LOS ANGELES—A retired Los Angeles policeman who was paralyzed when his son accidentally fired his handgun has lost a lawsuit against the gunmaker.
A judge on Friday dismissed the product liability suit against Glock Inc.
Enrique Chavez was shot in the back by his 3-year-old son in 2006 and paralyzed from the waist down. The boy was riding in his truck and grabbed his .45-caliber Glock 21 pistol from the back seat.
The lawsuit claimed the Glock's trigger safety design was at fault.
But Superior Court Judge Kevin Brazile said the LAPD had concluded the Glock was safer than other brands. He threw out the case against Glock, the gun's seller and the maker and seller of a holster.
Chavez's attorney, Justin Ehrlich, says the decision will be appealed.
You would think a Marine, and a 10 year LAPD officer would have some kind of weapons training... no? Sympathies to him and his family though.
A lawsuit filed against a gun manufacturer by a retired LAPD officer, who was paralyzed when his toddler son accidentally fired the officer's handgun while riding in the family truck, was dismissed today by a judge.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kevin C. Brazile noted the Los Angeles Police Department investigated Glock Inc.-manufactured handguns and concluded the weapons were safe and more accurate than pistols with manual safeties and heavier trigger pulls.
"The LAPD went through an exhaustive process to authorize the use of the Glock, which in my view is critical," Brazile said.
Chavez's attorney, Ian Herzog, argued that just because the LAPD found the gun to be safe does not mean it was non-defective.
"If you're correct about that, it amounts to a revolution in products liability," Herzog told the judge.
The lawyer said a jury should have been allowed to choose between Chavez's argument concerning the risks of not having a safety on Glock guns and his resulting tragic injuries as opposed to the manufacturer's claims regarding the benefits of having a weapon ready to fire in a crucial situation without worrying about the safety being accidentally left engaged.
Chavez, now 39, was off duty when he was shot on July 11, 2006, while driving his Ford Ranger near Harbor Boulevard and La Palma Avenue in Anaheim. The former Marine, who joined the LAPD in 1996, was on his way to drop off his son with a family member before testifying in a court case.
The child, then 3, got hold of his father's weapon while sitting in the back seat and shot him in the back. Chavez, who was assigned to the Newton Division, was left paralyzed from the waist down.
The suit was filed in July 2008 on behalf of Chavez and his wife, Leonora, who sought unspecified damages on allegations of negligence, strict products liability, breach of warranty and loss of consortium.
Brazile threw out the entire case. In addition to Glock, the named defendants were the Los Angeles Police Revolver and Athletic Club, which sold Chavez the gun in 2003; Uncle Mike's and Bushnell Outdoor Products, which manufactured a gun hip holster for the firearm; and Turner's Outdoorsman, where Chavez bought the holster.
The former officer alleged the gun and hip holster were negligently designed. But Brazile said there was no connection between the holster and Chavez's injuries.
"There's nothing inherently dangerous about the holster," the judge said. "It's the gun that's dangerous."
Defense attorneys stated in their court papers that Chavez admitted he forgot the gun was in the back seat when he put his son in the truck. When police found the gun, it was outside the holster, they said.
"(Chavez) admits that he could have easily prevented this incident by following (Glock's) warnings, his LAPD training and some common sense," according to the handgun manufacturer's court papers.
Advertising above will not show if you are a registered user.
Safeties are designed to prevent inadvertent discharge due to impact or getting snagged by a foreign object. They are not designed to prevent the gun from being discharged by someone who grips the handle and pulls the trigger. You have to keep weapons away from children.
Wish judgements like this were more common. Heck, in aviation, some moron buries one in, every component maker, everyone that worked on/sold/polished/washed/moved/hangered/fueled the airplane gets sued. Desperate lawyers make me sick.
__________________
Sometimes working Harder is working Smarter
If he was really worried about the Glock's lack of an external safety, he shouldn't have had one in the first place.
I doubt any of these statements were really true when he bought it, and used the gun up until the incident. I'd say 99.9% is lawyer driven and motivated.
__________________
Sometimes working Harder is working Smarter
Similar Threads
When you leave a gun loaded around todlers...
Linear Mode
