Philadelphia DEA Agent Struck By Friendly Fire
By Wyatt Earp | January 9, 2009
The shooting scene.
Terrible story. The incident happened in one of the (usually) slowest districts in the city.
PHILADELPHIA — Authorities said a federal drug agent is recovering after being shot in the leg by a Philadelphia police officer who fired at a charging dog.
The shooting occurred at 2:56 p.m. Friday on the 4300 block of Fleming Street in Manayunk.
That’s where Philadelphia office of the DEA and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office Drug Task Force said they were executing a search warrant after a one-month drug investigation about the sale of crack cocaine.
Manayunk = Lib Central. What is this world coming to?
Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Bryan Doherty said the shooting happened when a dog attacked the officers serving the warrant at a home, and police fired at the dog to stop the threat.
One of those bullets struck the DEA officer — identified as 12-year DEA veteran Special Agent John Douglas — in the calf. (H/T – FOX 29)
I feel badly for the agent, but worse for the Philly officer. He was really shaken up, and was almost inconsolable. He didn’t have much choice in the matter, though. When a vicious dog comes charging, you have to make a split-second decision that will be discussed, criticized, and debated long after it is made. I cannot imagine what he is going through.
The good news is that the agent is in stable condition and should be released tonight. The bad news (for everyone involved) is that if the Philly officer had one of the newly-approved .45-caliber Glocks, the agent would have been in a world of hurt.
Topics: Philly, The Job | 8 Comments »
January 9th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Wow. That’s a true shame. I hope the officer and the injured agent will be okay.
January 9th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Could you explain what you mean in the last paragraph?
January 9th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Im not a cop (yet) but what I wonder is why doesnt the academy teach you to use pepper spray or something else on a dog instead of gun. Seems a lot less deadly to the poor animal and would keep a situation like this from happening.
Thank god the officer shot is going to be ok.
January 9th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
RT – The DEA agent will be okay, the officer is shaken up, but should be okay as well.
ET – That as bad as this incident was, it would have been much worse if the agent was shot with a .45 round, instead of a 9mm.
K – If you make it to the police academy, you’ll see some video of OC Spray being administered. At times it doesn’t work on humans, and a lot of times it doesn’t work on dogs.
January 9th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Should have requested backup from the cops in PG County, MD where shooting dogs is a specialty.
January 10th, 2009 at 7:13 am
That is a tough break for both men. Bullets have no friends either. They just go down range.
I hope they both can get past this.
January 10th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Gunner – (Reply for PG County) OUCH!
Admiral – As do I. Terrible situation for all involved.
January 11th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
My best to the agent, and condolences to the officer involved. Just hold on to this one thought:
Everyone was above the grass at the end of their shift.
Yeah, that’s cold, but as you say, it could have been much worse.