A report recently released by the Alaska State Troopers determined a Haines Borough police officer made several errors during a training exercise that ended with the officer shooting himself in the wrist.
According to the report compiled by trooper Andrew Neason, officer Brayton Long failed to perform a proper “Rock and Lock” step, did not perform a proper “Smack” step, and placed his finger on the trigger prior to sight alignment on the target.
“These actions led to Officer Long placing his left hand in front of the muzzle at the time he fired the round,” Neason wrote.
Long shot himself in the left wrist with a Glock 21 during a Jan. 5 training session at the Haines Sportsman’s Association rifle range on Mud Bay Road. Trooper Neason, as well as state trooper Matt Hightower of Juneau and Haines Borough interim police chief Josh Dryden, were present during the accident.
“While I did not see anything in his gun handling that made me feel unsafe shooting with him, his manipulations were somewhat sloppy and it was clear he needed practice,” Neason wrote. “His draw/target engagement was slow and several times he ran dry during an actual stage of fire.”
“In the last few stages of the course I could tell by the change in his demeanor (less cheerful, and more intently focused) that he was stressed about his performance,” Neason continued. “During Stage Four he initially began shooting with both hands, before Sgt. Hightower reminded him of the ‘one-handed’ requirement of the stage.”
On Jan. 8, Neason met with Dryden and interviewed him about the incident. Dryden stated he hadn’t seen any unsafe acts or irresponsible behavior during the training up until the time of the shooting. While he didn’t actually see the accident, he heard the shot and Long’s reaction.
“Officer Long yelled ‘the F-word’ several times and moved toward the 50-yard backstop throwing his pistol into the snow. Sgt. Dryden stated that Officer Long was asked if he was okay and he stated, ‘F— no, I shot myself,’” Neason wrote.
At the request of Sgt. Hightower, Neason administered a Breathalyzer test, which registered zero percent blood alcohol content.
Hightower noted in his portion of the report that he also did not observe any safety violations, but that Long’s six-part weapon retention presentation “was not crisp and he needed to work on his rock and lock step and smack steps.”
“At the 10-yard line I gave instruction for one-handed shooting and officer Long did not appear to understand the terminology that I was using,” Hightower wrote.
Long was hired by the Haines Police department in November. Prior to that, he worked for five years as an officer in Skagway.