Trained Professional at Work

The sheriff of Polk County is very sorry that a departmental policy was "not well understood" and led to the wounding of a 3-year-old girl.

A deputy took his shiny cop car to a community gathering in a Des Moines park, threw open the doors, and invited all the little kids to crawl around in it. PR and community relations, dontcha know?

The sheriff said the deputy just didn't understand that leaving leaving a shell in the chamber of his racked shotgun, in plain view and easy reach of the tykes and pre-pubes, might be considered slightly stupid in addition to violating departmental policy.

I love it. Maybe it reads: "It is the policy of this department that no shotgun placed in the reach of tiny playful hands shall have a live round in the chamber."

Witnesses say the deputy was chatting with someone while a pre-teen boy was fooling with the gun just before the toddler fell. The boy disappeared. The toddler was not too badly hurt and is out of the hospital. The cop is on administrative suspension with pay. The sheriff is leaning toward lenience for Deputy Friendly because he's a "a very good employee; long-term, senior person, ... who feels terribly about what happened."

My butt hurts.