jmden
Well-known member
Happened to be talking to the rangemaster at my local range yesterday when a LEO burst in the door to ask the rangemaster to open the side gate so EMS could get back to another officer that had had an accidental discharge resulting in a self-inflicted GSW to his right thigh/knee area. I asked how he was doing and where and what kind of wound it was and offered that I was a firefighter/EMT if he'd like me to see the officer that was shot. 'Yes', was the answer, so left my guns with the rangemaster, grabbed my medical kit from my rig and we drove back to the officer that suffered the injury.
As it turned out, it appeared to be a discharge from the holster (some of you probably already know where this is going...), or from a partial draw or in act of re-holstering. It was a .40SW FMJ target round. I asked, thinking it was a target bullet, due to the look of the wound as I would've expected more damage with a hollow point.
The officer had about a 6" long by 1/2" deep open 'groove' in the middle of the thigh that went directionally down from a holster area towards the ground (shot from a standing position) and then what appeared to be a small nick in his kneecap. It appeared to be, in terms of what could of been possible, a fairly minor injury. There was no bleeding to speak of, the other officers had already postioned, but not tightened a tourniquet above the injury. My concern turned to the unlikely, but potential unseen bleeding and so my attention turned to getting vital signs and not getting too focused on an injury that appeared to not be life threatening. Taking a few minutes to take in the big picture before treating further can be important, on occasion. EMS was soon there and he was loaded in the ambulance on his way to meet the paramedics in their ambulance who were en route. The officer that drove me to the injured officer, drove me back out front and I realized the paramedics were guys I work with so I checked in with them before they left. The injured officer was doing quite well with stable vitals and he was tolerating the situation alright, thankfully. As it turned out a doc friend of mine at the hospital said later that x-rays showed his kneecap was shattered and the officer needed surgery--bummer--and not at all what the medics or I suspected given what appeared to be an intact kneecap (patella) and what appeared to be just a nick from the bullet with no obvious evidence the bullet had traveled under the skin. So, this officer will have some serious down time and hopefully will recover fully.
I did not ask exactly what occurred, but I did noticed nearly immediately that he was using a SERPA Blackhawk holster (I own two of them...) which have that great retention system where your trigger finger only has to lightly press a button that then releases the weapon from the holster. As you draw, your trigger finger should come naturally into the trigger finger safety position, but there are a number of recorded instances where folks fingers have gone right to the triggers, in the heat of the moment, and had an accidental discharge which have resulted in some pretty significant injuries. I think that could happen with any holster, but many 'experts' argue for and against that SERPA Blackhawk holster, so...but, they have been banned at my range for comps, after much arguing back and forth.
I mentioned this unfortunate incident to a buddy of mine who I would characterize as a expert in pistols and pistol competitions and he reminded me that this kind of accidental discharge can occur during re-holstering as well if you don't get that trigger finger off the trigger and back in the safety position in time--finger on trigger and outside of holster hits trigger finger as you go to re-holster. OUCH... I felt kind of foolish when he mentioned that because I hadn't even thought of that being a potential cause of the officer's injury.
So, the point of this long, boring dissertation is just a reminder to be extra careful out there.
As it turned out, it appeared to be a discharge from the holster (some of you probably already know where this is going...), or from a partial draw or in act of re-holstering. It was a .40SW FMJ target round. I asked, thinking it was a target bullet, due to the look of the wound as I would've expected more damage with a hollow point.
The officer had about a 6" long by 1/2" deep open 'groove' in the middle of the thigh that went directionally down from a holster area towards the ground (shot from a standing position) and then what appeared to be a small nick in his kneecap. It appeared to be, in terms of what could of been possible, a fairly minor injury. There was no bleeding to speak of, the other officers had already postioned, but not tightened a tourniquet above the injury. My concern turned to the unlikely, but potential unseen bleeding and so my attention turned to getting vital signs and not getting too focused on an injury that appeared to not be life threatening. Taking a few minutes to take in the big picture before treating further can be important, on occasion. EMS was soon there and he was loaded in the ambulance on his way to meet the paramedics in their ambulance who were en route. The officer that drove me to the injured officer, drove me back out front and I realized the paramedics were guys I work with so I checked in with them before they left. The injured officer was doing quite well with stable vitals and he was tolerating the situation alright, thankfully. As it turned out a doc friend of mine at the hospital said later that x-rays showed his kneecap was shattered and the officer needed surgery--bummer--and not at all what the medics or I suspected given what appeared to be an intact kneecap (patella) and what appeared to be just a nick from the bullet with no obvious evidence the bullet had traveled under the skin. So, this officer will have some serious down time and hopefully will recover fully.
I did not ask exactly what occurred, but I did noticed nearly immediately that he was using a SERPA Blackhawk holster (I own two of them...) which have that great retention system where your trigger finger only has to lightly press a button that then releases the weapon from the holster. As you draw, your trigger finger should come naturally into the trigger finger safety position, but there are a number of recorded instances where folks fingers have gone right to the triggers, in the heat of the moment, and had an accidental discharge which have resulted in some pretty significant injuries. I think that could happen with any holster, but many 'experts' argue for and against that SERPA Blackhawk holster, so...but, they have been banned at my range for comps, after much arguing back and forth.
I mentioned this unfortunate incident to a buddy of mine who I would characterize as a expert in pistols and pistol competitions and he reminded me that this kind of accidental discharge can occur during re-holstering as well if you don't get that trigger finger off the trigger and back in the safety position in time--finger on trigger and outside of holster hits trigger finger as you go to re-holster. OUCH... I felt kind of foolish when he mentioned that because I hadn't even thought of that being a potential cause of the officer's injury.
So, the point of this long, boring dissertation is just a reminder to be extra careful out there.
is a bad idea, as if one could fall have a discharge.