Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.metro From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Gomez defense gets goods on police pistols Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 15:07:56 EST Message-ID: \SE B;METROPOLITAN \HD Gomez defense gets goods on police pistols \BY Catherine Toups \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Metropolitan Police records ordered released by a D.C. Superior Court judge in the assault trial of Daniel Enrique Gomez indicate that one out of every five firings of police-issue Glock 17 pistols is accidental. That information, handed over yesterday to Mr. Gomez's attorney, John W. Karr, is one leg of a two-prong defense theory that appears to put Glock 17 semiautomatics and the department's officer training practices on trial rather than Mr. Gomez, whose shooting and arrest sparked the Mount Pleasant riots last year. The jury was dismissed for the day yesterday to give Mr. Karr and his expert witness, former District Police Chief Patrick Murphy, time to sort through the reports. Mr. Murphy, who was director of public safety in the District in the late 1960s before leaving to run the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, is expected to testify about the adequacy of police training. Mr. Murphy is also expected to examine the safety record of Glock 17s and testify as to whether the police department has properly addressed concerns about the gun's suspected propensity to fire with only slight trigger pressure. Mr. Gomez, 31, is charged with hitting one police officer and assaulting another with a knife on May 5, 1991. Eyewitnesses called by the defense in the 10-day-old trial have said Mr. Gomez, a kitchen worker at a Georgetown University cafeteria, was unarmed and handcuffed when Officer Angela Jewell shot him in the chest while trying to arrest him on a charge of disorderly conduct. Mr. Karr has argued that his client, who was too drunk to walk straight, was shot accidentally by an ill-trained officer carrying a type of gun known to have faulty trigger mechanisms. Mr. Karr persuaded Judge Mildren M. Edwards to allow him to get at documents that he hopes will prove what he calls his "alternative theory" that would give jurors another explanation of why Officer Jewell shot Mr. Gomez. The police department has been issuing Glock 17 semiautomatics to officers since early 1989. In that time, the guns have reportedly been fired 376 times, Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel S. Seikaly told the court yesterday. Among the data subpoenoed that will likely be presented to the jury is the exact number of times the Glocks have gone off accidentally, or "negligently," as the police department calls such discharges. Yesterday, when presented with stacks of police training records and dozens of pages pertaining to accidental discharges of Glock 17s, Mr. Karr clearly seemed satisfied. He called the reports "riches" and gushed with unchecked enthusiasm about being "delighted" to hear of so many accidental discharges of police pistols. Meanwhile, Mr. Seikaly seemed displeased over the turn of the trial, which has gone from focusing on the conduct of Mr. Gomez to exploring the ability of the police department to train its officers. Mr. Seikaly has argued that because Officer Jewell has admitted to intentionally firing the gun, it is irrelevant to focus on other issues, such as the adequacy of her training and the safety record of Glock 17s. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM