PA cop accidently kills another PA cop.

[JustinM]

If you drop your gun, let it hit the ground. I've said it before, if your gun is so prescious that it can't hit the ground, then you need to carry somethign else.

The pension board, echoing findings by the grand jury, said that Renninger disengaged the safety on his loaded .40-caliber handgun, then lost his grip on the weapon when he bumped into Sollman.

"As he reflexively grabbed and re-gripped the weapon, the gun accidentally discharged, killing officer Sollman," the pension board said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT

[roland]

The story you quoted didn't indicate the gun hit the ground, the officer re-gripped his pistol and it accidentally went off. I think the point of this thread should be: should the officer who had the AD be permitted to claim lifetime disability and get free health insurance coverage. I think being he caused the AD he shouldn't get it.

[JustinM]

The story said he reflexively grabbed the weapon. Which means to me that he grabbed it in mid air (what's the first thing you do when you drop something that's important?). Dropping the gun, letting it hit the ground, and picking it back up isn't as much of a reflex as trying to catch one in mid air, infact I'm almost positive it isn't a reflex at all.

[BFit70]

i havent dropped a gun (yet) but i dropped a knife when i was youner and caught it by the blade. not too fun. now if something like that drops i just let it go.

[JustinM]

I made the mistake of trying to catch a Spyderco Yojimbo that I dropped.

[FUNDAMENTALS]

Why do we keep calling these incidents "Accidential Discharges" (AD'S), when
in truth, it is a "Negligent Discharge"(ND"s). It shows a lack of "Safety Awareness"
and "Procedures". Before casting any further aspersions, anyone know what pistol
was involved?.

[Steve in PA]

Thats old news.

The more recent news is that the officer who fired, or had the gun fire in his hand was awarded a disability claim due to the shooting.

[KeithPA]

They were both on SWAT?!?!?! there goes a little more faith in police training

He will receive a monthly pension of $897.

He shoots a fellow cop on accident and gets money outta it? This just makes no sense. I'm missing something. How can a police board give this guy money? Sounds typical of a police union type structure. I think I will draft a couple of my friends to form a board to decide my pay, I kinda like that idea

"Matthew Renninger's failure to perform as he was trained, with his injury being his reaction to the consequences of his action, does not merit that he be rewarded the benefit of a lifetime disability pension, and ... full medical coverage," Mitman said.

Looks like they are an upstanding department

The grand jury also found that the department - which has paid nearly $6 million in recent years to settle police brutality claims - lacked sufficient policies and procedures.

[jsb889]

I'm curious why he had his pistol out with a round chambered with the safety off, while walking around? Range or not, you shouldn't load up if you're not at the bench. If it was his carry piece, he shoulda left it in the holster until he was where he wanted to shoot. Bad call on his part...he shouldn't have gotten what he did. He killed someone, albeit on accident, because of his own failure to be safe.

With that said...hind site is 20/20. I wasn't there, don't know what he was doing. But from the way it sounds...I really dont like it.

[ChamberedRound]

Why do we keep calling these incidents "Accidential Discharges" (AD'S), when
in truth, it is a "Negligent Discharge"(ND"s). It shows a lack of "Safety Awareness"
and "Procedures". Before casting any further aspersions, anyone know what pistol
was involved?.

The answer is politics. Calling it an AD assumes the the discharge was beyond the officer's control, and hence not his fault. Calling it a ND puts culpability on the officer for the discharge of his weapon. If it was categorized as an ND the officer would likely have had some disciplinary action taken against him, or possibly even been fired, had pension benefits taken away, etc.

I'm not saying it should have been categorized as one way or the other, as I wasn't there and don't know what happened. However, if my weapon is falling to the ground, I'm not trying to fumble with it in midair.