Thursday night a customer at the Crystal Lake Walmart found a (presumably loaded) handgun in a bathroom. What a dilemma!
A retired cop had apparently used the bathroom and left his gun there. Pretty embarrassing, eh? How could that happen?
Most people (cops) carry guns on their belts. If the cop's holster didn't have a snap over the weapon, which slows drawing time by a milli-second, then the weapon might fall out of the holster,when he sat down in a stall. Or it might be visible to someone else in the bathroom.
Imagine the shock, if a customer sees a gun in a belt holster under the wall of a stall! It probably wouldn't take long to make a 9-1-1 call and for a dozen cops to arrive and enter the restroom with guns drawn. Maybe even S.W.A.T. would be called.
Or did the cop hang the handgun on the coat hook on the door of the stall and then walk out without it?
The newspaper article was short on details.
I was glad to see that no one was charged, including the unlucky customer who spotted the gun and turned it in. Do you suppose he walked through the store, holding the gun in plain sight? Did he walk up to Customer Service? "Can you help me, please?" Or, worse, ask for the manager while he (she?) was holding the gun?
Did the customer have a FOID card? Did the police handcuff the customer while verifying the legal right to be in possession of a firearm? Did the customer hide the gun in a bag or under clothing, while finding the right authority at Walmart?
And why not name the officer? If we had concealed carry in this state and some person left his legally-carried gun in the men's restroom, would the matter have been handled differently, if a civilian had been involved? I hate to think of the legal problems such carelessness would cause, along with the expense.
You never know who is interested…
3 months ago
4 comments:
The article also said it was NOT any officer that worked or retired from a local agency, so it is doubtful anyone would know him/her anyway.
About 20 years ago a female officer from a local department stopped to use the washroom facilities of a local establishment. Somehow, whether she was over tired or just absentminded,(or stupid) she left the gun belt hanging inside the stall and departed. About 5 minutes later the radio dispatcher called her on the radio and asked if she 'MAY HAVE” left some personal equipment at the restaurant. She said "OH Sh&t" and skedaddled back.
Thank heavens a child didn't find that gun and get curious about it.
I remember that and remember her, GAIL or GALE. A tall Texan with a heavy drawl. She got hired because she was the ONLY female to take the test and they HAD to hire a female. I also think she was nearly blind in one eye.I heard she died a couple years ago. Sorry to hear she died but she was really bad news as a cop!
I'm quite sure her name was GAYLE. Trust me, you could write a book about her screw ups, she was a legend.
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