By Theodore Decker
The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Columbus police sergeant is recovering after he was shot in the leg Wednesday night by another officer during a drug investigation.
Sgt. Michael Mourne was taken to Ohio State University Medical Center after the 6:19 p.m. shooting on the North Side.
Mourne and other members of the Police Division’s Investigative and Tactical Unit were serving a search warrant at a home at 2437 Parkwood Ave. As the unit’s entry team jumped from its vehicle to hit the house, team member Stephen Lazar unintentionally fired his shotgun, striking Mourne.
Mourne, 50, remains hospitalized but could be released in several days if his recovery goes well, said Sgt. Rich Weiner, a Police Division spokesman.
Lazar, 44, remains on assignment with the tactical unit but can take “as much time as he needs” before returning to duty, Weiner said. Both men have been with the Police Division for 20 years.
Weiner called the friendly-fire incident “very rare.”
He said the shooting will be investigated like any other police-involved shooting. The completed investigation by senior homicide detectives will be forwarded to the chain of command for review.
Officers from the tactical unit conduct street-level drug investigations and make high-risk narcotics raids. In 2008, two team members were shot and seriously wounded as they battered down the door of a Near East Side drug house.
Officers Anthony Garrison and John Gillis recovered and have since returned to the unit, Weiner said. Two men were sentenced to prison for the assaults.
Copyright 2011 The Columbus Dispatch