Thomas Macri, the ranking police officer for the Borough of Bessemer, PA, reportedly accidentally killed himself last week while “cleaning his service pistol” at home. Police say he was home alone at the time, but was discovered a short while later by his girlfriend, and that foul play was not suspected. An autopsy revealed that Macri suffered a gunshot wound to the lower chest area, which severed an artery, causing him to bleed to death. But we see no report of why this was considered an accident.
We reported last fall about the “accidental” fatal shooting of PA state trooper David Kedra, 26, by a firearms instructor at a police range. We now learn that Kedra’s mother has filed a wrongful death lawsuit seeking compensatory damages from Richard Schroeter. The lawsuit claims that Schroeter recklessly ignored firearm safety rules during a weapons demonstration last September. Kedra died after he was accidentally shot in the stomach. Schroeter pleaded guilty to five counts of reckless endangerment. In August, he was sentenced to two weeks in jail and 18 months of house arrest. We hope he is no longer an officer, but have no report on that.
Merseyside (UK) police officers Jonathan Webb, Mark Higgins, Joanne Parr and Paul Birch were traveling in a police car in Liverpool last year when they were flagged down by a deputy store manger as his colleague detained a thief just feet away allegedly said they were “not kitted up” to help and drove away.
The NYPD has banned off-duty cops who plan to see the pope during his tour of the city to leave their guns at home: “All members of the service who plan to attend a papal event while off-duty are hereby advised that firearms will not be permitted.”
In other words, the off-duty cops, who are simply citizens, will have to abide by the same rules that apply to other citizens. But they don’t like it, with cops commenting that “This is our city and we should be able to carry,” describing the policy as “very offensive,” and noting that “If something bad happens and you’re not armed, you’re not able to protect yourself, your family, friends and the public. You have the leader of the biggest religion in the world and the potential for violence is there. I’d like to be able to protect myself if something, God forbid, does happen.”
So would we, buddy.
US border patrol agent Lonnie Swartz has been indicted on a charge of second degree murder in the fatal 2012 shooting of a teenage Mexican boy along the Arizona-Mexico border. Swartz allegedly fired through the border fence into Nogales, Sonora and fatally wounded the 16-year-old after rocks were thrown over the fence as agents and police officers tried to stop two suspected drug smugglers. The boy’s family has also sued agent Swartz and a US judge has ruled, despite precedent, that the boy was under protection of the US constitution when he was killed.
