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Officers Poor Trigger Discipline Results In Point Blank Friendly Fire
Published 3 years ago
A 2019 incident, involving officers from the Lafayette Police Department, IN, shows a near fatal friendly fire incident, that occurred after one officer became frightened from a large dog breaking free from its cage, causing him to negligently discharge his service weapon.
On January 8, 2019, Lafayette police officers responded to a local residential home, where they had received permission from a home owner to search their property for a wanted fugitive. Upon searching the home, the three officers did not locate the suspect, however an aggressive Rottweiler was caged in the home, causing a significant disturbance to the officers as they cleared through.
As the officers prepared to exit the home, Officer Aaron Wright, posted himself in front of the dog cage, as the dog became more aggressive and was successfully breaking free from the cage. With impeccable timing, Officer Lane Butler was walking on the opposite side of the door, when all of a sudden a round was discharged from Officer Wright's service weapon.
The round penetrated the front door, striking Officer Butler in the upper left shoulder. Officer Butler immediately collapsed to the ground, now fighting for her life. In a desperate attempt to expedite life saving measures, the additional responding officers loaded Officer Butler into the rear of the police cruiser and began heading to the hospital. Not making it far, the cruiser was intercepted by a responding ambulance, where paramedics then began providing treatment to her gun inflicted injury.
Officer Butler luckily survived her near fatal gunshot wound. The Chief of Lafayette Police Department, Patrick Flannelly later made a statement, "Our conclusion in this incident was this was not a result of an act of negligence, carelessness or otherwise reckless behavior, It was accidental." As a result, Officer Wright did not face any disciplinary action.
