolver is if the revolver were being carried in the SA mode. For example, a S&W revolver has an approx. 12-13lb. trigger pull and must be moved about 5 times the distance of the Glock trigger to discharge a round. A more accurate comparison would be to say that a standard issue Glock action is more like carrying a DA revolver with the hammer back at all times, with only 3.5lbs. of trigger pull applied over just a few millimeters. S&W revolvers are also equipped with an internal device to prevent them from firing if dropped. ALL modern handguns have this type of safety mechanism designed into them, not just the Glock.When Washington DC PD first adopted the Glock in '89 they experienced their first AD before these pistols even became an issued item. During their testing with the initial batch an officer managed to shoot himself with one. Within the first 8 months of issue they experienced another 13 AD's, double their previous years rate when carrying revolvers. All of these were determined to have been caused by human error. They subsequently experienced over 120 AD's with the Glock over the next 10 years; 19 officers accidentally shot themselves or other officers.In '98 the Firearms Litigation Clearinghouse published information stating they were currently monitoring 60 lawsuits involving Glock pistols-90% of the total number of firearms lawsuits being monitored.The Glock is a good pistol, but IMHO it's a gun for highly experienced shooters only. It's not made for people like Bambi who pitch their loaded handgun down on the bed when they get home from work. As Massad Ayoob has publicly stated, "You don't want your 16-year-old kid just out of driver's education driving a Corvette. The Glock is like a Corvette".