SDSU probes officer's misfire into bench
Written by Aaron Burgin
4:43 p.m., July 30, 2012
The bullet hole in question
San Diego State University police are investigating an incident in which one of the force’s officers was loading a weapon in the department’s locker room and accidentally fired it into a bench.
No one was injured by the discharge, which happened shortly before noon on July 23. The officer involved has not been placed on leave and officials declined to identify him.
Capt. Lamine Secka would not say if the gun was department-issued or a personal weapon. He said no one else was in the locker room at the time.
“The accidental discharge was immediately reported to management by the officer involved and the incident is being investigated,” Secka said in the statement. “This incident is being investigated pursuant to university and department policies and procedures and, as with any incident of this type, appropriate action will be determined based on the findings.”
Secka said that the department has designated locations for loading and unloading weapons, called safety traps. He said that it isn’t uncommon for officers to check their weapons in the locker room before going out into the field.
“The question of whether the officer should have been loading his firearm in the location he was in is one of the items we will be reviewing,” Secka said. “So I can’t comment on whether it was appropriate to this instance.”
Michael Levine, a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent who serves as an expert witness in law enforcement cases in court, said an officer could face disciplinary action for such a discharge.
“If there are designated areas — and they aren’t the locker room — and someone is playing with their gun and it goes off, that’s a no-no,” said Levine, who added that an officer’s record will likely play a role in any discipline.
“If he has no citizen’s complaints or nothing on his record, he might just receive a reprimand or something administrative,” he said. “It all depends on the results of the investigation.”
It's got a single star on it, so they've been there at least 5 years. 
