Trooper shoots himself in hand
By Lindsay Tice
,
Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
AUBURN - An off-duty state trooper accidentally shot himself in the hand Tuesday afternoon and was rushed to Central Maine Medical Center.
Keith Frank, a former Auburn police officer and a veteran state trooper, shot himself in the left palm as he was entering his Pownal Road home in Auburn. Frank was taking the .45-caliber handgun off his belt when it went off, Auburn Sgt. Eric Audette said.
The injury was not life-threatening.
"He was able to move all his fingers except his middle one, because that's where he was shot," Audette said.
Frank was taken by ambulance to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, where he was expected to undergo surgery, according to state police. He was in stable condition Tuesday night, a CMMC nursing supervisor said.
Frank served as an Auburn police officer for three years before joining the state police, Audette said. He has been with the state police for 23 years and is a former member of the department's tactical team.
The gun was Frank's personal weapon and was not police-issue. |
 CLICK HERE To Show/Hide Discussion Thread - (21 Comments)
Comments
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Posted By:Roger at July 25, 2007 6:33 AM (Suggest Removal)
Great roll model!after 23 years in the state police he should know how to handle a fire arms! Time to put his bullet in his shirt pocket
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Posted By:Just a thought at July 25, 2007 6:54 AM (Suggest Removal)
Wow, good thing it was a cop that did that. If it would have been a regular person, there would have been a huge investigation as to why and how such a thing could have happened. Pretty careless!
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Posted By:Leigh at July 25, 2007 7:23 AM (Suggest Removal)
I can't stop laughing Dan.....good one!! And I agree with you too m, but cops are regular people...they just don't think they are!
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Posted By:JJ at July 25, 2007 8:19 AM (Suggest Removal)
Hey old guy, go watch some more TV. Police keep their weapons chambered and ready to go. They don't have time to draw their weapon and rack the slide for dramatic effect as in your beloved shows. They need to be able to unholster and fire quickly. Police handguns do not have safety switches for that reason, they just have a decocking lever. Check your facts before running your mouth.
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Posted By:George A. at July 25, 2007 8:24 AM (Suggest Removal)
My guess is that it was a Glock and he inadvertently put his finger on the trigger. The Glocks have no safety and rely on keeping off the trigger until ready to use. Most who carry for protection carry in Condition One which is with one in the chamber, locked and cocked and ready to fire.
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Posted By:Just a thought at July 25, 2007 8:41 AM (Suggest Removal)
The gun was his personal weapon, not police-issue.
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Posted By:joker at July 25, 2007 8:41 AM (Suggest Removal)
crazy cop
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Posted By:Just a thought at July 25, 2007 8:46 AM (Suggest Removal)
I wonder if he is the state trooper that could have caused a major accident on the pike Monday afternoon the way he was driving. Driving Northbound with his blue lights on driving around 90 a vehicle was already in the passing lane had no other place to go and he just kept getting closer and closer to that vehicle, the vehicle passed the other car and he turned to go Southbound. I almost called to complain, if I would have had time to see his license plate number, I would have.
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Posted By:Elliot at July 25, 2007 9:34 AM (Suggest Removal)
Experienced people have accidents and injuries the same as everyone else. Why crucify them and belittle them? What about the experienced woodsman who has a tree fall on him, or the carpenter after years of experience cuts off fingers or worse on a table saw? Precautions can be made, but things still happen. Could be anyone - I'm sure he feels bad enough without everyone making him their whipping boy. Give 'em a break.
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Posted By:Woose at July 25, 2007 10:11 AM (Suggest Removal)
The guy is human! So judgemental!!
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Posted By:toby at July 25, 2007 10:13 AM (Suggest Removal)
boy some of you people are way out any one can have an accident
with any thing any time . i suppose you people making all the remarks never had any ;right" of course you did and i bet some of them were pretty stupid. think about it.hope you get better real soon mr.frank.
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Posted By:bob at July 25, 2007 11:45 AM (Suggest Removal)
That Barney comment made me laugh. I hope you recover fully trooper and contnue keeping the rest of us safe. It's okay to laugh at yourself, stuff happens. God knows, I've done some things that I'll keep to myself.
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Posted By:Steve at July 25, 2007 12:00 PM (Suggest Removal)
Concider how many times a State trooper with 23 years of experience has handled his weapon, and the fact that he is human and we do make mistakes, ( most of us will admit to this, others won't)and I'm sure he will get his share of ribbing from fellow officers. No matter how careful he is, mistakes will be made. I know of another cop with years of experience whos weapon accidently discharged and others with military experience who have accidently discharged weapons. I have been handling guns for years, at least 40, and it has never happened to me, but I always have the business end pointed in a safe direction just in case. Hopefully he will fully recover from the injury and be all the wiser for his mistake, they do a thankless job and need our support.
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Posted By:AJ at July 25, 2007 1:51 PM (Suggest Removal)
I don't think we should belittle the poor guy either.. His Co-workers will certainly take care of that department for us.. I hope there is no permanent damage.. These guys put their lives on the line for us every day. Some of them could use a little sunnier disposition but then so could we all.
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Posted By:Mike at July 25, 2007 4:41 PM (Suggest Removal)
RE: "The Glocks have no safety and rely on keeping off the trigger until ready to use."
The Glock has no externally located safety devices which need to be activated manually. All of the safety devices function automatically. The devices are sequentially de-activated as the trigger is depressed.
1. Trigger Safety
2. Firing pin safety
3. Dropped gun Safety
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Posted By:Jimmy at July 25, 2007 4:46 PM (Suggest Removal)
This was a mistake, and mistakes do happen. That is not to excuse poor gun handling practices, NEVER point a gun at anything that you are not willing to destroy. How a gun ended up pointed at his hand I'll never know, he was most likely too casual about weapon handling.
Having said that, in my years of dealing with firearms I must admit that I have stupidly done things that, but not for the grace of God, could have ended up very bad.
As for the earlier comment about not carrying the gun (I assume he was talking about a 1911 type gun) with a loaded chamber, that was one of the dumber comments I have seen in a long time. I'd like to see someone carry that type of gun with the chamber empty, the hammer down, and the safety on... it can't be done on a correctly working gun. This just goes to show that people who don't know anything about guns, shouldn't talk about them (or pass laws about them for that matter), ever.
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Posted By:alan at July 25, 2007 5:35 PM (Suggest Removal)
who cares? why is this news?
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Posted By:Aaron at July 25, 2007 8:34 PM (Suggest Removal)
...I feel safer at night knowing great men like him are on the streets keeping us safe.
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Posted By:Jennifer at July 26, 2007 11:11 AM (Suggest Removal)
i agree.... everyone has an accident or two in their lifetime.
hope you recover soon, Mr. Franks
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Posted By:L at July 27, 2007 3:33 AM (Suggest Removal)
It would seem to me that for reasons unknown, possibly a distraction of some sort, the "universal safety" was disengaged. For those not familiar with it the "universal safety" is located between the left and right ears. This type of thing can happen to anyone no mater how long they have been handling firearms.
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Posted By:fishfinger at July 30, 2007 4:47 AM (Suggest Removal)
When I'm perfect I'll feel free to criticise the policeman for his accident. Until then, please stand by.
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