Misses & misfires...

[D.R. Middlebrooks]

March 13, 2008
Amherst officer takes shot at man helping police
Stephen Szucs | The Chronicle-Telegram

AMHERST —A man who assisted Amherst police in getting a gun away from a Lorain man threatening to shoot his wife around midnight Wednesday was nearly shot when an officer mistook him for the assailant, according to police.

The man notified an Amherst police officer who was in downtown area that another man, later identified as Robert Gonzalez, 50, of Lorain, was pointing a gun at a woman outside a downtown business on Church Street.

Another officer on foot also responded to the area, but before he could learn the details of what was happening, the man who first alerted police to the situation ran towards Gonzalez, managed to get the gun away from him, and then ran back towards police pointing the gun in their direction.

The newly arrived officer fired a shot at the man, but missed and hit a street sign instead, police reported.

[D.R. Middlebrooks]

Cop's gun misfires in standoff with teen
Friday, March 14, 2008
By Lisa Medendorp
lmedendorp@muskegonchronicle.com

The 16-year-old boy and the police officer stood less than 8 feet from each other Wednesday -- both with guns drawn and pointed.

It was the end of a foot chase through a Muskegon Heights neighborhood that started after police responded to a 7:06 p.m. report of an "armed subject" at 2921 Jefferson.

If not for an apparent malfunction in the officer's gun, Juston Juman Flowers could have been seriously injured or worse after he refused to drop his 9 mm handgun when ordered by Muskegon Heights Police Sgt. Gary Cheatum.

"Flowers was still looking at me and I yelled at him again to drop the gun," Cheatum wrote in his report of the incident. "Flowers still would not drop the gun and I pulled the trigger ... "

But the officer's gun "malfunctioned," according to his report.

At that point, Flowers -- who has an extensive juvenile record -- threw his gun into a garage at 2917 Sixth, police and prosecutors said. Cheatum was able to get the teen handcuffed as help arrived.

Police reported the teen's weapon -- reported stolen in Muskegon -- was loaded.