The thought-he-was-an-intruder explanation begs the question of whether it's legitimate to shoot intruders in the back. In any case, we can conclude that this is another unfit gun owner who happened to be a cop.Retired Rochester Police Captain and current Perry Police Officer Michael Leach and his son Matthew, 37, were sharing room six of the Clark's Beach Motel Friday night on a group trip to Old Forge.
"We have a group of police officers that come every couple of years and they come on their motorcycles. They're some sort of a police motorcycle club," explained Clark's Beach Motel Owner Dan Rivet.Rivet, also a paramedic, responded to an emergency call at 12:51 a.m. Saturday at his motel."The son went in the room, the father was sleeping in the bed. And for some reason, whether he had a flashback or whatever, he pulled his service gun and he shot his son in the back," he said.State Police say Michael may have thought his son was an intruder. Rivet says they rushed Matthew to Saint Elizabeth's in Utica, but there was little they could do.
Better ongoing screening is the answer. What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Not making it routine for off-duty cops to be armed, given the problems with police and domestic violence anyway, is not a bad idea.
ReplyDeleteIf we had far fewer guns, as is the case in many European counties, Australia and New Zealand, there would be far less need for all cops to be armed anyway.