Holstered Glock shoots Cop

I hate drive-by links without info but the title sums it up, http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/manitoba/officer-bullet-glock-1.4252937

Curious. Probably won't ever hear what the cause was.

Odd we had a similar sounding incident about 7 years ago. An officer who had a history of accidental discharges had a holstered Glock, round in the chamber and safety off shot himself in the But while sitting down into his chair.

grobin said:

Odd we had a similar sounding incident about 7 years ago. An officer who had a history of accidental discharges had a holstered Glock, round in the chamber and safety off shot himself in the But while sitting down into his chair.

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He had the safety off...on a Glock...

Someone or something pulled the trigger. Designed to work that way every time.

Bill

I'm not a Glock guy but I find this story really hard to believe. In a holster that covers the trigger guard this seems very unlikely.

One of our city LEO's had a AD with his Glock. He holstered his weapon in his Blade Tech IWB holster, but did not notice his jacket string bobble slipped inside the holster. When sat down inside the car, he decided to adjust his jacket and pulled that side of his jacket. At that point, the Glock fired, putting a hole in the car seat and floor. This was investigated and pictures presented at trainings. I saw the pictures of the car seat during a "Use of Force" training that the Department provided for members of our club. On a side note, anyone who participates in IDPA matches will be able to see the range officer assist participants in keeping clothing out of the holster during holstering. I suspect a foreign object in the holster in the above story.

The story is real and widely reported, even reported in one police publication I saw. It has not been determined what the cause of the discharge was. My initial thought is somewhat along the lines of what Sam has said. On a properly functioning Glock, something would have to press the trigger to get the gun to fire. Seems to me the most likely culprit is a piece of clothing that entered the holster during holstering. The pistol could then "spontaneously" fire when the operator moved in such a way to tug on the piece of clothing inside the holster.

My thought is that it is very unlikely it was the Glock spontaneously firing due to malfunction. From reports, the investigation is on going. I have owned and shot multiple Glock pistols over more than 20 years and they are quite well made and just don't malfunction. Our club has stressed to members to be aware of the clothing hazard when holstering any pistol.

"Glock shoots cop". Uh-huh. :roll: :roll: :roll:

Operator error. His co-workers know the truth and it will be on their minds whenever and wherever..

If this is the chief of police one - they figured it out. He unholstered the gun at a gun store to compare it to one he was looking at. When he put it back in the holster the adjuster thing on the drawstring of his jacket got in the trigger guard and bang. Not his first rodeo a couple years ago he shot himself in the hand.

It cracks me up how Canada doesn't allow ordinary citizens to carry at all (as far as I know) but they will keep a cop on the job and let him continue to carry after he has two AD's. The same thing happens in the Stalinist kingdoms of CA, NY, and NJ here.

things get caught in the trigger guard ...i realize this is a real hazard.......but some cops want early retirement and .............chances that it was intentional?

Not even the slightest chance IMO. Reviewing the story reported in news and even one police dept communication, the injury was severe, cutting three arteries. Bleeding was severe and had to be stopped by tourniquet. This one of the reasons I like my SR9c with the excellent thumb safety. I will employ all of the safety measures as if it were a Glock AND I will have one additional step with the thumb safety. I formally trained at Gunsite Ranch with a 1911 and with proper instruction, no speed is lost using a thumb safety.

I agree with Mountainwalker. All of my pistols have thumb safeties or are double action only. Most of the modern safeties come off easily when one is drawing the firearm. My Ruger American Pistol Compact is especially facile in that respect.

My dept had a DAO sig P229 go off in a holster and shoot the leg. A jacket drawstring got caught in the Kydex holster.

grobin said:

Odd we had a similar sounding incident about 7 years ago. An officer who had a history of accidental discharges had a holstered Glock, round in the chamber and safety off shot himself in the But while sitting down into his chair.

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grobin,
Glocks do not have safties.
Blackie

SR1911SHOOTER said:

grobin said:

Odd we had a similar sounding incident about 7 years ago. An officer who had a history of accidental discharges had a holstered Glock, round in the chamber and safety off shot himself in the But while sitting down into his chair.

Click to expand...

grobin,
Glocks do not have safties.
Blackie

Click to expand...

Correct.
Granted, they do have certain built-in 'safety features'...but beings how the gun can still be fired by simply pressing the trigger (regardless of what presses it), I'd hardly call any of 'em a "safety".
By contrast, the Browning designed (1911 and BHP) thumb safety not only prevents the sear from moving, but also prevents the hammer from falling...

I guess some folks can't see the difference, but regardless...that thingy on the Glock trigger is certainly NOT a safety. Leastways, not in terms of preventing discharge should the trigger be pressed...either by your finger, or who knows what.

DGW

Probably does not apply to the cop that got shot but perhaps the Glock had an aftermarket safety added. Also, sometime in the past Glock made some guns with thumb safeties for somewhere overseas and I think the ones they entered for the military trials here had a thumb safety.

Sorry I left out the quotes, that was from the officers report.

BTW Glocks do have a trigger safety. Have fun trying to fire one without (dis)engaging it.

Looking at my `Gray's Anamity' the pistol would need to be at a really odd angle to do the damage described. Maybe entangled with the seat belt in a holster that doesn't cover the trigger?

grobin said:

......
....BTW Glocks do have a trigger safety. Have fun trying to fire one without (dis)engaging it.....

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You are correct...but in all due respect, unlike a gun which has a real safety, who's to say what it is that might press against the trigger and cause the gun to fire?...a jacket string, seat belt, worn or improper holster, a shirt tail?...perhaps even if it gets brushed by a stray twig while moving about in the bush?...all of which are known to have happened...so who knows?...
Plus, I've read of cases which involved nervous cops unintentionally shooting suspects simply because they didn't realize at the time that their finger was on the trigger, or that they were exerting pressure on the trigger...so then there's that.

Point is, having a real safety would have prevented every one of those scenarios...simply because a gun with a real safety doesn't care what presses the trigger, or how hard it gets pressed, because when it's engaged, the trigger can no longer cause the gun to fire, dot period...

...And that to me, is the whole point of having a safety.
On the other hand, I'm just a dumb ole country boy, so what do I know? :lol: :lol: :lol: .

DGW