LAPD officer shot by his son sues gun maker

[GlowinPontiac]

So who decided not to prosecute this guy for not having the child properly restrained in the car? Just because he got paralyzed does not mean he is innocent in this whole situation. The DA who did not press charges against this man should be put out of a job and the man who was shot should be charged with child endagerment and possibly some firearms charges for allowing the child such easy access to a loaded firearm. How do you not notice a child pulling your pistol out of its holster that is attached to you?

Glock , the gunstore and the shop which sold him the holster should countersue to recoup the possible lost profits they will suffer due to this frivolous case.

Just because the State's Attorney didn't file criminal charges against the shopkeeper, doesn't mean the shopkeeper was right in using a deadly booby trap to protect his property.

As long as you post a sign informing people of the possible danger it should be legal.
what if you have a wrought iron fence with pointy bars? does this mean that if somebody tries to climb over it to trespass on your property and gets impaled that he can sue you for having an effective fence? Isn't barbed wire technically a booby trap? that stuff is everywhere on top of millions of feet of chain link fence surrounding private property and you never hear about anyone suing when they get sliced up while scaling the fence.

as long as the booby trap is inside a privately owned building and signs are posted warning of the danger they should be legal. booby traps outside should be illegal just because they could injure or kill a child who came into your yard to retrieve a lost ball or a runaway pet.

 

[justin 561]

It's like shutting your fingers in your car door and then taking the car maker to court.

 

[Mil-Spec45]

I guess it doesn't matter that there's a big, ugly hole in the seat...it's not like the dad will be driving anytime soon.

 

[lysander]

Bizarro-Overlawyered is upset about the fact that a legislator, over twenty years ago, mentioned a lawsuit involving “a burglar [that] fell through a skylight and injured himself only to recover thousands of dollars from the owner of the skylight,” and points to this MS Word account of the case of Bodine v. Enterprise High School to debunk the tale....

This case happened also, though as is usually the case on the various "tort reform" blogs, it only tells part of the story. The Bodine case never went to a jury because the insurer and plaintiff agreed to a settlement.

The case was complicated for both sides. The kid who fell through the skylight was certainly breaking the law...but seeing as how the school had seen another person fall through the same skylight and die a year prior (because the skylight was painted over) and had failed to correct the dangerous condition, their insurer wanted to get out of the case.

In both Bodine and the boobytrap case the law did roughly what it was supposed to do...

Everybody wants tort reform till they get torted...only then do they realize that they have been working against their own individual rights.

I am not commenting on the validity of this Glock lawsuit...because...as many of you who like to defend the police in good shoot/bad shoot threads are fond of saying...this story doesn't provide enough facts to support a conclusion one way or the other.

I will comment on the sheer disregard for suffering expressed by some in this thread by saying...it ain't very high road to say this guy got what was coming to him.

 

[lysander]

As long as you post a sign informing people of the possible danger it should be legal.

Well...at the time this case happened, the law of Illinois said that it wasn't.

Isn't barbed wire technically a booby trap?

I suppose it could be...though, absent additional circumstances, it wouldn't likely be seen as a deadly one. That is a important distinction.

 

[Mil-Spec45]

What do you call a guy who is shot by his son in the back and paralyzed from the waist down, who falls into a fire?

Bernie

 

[Bill2e]

WE need a losewr pays legal system. The sad part is for Glock it will be cheaper to settle.

 

[Acera]

From the poll on the site,

Who's responsible?
Who's responsible for the accidental shooting that left an LAPD officer paralyzed?
The gun manufacturer.
1%
The police officer.
90%
Gun laws.
0%
No one. It was an accident.
9%

Total Votes: 1420

 

[Stevie-Ray]

even such a patently silly lawsuit like this has some chance of success.

That's absolutely right. I've always been told that the only thing a jury sees and hears is somebody that will never walk again. Generally, it's from the people that have served on said juries. With the info available now, I swear to you I would hang this one, if I were chosen for it and the trial was going his way. Probably a lot easier for me, being the husband of a handicapped woman, who did not become handicapped due to her own stupidity. Any sympathy I could ever feel for this idiot has been wiped clean.

I agree, prosecute.

 

[Kentucky Kernel]

This type of action almost put Cessna out of the general aircraft business. I am sorry this guy is paralyzed, but such suits hurt us all. He ought to put his effort into supporting stem cell research.

 

[Funderb]

What do you call a guy who is shot by his son in the back and paralyzed from the waist down, who falls into a fire?

I was thinking Screamy McFlailyhands. to each their own.

 

[orionengnr]

Just curious, but how does one retire from the LAPD at age 37 with only ten years of service?

Or did I (as I've frequently suspected) just choose my career path poorly?

 

[CypherNinja]

Emmm hmmmmm. What state was Mac Donald's coffee spilling lady from? New Mexico?

That was actually a good suit in my book.

http://www.centerjd.org/free/mythbusters-free/MB_mcdonalds.htm

 

[fal 4 me]

Just curious, but how does one retire from the LAPD at age 37 with only ten years of service?

Get shot and paralyzed by your kid, at least in this case. Can't perform as an officer anymore, you retire. A "retired police officer" is simply an officer that isn't on the police force anymore, not necessarily retired completely.

 

[Mil-Spec45]

I'm wondering if the kid is ok. I mean on top of having to live with guilt the rest if his life, my question is what happened to the vehicle they were driving in? Was he able to put it in park, was he able to put weight on the brake, or did it crash into something?? Without being restrained, the son could have just as well been hurt if so.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

No doubt his lawyer is telling him this is a way to potentially get set for life. A paralyzed guy does not have as many options as the rest of us, and even such a patently silly lawsuit like this has some chance of success.

Unfortunately, you are correct.

And that's a very sad commentary on the state of this country today ...

 

[gtmerkley]

bs pure bs

 

[Wopasaurus]

I guess his son wasn't the only one professional enough...

 

[Richbaker]

"At least the Wal-Mart lady didn't sue the gun manufacturer..."

Yet!

 

[WoofersInc]

Doesn't California have a law on the books that it is a crime to leave a handgun where a child may access it? That same law also says the gun owner is responsible for any damage done by the child that obtained the firearm.
Sorry, but I do not have one bit of sympathy for this guy. It is his stupidity that got him here and he should have to deal with the results.

 

[TexasSkyhawk]

Chavez was left paralyzed from the waist down.

Sounds more like this numbnuts was born paralyzed from the neck up.

And how the hell do you retire from a legitimate police department at age 37? Even in the feds, we had to wait until we hit 55.

Jeff

 

[Yosemite**Sam]

Doesn't California have a law on the books that it is a crime to leave a handgun where a child may access it? That same law also says the gun owner is responsible for any damage done by the child that obtained the firearm.

Yes it's 12035 PC

Just curious, but how does one retire from the LAPD at age 37 with only ten years of service?

I doubt he is getting a retirement pension from LAPD. More likely he's now retired and on state disability.

 

[32winspl]

"GLOCK; so simple a child can use it!"

 

[kludge]

Guns are designed to fire a bullet when the trigger is pulled, i.e. the gun was not defective.

The cop was negligent for leaving a loaded gun unattended where a child could get a hold of it and use it.

 

[Pay2Play]

Just when you think the last frivolous lawsuit you heard about was the dumbest here comes this guy. I absolutely hope that this guy doesn't win this case. I feel bad about what happen to him, but it all could have been prevented if he was just a tad bit smarter about his families safety around a firearm.