By Police1 Staff
BELLEVUE, Ky. — Video footage of Kentucky police leaving a rifle unattended for several minutes has caused a stir on social media and led to an internal investigation.
The River City News reports that on Wednesday, Dayton police received a call about a domestic violence situation. A drunk man reportedly attacked his father and fired a gun into the air.
When Bellevue police were called to assist, Officer Marc Chapman urged the drunk man to come outside so he could help. But the suspect asked Chapman to put his rifle down before approaching.
Chapman handed his rifle to Dayton Officer Brent Lockman while he tried to negotiate with the suspect. During their conversation, Lockman was waved over, prompting him to place Chapman’s rifle on the ground, leaving it leaning against a car. The rifle was left unattended for several minutes.
After the situation calmed and officers made the arrest, another Dayton officer told Chapman that a neighbor, Matt Haas, was complaining about the unattended rifle. Haas posted video of the unattended rifle on Facebook.
Bellevue Chief Lee Estepp invited Haas to police headquarters so he could view bodycam footage to understand the situation. Estepp said it was a “rookie mistake.”
https://www.facebook.com/matt.haas.73157/videos/139624830177679/
“Basically, Officer Lockman is a young officer, he’s new to Dayton and I think it was just a mistake,” Estepp said. “Normally, in a perfect world, you would walk back to your cruiser and put it in your car (but) he’s not going to leave the suspect on the porch and walk back to his car.”
The chief also noted that the suspect’s hands were visible and Chapman was comfortable handing off his firearm. Lockman being called over to the scene may have led to the confusion since the suspect cooperated once the rifle was sent aside.
Dayton Police Chief David Halfhill said in a statement that he commended the officers for diffusing a violent situation and noted that the rifle being unattended was “an accident.”
“Unfortunately during the course or the incident another agency’s patrol rifle was accidently set down when the officers were going hands-on with the suspect. Thank you to the neighbors for making this observance and bringing it to the officer’s attention,” Halfhill said. “It is unfortunate that this incident happened, but we as police officers are human and do make mistakes. We hold our police officers to a higher standard, and be assured that this mistake will be fully investigated.”
No action has been taken against Lockman yet, but officials said termination is not on the table. No action is expected against Chapman either.