Prosecutors won't file charges against a California police detective after determining he accidentally shot a suspected gang member with a submachine gun after tripping on a curb.Compare that to one of the original reports.San Mateo County District Attorney James Fox says Det. Kurt Rodenspeil is not criminally liable for shooting 24-year-old Joseph Ortega in the heart in August.
A report on the investigation released Wednesday says Ortega was shot when the detective lost his balance and his gun discharged.
Police say the shooting occurred as two men tried to flee in a car, with Ortega being shot as he tried to ram a police car.
Ortega remains in custody on felony charges of assault with a deadly weapon and battery on a police officer.
Police officers and SWAT team members tried to stop that vehicle but the driver, 24-year-old Joseph Ortega, wouldn’t yield and instead allegedly rammed an occupied police car, Szelenyi said. At that point a San Mateo detective shot Ortega.
Now, I'm all for people putting the best spin on things and trying to present themselves in the best light, but leaving out the part about "tripping on the curb" is a bit much.
And that's not the only interesting aspect of this story. Ortega was "shot in the heart" with a machine gun and survived? Is such a thing even possible?
And last but certainly not least, a police officer who loses control of his weapon and allows an accidental discharge, in my opinion, should be riding a desk from now on. A man like that should not be on the street handling guns where people might get hurt. Imagine if he'd shot a pregnant school teacher instead of a gang member like Ortega. Would he be back on the job then, do you think??
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Now, I'm all for people putting the best spin on things and trying to present themselves in the best light, but leaving out the part about "tripping on the curb" is a bit much.
ReplyDeleteI would think that is a bit much too and very liable. If it did indeed occur that way, then the officer is negligent as he should not have had his finger on the trigger and it will cost the city a lot of money.
"And last but certainly not least, a police officer who loses control of his weapon and allows an accidental discharge, in my opinion, should be riding a desk from now on."
I disagree. While this should be considered negligent, accidents are indeed accidents. Hopefully the officer will learn from it and change his habits and training to make sure it doesn't happen again. That doesn't diminish the liability of the depart though.
"And that's not the only interesting aspect of this story. Ortega was "shot in the heart" with a machine gun and survived? Is such a thing even possible?"
Obviously so since it happened. I would say God must have intervened too but do not underestimate the skill of trauma care in big cities. Though everyone from politicians to anti-gun and sometimes even pro-gun proponents will use the statistics of a declining homicide rate over the past 40 years to their means, the truth is the decline in homicide is largely due to the advancements in medicine and trauma care. We're still trying to murder each other more than ever just not succeeding as well.
It was no an "accidental discharge" it was a negligent discharge.
ReplyDeleteHad this been a non-LEO with a gun we'd be in jail right now.
He was shot with an MP5. It fires a 9mm pistol round, the same round my carry Sig does.
FWM, What about a second accidental discharge, or negligent, as Mike W. reminded us.
ReplyDeleteIf the same guy does it twice, would you put him on the desk then?