Dr. Strangelove was a movie character whose right arm had a mind of its own. At various times his hand might grab him by the throat and squeeze, or perhaps it might do something benign by comparison like perform a Nazi salute. So if a shooter claimed he must have pulled the trigger, but he didn't have any intent to do it, we might be tempted to call it the "Dr. Strangelove Trigger Finger Defense."
But there will be no jury considering this. The shooter was Sgt. Steven Smagula of the Concord, NH, police department, and the bullet struck another police officer in the protective vest leaving nothing more than a bruise. And the New Hampshire Attorney General said "no" to criminal prosecution.
Here's the story. Sgt. Smagula was on the midnight shift, and he organized an impromptu training session for his crew in an unsecured credit union building that was under construction. They unloaded their handguns and did a practice search. When they finished they reloaded their guns and discussed the training exercise. In answering a question about building searches Sgt. Smagula with gun in hand did a physical demonstration of the foot moves. Remember, they had reloaded their handguns. Then to everybody's surprise, "Ka-BAM," a bullet slams into the vest protected chest of another police officer.
According to his interview, as recounted in the New Hampshire Attorney General's Report, the sergeant had his trigger finger on the rail of the gun outside the trigger guard. Then, the report says, "Sergeant Smagula’s finger came off the frame of the gun onto the trigger and his finger inadvertently pulled the trigger." The handgun was a Sig Sauer P229 .40 caliber semiautomatic. The AG's report says that a test revealed that the single action and double action trigger pull measurements were between 4.25 to 5 lbs and 9 to 9.75 lbs respectfully. The handgun has no manual safety, but it has a conspicuous hammer, yet no one could recall whether the hammer was cocked.
A strange accident, indeed. Was it adrenalin that made him pull the trigger? Or did his physical movement cause his finger to slip? We'll never know. Surely the gun wasn't cocked while he was conducting the demonstration. And if not, the 9 to 9.75 lbs pressure should have created enough resistance to prevent such an unintentional discharge. When I read the Concord Monitor article about it (linked below), I assumed the handgun was a Glock because of the light Glock trigger pull. But no. So it looks like even a heavy trigger pull isn't a guarantee against those unintentional discharges. Semiautomatic handgun manufacturers should not have been so quick to discard the manual safety.
Anyway, back to Sgt. Smagula's midnight patrol. The next time they conduct an impromptu training session perhaps they might consider the topic of handgun safety. Here are four basic rules of gun safety to get them started:
1. Assume all guns are always loaded;
2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy;
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target; and
4. Be sure of your target and what is beyond.
Be safe now, OK? And maybe consider resurrecting that old service revolver.
But before signing off, it's time to say "thank you" to a couple of people. First, Clif Sikes. Mr. Sikes, the MPD Crime Analysis Supervisor and very knowledgeable handgun instructor with AegisTactical, forwarded the original newspaper story as it was reproduced at Officer.com. Mr. Sikes remarked that back in the days of the service revolver they didn't discharge unintentionally at the rate of the modern semiautomatic handgun and that users don't seem to be adapting to the change very well.
Second, thank you Annmarie Timmins, reporter for the Concord Monitor, who wrote Report: Shooting left sergeant shaken and who forwarded to me the NH AG's report and the link thereto.
Thanks, Y'all!