ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A seemingly accidental gunshot from a Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office deputy led to him being removed from the field to be re-trained and he was training a new deputy when it happened. “In the midst of what is starting to be a chaotic situation they are still responsible for providing training for those trainees that are inside of their car,” said BCSO Chief Deputy Nicholas Huffmyer.
On March 17, four BCSO deputies responded to a suspicious vehicle call two of which were field training officers with trainees in the car.
Officer: “Roll down the window.”
The driver, later identified as Devan Stanford-Cooke, ignored officers.
Officer: “He’s reaching, he’s reaching, put your hands on the steering wheel.”
The vehicle was able to back up between the units, despite officers trying to move in closer.
Officer: “Go, go, go. Move it, move it, move it in.”
As the deputy yells at his trainee in the driver’s seat what to do.
Officer: “Block, Block. Go, go, go.”
The car took off and when deputies got close to the vehicle again, the car crossed before a median and started driving on the wrong side of the road.
Officer: “Change your tones, go this way, this way. Change your tones.”
For BCSO, the real issue came into play once the deputies did a PIT maneuver and stopped the car.
Officer: “Get out of the vehicle! Get out of the vehicle.”
The field training officer, Deputy Dominic Szabo, accidentally pulled the trigger and cussed.
“You heard the excited utterance on the part of the deputy. I can see just as well as you can see what’s on the screen, it appears clear that it was an unintentional discharge of a firearm. Thankfully nobody was struck,” said Huffmyer.
That resulted in Szabo being pulled from the field.
“I have to make sure, not just for public perception, but for training issues and for issues that we obviously see on the camera, that that deputy is pulled from where he is and in more training ensues and that’s continuing as we speak,” said Sheriff John Allen.
BCSO said deputies were not able to locate where the bullet hit in this incident.
BCSO said it is not uncommon for FTOs to get pulled from the field for behavioral or training issues. Two FTO’S were removed from that position in February for their involvement with a BCSO deputy who was arrested for DWI.
