Police Officer Shot in Head During Training Exercise

[Wizard777]

Also, Wiz, even when using simunition rounds in training exercises, any one that could be hit- or that the weapon would be pointed at- is supposed to be wearing protective gear. At the very least, eye protection.

They need to put a penalty into FOIA other than just ordering release of the info.
But its to their detriment anyway, usually when they try to keep public info. out, it eventually gets out anyway and they look all the more stupid for trying to hide it in the first place. Remember that report on the domestic violence between a former comissioner and his fiance'?

That was a political hatchet job. The Commissioner was laying down the law to his officers and they fought back.

Would I be correct in assuming that the simunition carries the same wallop as a paintball? I know a paintball can break a window. Don't ask me how I know that. So even if he does draw and fire the right weapon. The students are looking through a window that he's going to fire simunition at. If he's misjudged his range then the simunition breaks the window sending shattered glass flying into their faces. I'm just having a real hard time seeing where this "joke" has any punchline to it at all. Even if he does fire the right weapon, it's ha ha now you're going to have facial scars?

[Wizard777]

Missteps in trainee shooting ran afoul of standards, experts say

The director of Baltimore's police training academy didn't know that instructors were holding exercises at an abandoned psychiatric hospital in Owings Mills. There were no supervisors on site. A police service weapon somehow got mixed up with a practice paint-cartridge pistol. The gun was pointed at a trainee.

Many of the missteps surrounding the exercise at which a University of Maryland police recruit was critically wounded last week ran afoul of nationally recognized training safety standards, according to law enforcement experts and a review of past incidents from around the country.

The incident Tuesday has shaken the city Police Department, leading to suspensions, a criminal investigation and angry soul-searching among commanders and elected officials. If the past is any guide, it is likely to result in dramatic changes to the way city police train.

[Wizard777]

Batts to address police recruits; selects new training academy director

Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts replaced the head of the department’s training academy Monday, as the agency seeks to address safety lapses and restore public confidence following the accidental shooting last week of a trainee.

Batts returned former academy director Maj. Joseph Smith to the job. He replaces Maj. Eric Russell, who was suspended last week after the training accident. Police say an instructor mistakenly fired his service weapon and struck a University of Maryland police trainee in the head, critically wounding him.

Smith, a 25-year veteran, had been working on an initiative to improve crime reporting. He will now assist the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commission as it reviews the Feb. 12 shooting at the abandoned Rosewood Center psychiatric hospital in Owings Mills.

[Yachtsman]

An amazingly sad story, Saticon. Wow.

[LadyHollman]

Wow!!! Who stuck Joe in a paper clip spot? I wonder if he asked for that? Ewwww!!

Where's the Range master in all this sadness?

[LadyHollman]

What does medical suspension mean?

He's maybe on anti-depressants, seeing a shrink, or something such.

[overtaxed]

So, what will he be charged with?

[Wizard777]

Batts pledges agency-wide review of weapons use

Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts announced an across-the-board review of how city officers use weapons after the accidental shooting of a trainee during exercises last week.

Speaking Tuesday at the police academy on Northern Parkway, Batts said he will review how police use guns, Tasers and other weapons in "every facet of policing this city."

"We had a major procedural breakdown in our systems, and we're working to correct those," Batts told reporters as instruction resumed at the academy after a weeklong suspension. "We're expanding this [review] to ensure we have proper protocols and we're serving this city in a constitutional way."

[Wizard777]

So, what will he be charged with?

No word yet on any charges. But I would suspect reckless endangerment at the very least and first degree assault at the most.

[demopublican]

No word yet on any charges. But I would suspect reckless endangerment at the very least and first degree assault at the most.

Hard to believe that a veteran PO could make a mistake like this.

[Wizard777]

Hard to believe that a veteran PO could make a mistake like this.

Upon further research there could besome potential gun charges as well.

That's just it. Potential charges will weigh heavily on how much credibility the investigators give to this "joke" defining this as a "mistake." I think what will establish that was no "joke" and not a "mistake" is that he intended to shoot someone with the simunition. The law does not differentiate between a training weapon that fires simunition and a service weapon that fires live ammunition. Both are firearms and handguns that expel a projectile by the action of an explosive. This provision even includes starter pistols.

§ 4-204. Use of handgun or antique firearm in commission of crime

(a) "Firearm" defined. --

(1) In this section, "firearm" means:

(i) a weapon that expels, is designed to expel, or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive; or

(ii) the frame or receiver of such a weapon.

(2) "Firearm" includes an antique firearm, handgun, rifle, shotgun, short-barreled rifle, short-barreled shotgun, starter gun, or any other firearm, whether loaded or unloaded.

Since this was an unlawful application of force to the person of another that caused bodily harm. This is technically a battery or considering the extent of the injury an aggravated battery. But in Maryland that is charged under first degree assault.

[Marshan Man]

Police didn't have approval to use Rosewood for training


Heads need to roll...bigtime...more taxpayer money lost in dumb preventable lawsuits... SMH...

[Wizard777]

Police didn't have approval to use Rosewood for training


Heads need to roll...bigtime...more taxpayer money lost in dumb preventable lawsuits... SMH...

So it was an, ahem, unauthorized field trip to a building that they were using without permission and all of this without the knowlege of supervisors. So basically they were trespassing on government property. That's exactly what the state will call it if anyone tries to sue.

Wow, it's starting to sound like the first lesson at this police academy is, this is your badge. This mean you can do anything you damned well please anytime you damned well please. No rules, regulation or laws apply to you. You are now an authority unto yourself. Uh huh.......

[Wizard777]

City police training academy director, appointed this week, to retire

Just three days after being touted as the commander who would oversee reforms in the wake of a training shooting, the new head of the Baltimore Police academy informed top brass Friday that he intends to leave the agency.

Maj. Joseph E. Smith III, a 25-year veteran, told the police commissioner that he planned to retire from the department and take an outside job, according to a police spokesman. Smith could not be reached for comment.

"He said it was too big of an opportunity to pass up," said chief spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. "It unfortunately comes at an inopportune time for the BPD."

[Saticon3]

I see the training guidelines have now been released, which we all knew were already in the public domain under FOIA anyway, so again they look stupid by trying to withhold something that they should know won't hold up under an FOIA lawsuit. Somewhere in this one a bigger mind must have stepped in and prevailed.

[Wizard777]

State police identify officer wounded in training exercise

State police have identified the Unversity of Maryland police recruit seriously wounded in a Baltimore Police training exercise earlier this month.

He was identified as Officer Candidate Raymond Gray, 43, of Baltimore.

Authorities had withheld the name citing family concerns, though their policy is to generally release the names of non-fatal shooting victims.

[Wizard777]

Injured campus officer identified, has limited communication

A Baltimore attorney representing a police recruit wounded in a training exercise said the officer can respond through hand signals but remains hospitalized and with an unclear path to recovery.

State police on Wednesday identified the injured officer as Officer Candidate Raymond Gray, 43, of Baltimore. Gray, who was training to be a University of Maryland campus police officer, was accidentally shot in the head with a live round Feb. 12 during what authorities have described as an unauthorized training exercise using simulated ammunition.

Last week, a spokeswoman for Maryland Shock Trauma Center said Gray had been discharged from the hospital, but could not provide an update on his recovery. Attorney A. Dwight Pettit, who has been retained by Gray’s family, said the officer has been transferred to another hospital for rehabilitation.

[Wizard777]

Baltimore officer indicted in police academy training shooting

A Baltimore County grand jury has indicted a Baltimore police training officer who accidentally shot a recruit during an unauthorized training exercise last month on charges of assault and reckless endangerment, according to the Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office.

The charges against William Scott Kern, 46, come six weeks after the shooting during an exercise at the shuttered Rosewood Center in Owings Mills.

Sources have said that the recruit, Raymond Gray, had peered through a window and Kern, an 18-year veteran, fired at him with what he thought was a gun that expelled paintball-like pellets. Instead, he had grabbed his service weapon. Gray was not participating in a drill at the time.

[Wizard777]

How in the hell is this not first degree assault? Was that option even presented to the grand jury? What do you have to do get charged with first degree assault? Kill someone? Maybe the more apropriate question is who in the hell do you have to be to get charge with first degree assault?

[Tootsie]

Baltimore officer indicted in police academy training shooting

A Baltimore County grand jury has indicted a Baltimore police training officer who accidentally shot a recruit during an unauthorized training exercise last month on charges of assault and reckless endangerment, according to the Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office.

The charges against William Scott Kern, 46, come six weeks after the shooting during an exercise at the shuttered Rosewood Center in Owings Mills.

Sources have said that the recruit, Raymond Gray, had peered through a window and Kern, an 18-year veteran, fired at him with what he thought was a gun that expelled paintball-like pellets. Instead, he had grabbed his service weapon. Gray was not participating in a drill at the time.

The recruit wasn't even participating in the drill at the time the officer shot him? Even if he thought he was shooting pellet at him you shoot him in the HEAD?