Officer Mistakenly Fires Shot At KCCI Employee

[47of74]

Source: KCCI

A Des Moines police officer responding to reports of a man with a gun at the KCCI-TV studios mistakenly fired a shot at a KCCI news photographer who was trying to point out the suspect. The shot missed the photographer and no one was hurt.

The incident occurred late Wednesday night after the conclusion of the 10pm news broadcast. KCCI employees heard loud bangs at the building's front door and breaking glass. Several employees called 911, thinking that someone was firing shots at the building. It later turned out the suspect had thrown large rocks through several windows but was not armed.

KCCI news photographer Spencer Vaughn was outside the building in a patio area trying to point out the offender to police. The first officer arrived at the scene and saw Vaughn pointing at the suspect near the station's front door. Vaughn was on his cellphone talking to police dispatchers. The officer saw the phone in Vaughn's hand and mistook it for a gun. The officer fired one shot at Vaughn, but missed.

Other officers arrived on the scene and used a taser gun to subdue the real suspect. That man, whose name has not been released, broke windows on two employee vehicles in the parking lot. He also used a rock to break large plate glass windows on the front of the KCCI building. The reason for his actions is unclear.

Read more: http://www.kcci.com/news/25386574/detail.html

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The headline should have read "Officer nearly kills KCCI photographer."

[liberalhistorian]

1. How the hell could the idiot have "mistaken"

the phone for a gun??? How does a fucking cell phone in any way resemble a gun and how does someone talking on a cell phone resemble someone with a gun???? WTF kind of training are these idiots getting nowadays???? The idiot should be fired or thoroughly retrained.

[47of74]

3. Especially given that he was talking to dispatchers at the time

[liberalhistorian]

5. No kidding! Unfortunately, it seems that the MO of too many

cops nowadays is to shoot before anything else, then find a way to blame the victim for it and cover it up. We'll likely be hearing soon about how the reporter "made a gesture" or some such stupid shit that justified his shooting.

[donquijoterocket]

4. when you consider

That that helicopter gunship crew in Baghdad mistook a guy with a camera for an insurgent with an RPG and hosed the area with 30mm fire I suppose we should be grateful the cop didn't have a chain gun or any other sort of automatic weapon.Small consolation I know and no excuse for the degree of irresponsibility and idiocy exhibited. And it's also a blessing no innocent bystander was killed or injured and points out just how inaccurate even supposedly well-trained individuals can be with a handgun.

[MineralMan]

2. Well, at least the cop's poor training caused him to miss.

That's the only good thing about it.