Off Duty Police Officer’s Gun Discharges Into Day Care
BY Herschel Smith
8 years ago
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio – Investigators are trying to determine if any laws were broken when a stray bullet from the gun of an off-duty police officer ended up inside a local day care center.
The incident happened at about 3:30 Monday afternoon when there were children at the center.
“The person was, I believe in their upstairs bedroom when the gun discharged and it went through their exterior wall and then entered into the day care center,” said Russ Balthis, Cuyahoga Falls city prosecutor.
The gun described by police was a 9mm Glock 19.
“My building is brick and the kids were playing and literally it sounded like a loud noise; dust was flying because it came through one wall and then hit another wall and there’s a circle, so it could still be in the circle but I didn’t want to pull anything apart and look for it,” a caller from the KinderCare Learning Center on State Road told police in a 9-1-1 call.
Police Chief Jack Davis said the gun owner is a volunteer reserve police officer in Cuyahoga Falls but a paid patrolman in East Cleveland, where he has been with their department since last December.
“There was an off-duty East Cleveland officer who was unloading a gun or somehow doing something with his weapon, I believe unloading it, from what I heard, had an accidental discharge the bullet, traveled outside of his home through a wall at a day care and got lodged in the opposite wall of the day care,” said Davis.
Okay, let me help you a bit Mr. Davis. The officer put his finger inside the trigger guard and pulled the trigger. I’m glad I could be of help.
Barney, give me the gun and bullet. Hand it over.
On October 28, 2016 at 9:19 am, Douglas Mortimer said:
“Only the police are trained enough to carry firearms” -oh wait…..
Paul Markel (student of the gun radio) who used to be a cop estimates that only 2-5% of police regularly train with their firearms.
On October 28, 2016 at 2:08 pm, mobiuswolf said:
I wonder what percentage of civilian gun owners train with their firearms at all? Considering most people seem to avoid any training for anything, 2% is pretty good.
Still, you’d think a mandate to carry would include a mandate to train, wouldn’t you?
On October 28, 2016 at 5:19 pm, Jeffersonian said:
Government mandated training would, just about instantly, turn into the “literacy” tests for black voters in the ’60s, where some hick-town sheriff would hold up a Chinese newspaper and if the voter couldn’t read it, he wouldn’t be allowed to vote.
Or is that what you have in mind?
And haven’t we seen exactly that already, with absurd hoops for armed pilots to jump through after 9/11? With gaming-the-system restrictions on carry licenses in DC, or gun shops in Chicago?
It’s not white Republican NRA members shooting 500 of each other a year in Chicago, and taking away *our* guns isn’t going to stop it.
And who the hell is talking about a “mandate to carry”? Is someone marching you into the gun store at bayonet point, forcing you to buy a gun and strap it on? Do you think there’s some smoke-filled back room at every gun store or gun show where NRA representatives are handing out RPGs to 12-year-olds and telling them which school to shoot up next?
And you call *us* “paranoid” and “delusional”.
On October 28, 2016 at 6:23 pm, mobiuswolf said:
No question. But I was referring to the ‘peace keepers’ mandate from the community. Training is an implied duty, I would think.
It is for civilians too, at this point. But I think we do less well than 2%.
lol “government mandate”
On October 28, 2016 at 6:16 pm, Jeffersonian said:
…Okay that may have been a bit over the top. I live in Portland, Oregon. There’s a lot of frustration….
On November 1, 2016 at 6:44 am, Horatio Bunce said:
I’m trying to wrap my head around this . How do so many guns just ” accidentaly discharge” ? Especially while unloading or cleaning? I can say that I hunt throughout the year and have to unload every time coming in from the field . I clean several guns a week ( rotating them in/out) . Carry every day . Yet , I have not had a single gun just go off . I probably handle firearms more in one month than most LE do in a career. and again , not a single unintended discharge .
Maybe it’s just me , but maybe a decent understanding and respect for firearms, as well as common sense , would cut down on these ” accidental ” discharges . Btw , no such thing . They are negligent through and through.