Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Alaska Man Who Shot Himself and his Daughter Not Charged with Recklessness

A Fairbanks corrections officer who accidentally shot himself and his daughter while they were at a physical therapy session last week will not be charged with reckless endangerment, according to District Attorney Mike Gray. 
“There was not enough evidence to indicate recklessness. I don’t know whether the gun malfunctioned or why it discharged. Negligent, perhaps, but not reckless by Alaska standards of recklessness, so the case was declined,” Gray said in a voice mail message to the News-Miner.
The man and his 12-year-old daughter were both patients at Adient Physical Therapy Monday in the Medical Dental Arts building when the incident occurred, according to Fairbanks police. The man was transferring his gun out of his holster to his jacket in preparation for his appointment when the gun discharged, according to police.
The bullet entered and exited the man’s forearm, grazed the girl’s right thigh and entered her left thigh, according to police. Both were taken to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, where the man was treated and released.
The girl underwent surgery and was released the next morning, according to her mother. 
Alaska statute states that a person commits the crime of reckless endangerment if the person recklessly engages in conduct which creates a substantial risk of serious physical injury to another person.
The term recklessly is defined as a person acting with respect to a result or circumstance “when the person is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur.”
The code further states that “the risk must be of such a nature and degree that disregard of it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the situation.” 

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