Local news reports via Southern Beale
A baseball-size hole surrounded by hanging shards of glass on a second story window at Flippin City Hall are evidence of a recent incident during which Flippin Mayor James “J.J.” Hudson said he accidentally discharged a rifle seized by the police.
“It’s all been taken care of; it’s all been cleaned up,” Hudson said Wednesday. “I’m not going to have any further comment on it.”
Nine days after the incident, the window had not been repaired. Large shards of glass could be seen hanging over the entrance of city hall Wednesday.
Flippin Police Chief Dusty Smith wrote a report regarding the incident, which occurred in his second floor, city hall office. Smith’s report contains the following narrative:
On 09/09/13 at approximately 9:28 a.m. I was in my office located at 239 East Main St in Flippin speaking with someone on the phone.
Mayor Hudson came to my office and picked up a firearm that was in my office.
I heard a loud shot and looked up and observed the southeast corner window of my office broken.
Mayor Hudson stated that the firearm had went off. Mayor Hudson advised me that he was attempting to unload the firearm and that the ammunition in it had jammed.
That last part is chock full of Arkansasisms. The gun "had went off." And the Mayor blamed it on a the jammed ammo.
Maybe Greg can translate this for us.
My first question is why a seized piece of property was sitting out on the Chief's desk where anyone who walked in could pick it up. It should have been processed as evidence and unloaded, and then been preserved in such a way as to preserve the chain of evidence. The fuck ups here started long before booger hook met bang switch, if that's how the gun fired.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I say "If" is that yes, there's a good chance he picked up the gun, figured it was unloaded, and pulled the trigger. However, of the situations in which a gun can unintentionally fire when one closes the bolt (called a slam fire), most that I have heard of involved rifles. It is conceivable that a seized gun would have been poorly maintained by its previous owner (neglect and poor or non-working order are common according to police surveys) which could have led to a slam fire if he dropped the bolt either on accident or intending to let it slam down to help the extractor engage. Other things that could increase the chances of a slam fire happening like this are if the round had a soft primer, if the round had been repeatedly chambered, if the internals of the gun were damaged, etc.
This type of scenario isn't likely, but since he's not owning up to pulling the trigger like a dumbass, it's worth waiting to see if an investigation shows that he did attempt to unload the rifle and fired it unintentionally.
You asked me a question, and I answered it. Then you deleted the answer. You're the pettiest person I know, and I have to go to faculty meetings much more than I want.
ReplyDelete