I found this so unlikely that I assumed that it was a case of a LEO covering up his own negligence.
Some time later, on September 5, 2005, I wrote a follow-up article in which I apologized for jumping to conclusions. I had received email and other information directly and indirectly (referring to the Deputy's comment to the original article), explained that the incident had been accurately described, and there was, in fact, no negligence involved in what turns out to be one of the few, true "accidental discharges" I have ever heard of. Most of the information came directly from Deputy Stephen Cooper, the victim of the incident, who was a convincing witness.
What's the difference between an "accidental discharge" and a "negligent discharge".
We almost never see the term "negligent discharge" in the press, because this is a phrase defining an incident when a firearm is discharged by virtue of the negligence of a person who possesses a firearm, and he does something either unsafe or stupid ... usually both.
Here are two examples of "negligent discharge":
The DEA agent who, while teaching a class on (who knows what) in a public venue, pulls his .40 Glock from the holster, announces that "As far as I know, I'm the only one here who is competent to handle this pistol." He then removes the magazine from the Glock, and walks around the classroom holding his 'cleared' Glock describing the dangers of gun-handling. Sometime during that process, he (for no clearly discernible reason) pulls the trigger on his 'unloaded' Glock. Since he neglected to remove the cartridge from the chamber, the Glock goes off, shooting the "Only One" in his own foot.
Accidental? Well, we assume he didn't intend the gun to go off. He certainly didn't expect to shoot himself in the foot ... literally.
Negligent? Absolutely.
The other example:
An officer forms the habit, when going "Number Two" in the Men's Room of the Precinct House, of removing his Glock pistol from the holster and hanging it on the coat-hook on the door of the toilet. When he completes his "Private Business", he reaches for his Glock and clumsily bumps it.
The coat-hook hits the trigger of the Glock with sufficient force to not only disengage the "Glock Safe Action" trigger safety, but to also 'pull' the trigger.
The result is that the Glock "Accidentally Discharges".
In fact, it "Accidentally Discharges" ever time the recoil from the preceding shot rotates it around the coat hook, so that it creates "Accidental Discharges" until the magazine is empty.
Fortunately, no persons were injured in this incident, although rumor has it that the LEO involved came close to drowning himself in the toilet bowl as he dived in, attempting to evade the fusillade of bullets which his "Evil Glock" launched ... due to his own negligence. For your future reference, never hang a loaded firearm from a hook.
These are the kind of incidents which are typically termed "Accidental Discharges", although we can all see that the incidents were caused by practices which were 'set up' by the firearm owners.
In other words, they resulted from the negligence of the people who were handling them, even if they didn't happen to be handling them at the time they went off.
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"The Case of the Drawstring Deputy", however, is unique in that it did not result from unsafe practices which were chosen by the person involved.
I write this because all of the links to the original Main-Stream Press report, and the explanation from the Deputy, have been deleted by both the original reporting media (FOX News) and the comments on my own blog. The original content being unavailable, I want to set the record straight because I note that both of the articles on this subject have been logged in the past couple of weeks. I started to update the referenced blog articles, but it's clear that I need to replace original content with information that I recall having received by the injured Deputy.
...
I note that Deputy Cooper's comment to the original post (July 31, above), no longer exists. I don't know how long it has been a 'bad link', and I apologize for not having the foresight to quote the entire text here.
The best I can do is paraphrase Cooper's explanation to the best of my poor memory, which incidentally is a lot like the original news article ... also no longer available.
Cooper was a passenger in a department cruiser, on a day when it had been raining hard. He was wearing a rain jacket, which featured a drawstring at the waist. While he was riding in the car, the end of the drawstring (which was knotted) dangled in the vicinity of his issue holster. During the ride, it became lodged between the trigger ... the Glock "Safe Trigger" ... and the holster, and when tension was applied by the hunching of his shoulder as he raised his arm to open the door, the knot snagged on the trigger safety.
I'm not certain in my recollection that the holster was the type which doesn't completely cover the trigger, but it seems most likely to be the only way a knot could have been positioned in front of the trigger.
As the tension on the drawstring was increased, the trigger (having been activated by the release of the trigger safety), was pulled back until the striker was released, firing the pistol.
The duty pistol was, of course, carried in Condition One; round in the chamber, striker cocked, safety engaged. (See also here.) Unfortunately, these definitions refer to the 1911 (Single Action) type pistol, which assume that the pistol cannot be fired when the trigger is pulled because it depends on the reliability of a manual safety. This is not necessarily applicable to either a double-action pistol (when not equipped with a manual safety), or a double action revolver (which does not typically feature a manual safety). See more comments from SYD here.
In retrospect, one would not consider it likely that a pistol would be fired in the holster without some failure of the operator to observe safety procedures. Here, the conditions combined to produce a truly Accidental Discharge, which is distinctly different from a Negligent Discharge.
Ideally, the Marion County Sheriff Department will by now have reviewed the circumstances and taken corrective procedures, such as mandating that all holsters cover the trigger of the pistol.
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After reading Deputy Cooper's comments, I regretted my dismissive attitude toward the official story. Cooper mentioned that "... if I had heard the story, I probably would have found it hard to believe, too."
In "Day of the Evil Drawstring - Part II", I invited Deputy Cooper to any USPSA match in the Columbia Cascade Section (NW Oregon), and asked him to look me up. I will issue a public apology, if he doesn't object. Perhaps more important, I would like to meet him and shake his hand. He accepted my blind criticism without flinching, and calmly described the facts with no apology.
I would like to know if he has recovered completely from his wound, and I would like to get to know him better. This is the kind of man I would be proud to call a friend.
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