Met Police officer shoots himself in the leg

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littlewoman

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Police Officer Shoots Himself In The Leg

A police officer has accidentally shot himself in the leg at Putney police station while he was "holstering" a firearm.The male officer was taken to hospital on Monday morning and remains in a stable condition.No one else was present when the gun was fired.

The Met Police said in a statement that the officer was injured after his police issued firearm was discharged at approximately 9am on Monday, January 20.The statement said: "The male officer was taken to a south London hospital where he remains in a stable condition."Enquiries into the circumstances of the incident are under way; the Directorate of Professional Standards have been informed and the MPS Health and Safety branch are assisting with the enquiry."The IPCC has been informed as is normal in these circumstances, but the investigation remains with the MPS Directorate of Professional Standards."The officer is part of the Met's Specialist Crime & Operations directorate (SC&O).

London Ambulance Service sent a responder in a car, one ambulance crew and an air ambulance to the police station."Staff treated a man reported to be in his 30s, he taken as a priority to a south London hospital," it said in a statement.
 
What are peoples thoughts on this?
I am presuming (hoping) that he was on his way out to an incident.
Last time I spoke to Met Police armed officers they had a Glock17 as a handgun as backup to their rifle. As a Glock17 has the safety as part of the trigger, there is no separate safety that can be put on. I'm thinking that possibly a strap or other bit of kit getting between the trigger and guard might fire it, although it would have to push the trigger in properly, not just catch it slightly.
So, if he was going out to an armed incident, would it be right to make ready in the station rather than on route to the incident or on arrival at the incident?
 
Holsters should not be rigged in such a way as to risk pressing the trigger, its a fundamental part of what they are for - to keep the firearm ready but not at risk of discharge.

We can only speculate as to how it happened, but SOPs are there to stop this from happening so it seems plausible that he was negligent in some way.
 
Hi
I'm new to this so bear with!

I am a current AFO and I would imagine the 17s are carried state one and depending on the METS Holster I would imagine SAFARILAND then if under immense pressure from the Situation (that we know little about) it is plausible this could be done accidentally rather than negligently but there is always a chance of negligence.....unfortunately


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Glocks are safe when handled correctly. There is no excuse for a Negligent Discharge (Accidental Discharge is a misnomer there is no such thing as an "accidental discharge"). At the end of the day its down to the officer, no-one's fault but his.
 
I take your point but I know of a MET officer that en route to carry out an extraction/hard stop tactic that had his GLOCK in his hand due to the level of threat posed and "accidentally" discharged his weapon when the vehicle he was in hit the target vehicle due to the impact.
I think without more knowledge on the incident we can't say either way but it's not good for sure!!. :)


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AFOUK said:
I take your point but I know of a MET officer that en route to carry out an extraction/hard stop tactic that had his GLOCK in his hand due to the level of threat posed and "accidentally" discharged his weapon when the vehicle he was in hit the target vehicle due to the impact.
I think without more knowledge on the incident we can't say either way but it's not good for sure!!. :)


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Click to expand...

Should not have had his finger on the trigger. I re-iterate, no such thing as an accidental discharge involving someone with training
 
It can happen to anyone. Never say never. One could argue that there is not enough familiarity with the firearms due to stringent controls....or one could argue that those who handle firearms daily and have an ND may be TOO comfortable with guns. People are people therefore we are not perfect. NO gun has a true safety on it otherwise they wouldn't be worth a fuk. At the end of the day you hope you never have an ND but sometimes it happens. Hopefully you don't accidentally hurt or kill someone else when, or if it happens.

One of our LT's shot himself in the leg last week. He violated one of the rules of firearms....never go hands on with a perp whilst holding your gun. Sometimes you HAVE to, but this time he didn't. Well, during the scuffle he shot himself. Very painful, and embarrassing for him. 99.9% of cops go their whole career without an ND but when it does happen it's big news apparently so we all hear about it.
 
Negligent discharges happen when you know all of the safety rules. You think that you followed all of the safety rules, but you become complacent. You let your guard down just one time. That's all it takes. As Howie says, it can happen to anyone, but it's still negligent.

Accidental discharges happen when you DON'T know all of the safety rules, and you don't know what you are doing.
 
In UK police forces across the UK there is such thing as an "accidental discharge" there's force policy on it in relation to determining between both accidental and negligent but as a qualified officer of 10 years AFO and ARV in the UK I've seen it happen never myself tho!!!.
I only stated "accidental" as it exists in Uk Police forces and the way it's dealt with is on the outcome of accidental and negligent


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AFOUK said:
then if under immense pressure from the Situation (that we know little about) it is plausible this could be done accidentally rather than negligently
Click to expand...
Not sure what kind of pressure he would be under on his own, in the armoury of a Police Station (according to reports)? :)
 
Only stating facts within UK pice unless your a UK officer within the POLICE you wouldn't no that's the way UK forces look at it in terms of dealing with it on a professional standards level!


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Ha ha yeah I'm going with the fact there media reports but yeah maybe he needed the toilet in a hurry!! :)


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AFOUK said:
In UK police forces across the UK there is such thing as an "accidental discharge" there's force policy on it in relation to determining between both accidental and negligent but as a qualified officer of 10 years AFO and ARV in the UK I've seen it happen never myself tho!!!.
I only stated "accidental" as it exists in Uk Police forces and the way it's dealt with is on the outcome of accidental and negligent


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Click to expand...

Fair enough. You can call it what you want, but semantics don't change reality. It is not a "no fault" event
 
AFOUK said:
Hi
I'm new to this so bear with!

I am a current AFO and I would imagine the 17s are carried state one and depending on the METS Holster I would imagine SAFARILAND then if under immense pressure from the Situation (that we know little about) it is plausible this could be done accidentally rather than negligently but there is always a chance of negligence.....unfortunately


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Click to expand...
Clarify what you mean by "state one".
Do you mean magazine on, no round in the chamber, or magazine on and a round in the chamber?
If its the latter, then are you saying the round is chambered in the station, not on route, which is what I thought would be the case.
Perhaps others could also comment here whether you are a soldier about to leave the base to go on a patrol, an armed CPO in somewhere like the US or armed police outside the UK (Howard). Do you chamber the round before you step outside the safety of base or wait until things start looking dodgy?
 
The ambulance service were called to a police station so I would hazard a guess that this to place during a loading/unloading drill.
 
matt202 said:
The ambulance service were called to a police station so I would hazard a guess that this to place during a loading/unloading drill.
Click to expand...
The news report says it happened whilst he was holstering his weapon. I'd be even more worried if he managed to shoot himself in the leg whilst loading or unloading.
 
You would hope that his finger was nowhere near the trigger, so perhaps some part of his clothing or the lanyard got caught in the trigger guard.
 
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