Rochester. MN
POST - BU LLETIN
Rochester - Malon City - AUltln
Mit A, ..

0 42 ,060

Saturday

SEP

14 , 2002

1111111111111111 11111 11111111 111 11 11111

1l00rlrl"RH
s., (,Uf~~~'~;~

Handgun-laser mix-up not the first on record
Similar incident
happenedin
California F~ON
n I TFME
By Bob Freund
bfreund @postbuIle~n.com

Last we ek 's incident in
Rochester was not the first in
which a police officer mista kenly fired his handgun
instead of a nonl ethal stun
gun to subdue a suspect.
In Mar ch 2001, a Sacrame nto, Ca lif., police officer
made the same error while
struggling with an intoxicated
person.

'The state Burea u of Cr imina l Apprehension consi ders
th e shooting of Christo far
Atak on Sept. 2 to be acci-

dental , Roch este r Police
Chief Roger Pete rson
a nnounced 'Thursd ay. However, Atak's attorneys say th ey
will conduct an ind e pen dent
investigati on of th e shooting,
whic h took pl ace in north west
Roch est er.
According to po lice, Ata k
was being subd ue d by
another officer when Officer
Greg Siem arrived . Siem
pl aced an electric a l stun gun ,
called a Tase r, in a ca rgo
pocket of his pants before
coming to th e other office r's
assi stance, po lice said. 'The
Taser tem porarily incapacitates a comb ati ve person with
a high-voltage shoc k.
Peterson sa id an inves tigation by th e BCA found that
Sie m mistook his han dgun for
th e Taser and fired it once ,
wounding Ata k.

KRT

The Taser 's shape, handle and--trTgger closely
resemble the handguns
carried by Rochester officers, Pollee Chief RogerPeterson said .
Peterson said th e no nlethal
Taser had fallen out of Sie m's
pants pocket, perhaps duri ng
th e struggle with Atak.
While th e officers were
tryi ng to restrain him with
handcu ffs, Siem tried to d raw

th e Tase r, but instead mistak- th e man accidentally was shot
enly drew th e handgun from
in th e buttocks, acco rdi ng to
its holster, Peterson sa id.
a n acco unt fro m th e Sacramento Police Department.
Sie m positio ned the gun as
'The BCA's rep ort will be
a Taser is typi ca lly used and
rev iewed by th e Ramsey
fired one shot into Atak's
back, a po lice narrative said . County Attorney's office to
Sie m recogn ized th e mistake , avoid any conflict of inte rest,
dropped th e gun an d ca lle d
Peterson sai d.
for medical hel p.
'The state investi gators also
are as king anyone with inforAtak was in fatr conditi on
F riday at Sai nt Marys Hosmati on abo ut a vehicle th at
pita l. He has had surgery on a was in the area at th e tim e to
contact po lice ,
kid ney.
Peo ple in th e a rea reported
The Sacramento incident
was simila r, with several offi- hea rin g loud screech ing of
tires in th e area of 50th Street
ce rs tryi ng to restrain an
intoxicated man who was
an d 18th Avenue Northwest at
8:41 p.m., about five minutes
fighting officers an d kicked
be fore th e guns hot.
out a window in a squa d car.
In th at inci dent, th e stun gun
'The driver or pass engers
was fired once, but only had
may be witn ess es to th e incitem porary effect.
den t, po lice sa id. Anyone with
information should call 285During th e struggle, whi ch
8500.
invo lved four po lice officers,