A Bear Lake County Sheriff’s deputy accidentally shot himself in late March at the courthouse, according to Sheriff Bart Heslington. The incident took place at the Bear Lake County Courthouse’s Sheriff’s Office dispatch center on March 29, and the deputy’s injury was not serious.
In a press release on Monday, Heslington provided details about the accident, stating that “One of the Sheriff’s Office personnel, while inspecting a training pistol, discharged his own service weapon, causing an injury to himself. Nobody else was injured, and the deputy’s injury was not of a serious nature. There was little damage to the dispatch center.” The deputy’s name was not released in the news release.
Sources in Bear Lake County government revealed that the shooting occurred when several deputies and Sheriff’s Office employees were in the dispatch center, examining and handling an Airsoft-type pistol. The Airsoft-type pistol was realistic-looking but non-lethal and had been purchased for use in training scenarios.
According to county sources, one of the deputies holstered the Airsoft-type pistol and then reholstered his service pistol. A short time later, this deputy unholstered his service pistol and fired it, mistaking it for the non-lethal Airsoft-type pistol, the sources said. The bullet from the service pistol hit the deputy in the foot and ricocheted around the dispatch center but did not harm anyone else.
The Bear Lake County authorities had not released any information about the incident until Heslington’s news release. After the news spread, the mayor of Bloomington, Roy Bunderson, urged the county to explain what had occurred.
Heslington stated that he and the county’s attorney had thoroughly investigated the accident, and the deputy’s discharge was found to be accidental. Heslington addressed the matter with the deputy and took the necessary remedial and disciplinary measures. The sheriff also said that he would take steps to prevent such occurrences in the future and ensure the safety of Sheriff’s Office personnel.
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It is crucial to emphasize that incidents such as this one should never occur. As someone who has undergone force-on-force training, I can attest that every instructor always ensured that no live weapons were present in the training area. Even if we left the training site for lunch, we had to go through the same meticulous inspection process to ensure that no live weapons made their way back into the area. Therefore, it should have been impossible for there to be live weapons in the vicinity when the deputies were examining the new training pistol.
Discharging a pistol at one’s own foot under the impression that it was a training pistol is also a concern. The first rule of firearm safety is to always handle every gun as if it were loaded, which includes pointing it in a secure direction. However, aiming a loaded weapon at one’s foot is definitely not a safe direction to follow.
Thankfully, the deputy’s injury was minor, and no one else was harmed.
So the gun went off “by chance, unintentionally, or unexpectedly” (accidental) and not by “failing to take proper care in doing something” (negligent)? – USACarry, Nov 16, 2022
Two points jump out.
One, how do you mistake an actual handgun for an airsoft pistol? There’s quite a difference in weight and heft. Second, what was he doing pointing it at his foot and pulling the trigger? Definitely a negligent discharge.