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Judi Lynn

(160,545 posts) Thu Mar 5, 2015, 04:57 PM Mar 2015

Prosecutor to seek charge against police chief who shot wife

Source: Associated Press

Prosecutor to seek charge against police chief who shot wife
By RUSS BYNUM, The Associated Press | March 5, 2015 | Updated: March 5, 2015 1:45pm

ATLANTA (AP) — A prosecutor said Thursday that he plans to seek a misdemeanor charge — but no felony — against a suburban Atlanta police chief who told investigators he went to bed with a loaded gun and accidentally shot his wife after mixing alcohol and sleep medicine.

District Attorney Scott Ballard said Thursday he will seek to indict Peachtree City police Chief William McCollom next month on a charge of reckless misconduct, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison. Ultimately, a grand jury will decide whether to charge the chief.

Ballard said evidence supported McCollom's story that the New Year's Day shooting was an accident. But the prosecutor said it also could have been avoided. He said the chief told investigators he drank alcohol and took medication to help him sleep, and ended up sleeping with his loaded service weapon under the sheets between McCollom, 58, and his wife.

"I can't see any intent to hurt her. He didn't have any motive," District Attorney Scott Ballard told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

"The criminal activity, if the grand jury indicts, is he recklessly brings a gun to bed with him after having ingested sleep medication and alcohol," Ballard said. He said he plans to present the case to a grand jury April 15.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Prosecutor-to-seek-charge-against-police-chief-6116896.php

8 replies

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Prosecutor to seek charge against police chief who shot wife (Original Post) Judi Lynn Mar 2015 OP

Ah, yes. Family is so much more important to protect than the general public. NT Trillo Mar 2015 #1

Had he not been a police chief Fortinbras Armstrong Mar 2015 #2

She's not dead, but is still in hospital, paralysed below the waist (nt) muriel_volestrangler Mar 2015 #3

Sorry, I missed that. N/t Fortinbras Armstrong Mar 2015 #4

Or first degree assault with a deadly weapon. How many police in the USA... JDDavis Mar 2015 #5

Ambien Can Do That billhicks76 Mar 2015 #8

You can't make this stuff up asiliveandbreathe Mar 2015 #6

I thought possessing a loaded weapon while drunk was a felony in itself...nt freebrew Mar 2015 #7

Trillo

(9,154 posts)

1. Ah, yes. Family is so much more important to protect than the general public. NT

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Thu Mar 5, 2015, 04:59 PM

Mar 2015

Fortinbras Armstrong

(4,473 posts)

2. Had he not been a police chief

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Thu Mar 5, 2015, 05:11 PM

Mar 2015

I suspect that the charge would have been manslaughter.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,322 posts)

3. She's not dead, but is still in hospital, paralysed below the waist (nt)

Reply to Fortinbras Armstrong (Reply #2)

Thu Mar 5, 2015, 05:18 PM

Mar 2015

Fortinbras Armstrong

(4,473 posts)

4. Sorry, I missed that. N/t

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Reply #3)

Thu Mar 5, 2015, 05:19 PM

Mar 2015

JDDavis

(725 posts)

5. Or first degree assault with a deadly weapon. How many police in the USA...

Reply to Fortinbras Armstrong (Reply #2)

Thu Mar 5, 2015, 05:19 PM

Mar 2015

go to bed with their gun?

And should they be police if they go to bed that way?

billhicks76

(5,082 posts)

8. Ambien Can Do That

Reply to Fortinbras Armstrong (Reply #2)

Thu Mar 5, 2015, 05:53 PM

Mar 2015

The problem is would they extend the same understanding to a regular citizen.

asiliveandbreathe

(8,203 posts)

6. You can't make this stuff up

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Thu Mar 5, 2015, 05:21 PM

Mar 2015

And now Margaret is paralyzed -

"The gun was in the bed, I went to move it, and I put it to a side and it went off," McCollom told a dispatcher, according to a recording of the call.

So the moral to the story - don't fall asleep with your hubby and a rifle between ya' -

How does this just happen...how stupid do you have to be....Peachtree chief...

freebrew

(1,917 posts)

7. I thought possessing a loaded weapon while drunk was a felony in itself...nt

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Thu Mar 5, 2015, 05:39 PM

Mar 2015

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