Navy Vet 'startles' sherriff, gets shot

[rhoenix]

While investigating reports of a ski-masked man skulking around Spring Valley Sunday night, a San Diego County sheriff's deputy entered the backyard of a resident and shot her "point blank" after she allegedly startled him.

According to Lt. Larry Nesbit of the San Diego County Sheriff's Office, two deputies entered Jennifer Orey's backyard with their weapons drawn after deeming her open gate "suspicious." At some point they encountered the 36-year-old, and Deputy Luke Berhalter opened fire.

Orey's brother, James Morgan, told the San Diego Union-Tribune his sister stepped out of the house in her pajamas after hearing a noise she thought could be her ex-husband. She told Morgan she bumped into one of the deputies and even identified herself as the homeowner prior to the shooting.

Afterwards, Orey asked Berhalter why he shot her. "The cop said, 'Well, I'm sorry, you startled me,'" Morgan told 10News.

San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore insists that Orey was shot in the arm, but her family says the bullet entered her chest and exited through her arm. She was recovering at a local hospital but has since been released.

Orey is a decorated veteran of the Navy's Air and Sea rescue team, her family said, and the first woman to earn Wings of Gold.

Berhalter is currently on administrative leave while the investigation is ongoing.

*facepalm*

[Josh]

Most cops are not nearly as well-trained for these sort of situations as people think they are. Wandering about in the dark, nervous, could've had his finger on the trigger.

Thankfully she wasn't killed.

[White Haven]

Finger on the trigger, really? I know the police aren't always trained to peak standards, but basic firearm discipline?

[Josh]

Finger on the trigger, really? I know the police aren't always trained to peak standards, but basic firearm discipline?

I'll be very explicit about that just being an offhand speculation about this particular instance and nothing I've heard or in any way seen implied (the entirety of my knowledge being based on the article Rhoenix posted after all.)

Now as to police and basic firearms discipline, I've seen stupidity in that vein. And after I had a fresh Army AIT grad start cranking rounds off from two feet behind and to my right, I pretty much decided that I didn't trust the institutional training on anybody I went shooting with until we'd had a wee chat about their basic safety practices.

Back to the case at hand, I was just pointing out that it could've been a combination of nervousness and a failure of training. But then there could've been other factors as well. We have a one-sided account and obviously we're not going to hear anything of substance from the department because they're bracing up for the inevitable civil suit anyway.

So it could've been a monumental fuckup on the sherf's part, or it could've been something more than that.

[Josh]

As an aside, an old family friend who was a twenty year police vet and armory sergeant/trainer used to talk about how many cops would practice their moving target dry-fires on family pets and how that did occasionally go astray when they finished, reloaded, then sat back and decided to squeeze off a few more. A few TVs have been killed that way too.

Moral of the story: after dry-firing and reload, put the damn thing away right now.

[frigidmagi]

What happened to never point the weapon at anything you don't intend to shoot? Or for that matter keep your finger off the trigger until you intend to fire?

[Josh]

What happened to never point the weapon at anything you don't intend to shoot? Or for that matter keep your finger off the trigger until you intend to fire?

Or "Don't drink and drive" or "Wear your hard hat in work zones" or "Don't lick cold metal in below-freezing weather"?

I know a safety pro who works oilfield who gets at least two cases of the last one every winter. Safety rules can be taught, and then a certain percentage will ignore them. Best you can do is weed them out when you catch them.

Preferably like this:

[youtube][/youtube]

[frigidmagi]

Gunny had the right of it there, but then Gunny usually does.