Officer Shoots Self in Foot While Riding in Patrol Car: LAPD Investigates

Lucy Rendler-Kaplan

Officer, you got some 'splaineen to do.

An LAPD cop en route to an "assist" call in South L.A. this morning accidentally shot himself in the foot, Officer Bruce Borihanh tells the Weekly.

Oopsy?

It all happened ...

... about 9:10 a.m. near Broadway and Century Boulevard, he said.

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The officer appeared to be the passenger in a two-person patrol car that was headed to assist fellow police at a nearby "dispute" call, which was later resolved, Borihanh said.

It's not clear how the officer's gone went off, but Borihanh said the public was not in danger.

The driver quickly took the injured man to a nearby hospital, he said, where he was said to be in stable condition.

Borihanh:

Any discharge of firearms is investigated by LAPD Force Investigation Division.

Like we said, splaineen. And polishing my weapon while en route to a call is not a suitable excuse.

[Update at 12:15 a.m. Thursday]: As explanations go, this isn't a bad one. CBS2 reported that the cop, the Southeast Division's senior lead officer, was actually en route to a man-with-a-gun call and was checking his weapon, a routine move on such a call, when it accidentally went off inside the moving patrol car.

He was taken to a Lynwood hospital where he was thought to be okay, according to the station.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]