An award-winning Michigan school resources officer who fired a gun inside a classroom last year, striking a teacher in the next room – then acting as if somebody else fired the shot, leading to the school being placed on lockdown as they searched for an imaginary gunman, – was criminally charged last week.
Bay County sheriff’s deputy Adam Brown, a former “Officer of the Year,” is now facing up to six years in prison for the negligent shooting and the ensuing coverup.
The incident took place on November 11 while Brown was inside a robotics classroom with a teacher at Bay City Western High School and Middle School, using a force machine to test the trigger pull of Springfield EMP 9mm.
The pair then left the classroom, but Brown returned to use the force machine to test the trigger pull on his backup pistol, a Sig Sauer .380.
However, he neglected to unload the gun, so the experiment caused the gun to fire, sending a bullet through two pieces of drywall into a classroom filled with 30 students.
The bullet then scraped a tile before ricocheting off a cement wall and striking a teacher in the neck.
Fortunately, Brenda Amthor only suffered a small scratch, but when Brown was summoned to investigate the shooting, he did not admit to firing the gun.
Instead, he took the bullet and threw it in a grassy area, then covered it up with leaves. He also took the .380 and placed it inside his car, figuring nobody would notice since he already had his 9 mm.
And he kept the gig up for 90 minutes, contacting his union representative who advised him to keep quiet, according to MLive.com.
“During this incident, Adam did not initially confess to discharging his weapon,” wrote Detective Sgt. William Arndt. “He confessed after being confronted by school administrators. Adam also admitted that he attempted to destroy evidence when school administrators gave him the fired bullet to protect. Adam left the school building, placing the fired gun in his personal vehicle, and threw the fired bullet into the school lawn in an attempt to thwart the investigation.”
Arndt spoke with Brown, who was “extremely emotional and explained that he had been in contact with his union representative who had advised him not to provide a statement. He did say, ‘It was a total accident.'”
School administrators also went into the silent mode, refusing to provide details to parents of students who attend the school as we reported in November.
Instead, parents received an automated voice message saying,“there was an incident involving a gun being discharged by an officer.”
Brown was charged with felony tampering with evidence as well as two misdemeanors; carless discharge of a firearm causing injury and careless discharge of a firearm causing less than $50 in damage.
A California cop who fired a gun at a DUI suspect last year, striking him in the neck, also tried to initially play it off as if he never fired the gun. But like Brown, Paradise police officer Patrick Feaster ended up having to admit to the shooting.
The victim in that incident died and Feaster is now serving a 180-day sentence.
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