Milwaukee police guns; unintended discharge issue debated by city leaders
MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee police guns going off without anyone pulling the trigger. A meeting on Friday, Sept. 30 did not accomplish much to address the issue.
The unintended discharge of Milwaukee Police Department service weapons is already the subject of a lawsuit between the police union and the city. There are at least 19 open lawsuits against gun manufacturer Sig Sauer across the country. Most concern injuries form the same model gun used by Milwaukee officers.
If you loed on to Milwaukee's Public Safety and Health Committee meeting on Friday looking for answers about defective police guns, you got more "closed session" than discussion,
For 90 minutes, members met behind closed doors. On the agenda – recent accident weapon discharge incidents.
"We could have had one of our city employees – one of our officers – killed, perhaps," said Milwaukee Alderman Scott Spiker.
Milwaukee Alderman Scott Spiker
Last week, FOX6 News reported the Milwaukee police union filed a lawsuit against the city over the Sig Sauer P320. It is the gun all sworn MPD officers are required to carry.
"In hindsight, it looks like a couple of things happened before – where to put that blame is what gets decided in courts," Spiker said.
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Alderman Spiker said the most recent accident discharge happened on Sept. 10. Police say one of their holstered guns fired off a round, hitting another officer in the leg.
Spiker said there have been at least two other incidents.
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In a statement last week, the police union president said he notified the city about this issue more than a year ago – and demanded the city replace all the department's guns.
"We need to have some kind of timeline and the entire council needs to be informed," said Milwaukee Alderman Mark Borkowski.
As he left the meeting, Alderman Borkowski said no action was taken during the closed session. It is unclear what the next step will be.
FOX6 News did reach out to Sig Sauer's director of communication for comment. Our call was not returned.