Moms, kids find officer's loaded gun in South Austin park

[paramedic70002]

Moms, kids find officer's loaded gun in South Austin park

A group of mothers and children at a Southwest Austin park found the loaded gun of an Austin police officer who did not know for hours that his weapon was missing, officials said Tuesday.

Austin police Lt. Donald Baker said supervisors are reviewing how officer Daniel Eveleth's Glock handgun might have fallen from his holster while he was training a police dog about 5 a.m. Monday at the Circle C Ranch Metropolitan Park on Slaughter Creek.

Department officials said Tuesday that they could not specifically describe what training exercises Eveleth was conducting with the dog, why they were being done at pre-dawn hours or the type of holster he was wearing.

Officers responding to the park after one of the mothers called 911 learned that the gun was registered to Eveleth, who has been an officer for about 11 years and worked as a Travis County jailer before joining Austin police.

They returned the weapon to Eveleth at his home about four hours after he left the park and told him where it had been found, Baker said.

"He had no idea he was missing the weapon from his holster," Baker said. "It doesn't look like it was done in negligence."

Calls to Eveleth's home phone were not answered.

Wuthipong Tantaksinanukij, vice president of the Austin Police Association, said Eveleth is "devastated."

"First and foremost, we are thankful that nobody got hurt," Tantaksinanukij said. "No one feels that more than the officer himself."

He said the incident raises questions about the type of equipment they use.

Austin police policy requires officers to secure their weapons "by every practical means."

Danielle Pieranunzi, who went with her baby to the park to walk with a friend, said she first noticed the gun on a playground slide.

"It was in very plain view," she said. "It wasn't hidden or anything."

Police said it was unclear whether the gun had been left on the slide or placed there by someone else.

Pieranunzi said one of the mothers moved the gun from the slide and propped it between a couple of tree branches out of the reach of children. Several of them guarded the weapon until officers arrived, she said.

"You don't think a policeman would lose his gun," she said. "It's pretty surprising and kind of disappointing."

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I'm thinking he was farting around while taking the dog for exercise, and accidentally lost the weapon. It probably slipped out of a cheap holster, or no holster, without his knowledge.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[falcon1]

Wow...really glad no one was hurt and that the firearm was safely recovered. He must not have been in uniform at the time he lost it, or Austin PD needs to look at a new holster for uniform duty?

[Eagleks]

Desk duty a few days for that officer ?? and 2000 jokes from fellow officers in the next month.

Glad it was found and safely turned in. Good work on Mom's part.

Now, imagine if he had come up on a robbery and went to take out his gun ?
Big WHOOOOOPS !!!

[Slim_45]

On a more serious note how the heck can you lose 30+ ounces of weight & not know it for hours

[SIGguy229]

Pieranunzi said one of the mothers moved the gun from the slide and propped it between a couple of tree branches out of the reach of children. Several of them guarded the weapon until officers arrived, she said.

Holy bat cheese!!.....I'm surprised they didn't have an ND...because you know they probably used a stick through the triggerguard to pick it up. That's it--we need mandatory gun training for mothers.

[chuck brick]

On a more serious note how the heck can you lose 30+ ounces of weight & not know it for hours

If you figure out how to do that, you'll put Jenny Craig's job in jeapordy...

Stay safe,

Chuck Brick.

[kazzaerexys]

"He had no idea he was missing the weapon from his holster," Baker said. "It doesn't look like it was done in negligence."

Am I the only one wondering what definition of negligence they are using and what dictionary it came from???

Speaking as somebody whose state tried (and, thankfully, failed) to pass a law criminalizing the failure to report a lost or stolen gun as soon as possible, I think a lot of people out there would indeed call this pretty darned negligent!

[ccman]

Wuthipong Tantaksinanukij!! Is that Irish?

Rusty, I'm Irish and I have not come across that one yet. Maybe I said it after a few Guinness.

[bluelineman]

OK. Did a quick google search...

oak farms honors officer wut tantaksinanukij
Austin Police Officer Wuthipong Tantaksinanukij is better known as "Tank," a shortened version of his last name provided on the spur of the moment by a supervising officer at the Training Academy.

City of Austin - Oak Farms Honors Officer Wut Tantaksinanukij

[QKShooter]

OK one comment poking fun at the name is enough.
It's an unusual name.
Try to stay on topic to the thread because if the entire thread degenerates into just making fun of a persons name then it will get closed.

[tamworth]

Kazzaerexys, you beat me to it.

How this could be any less blatantly negligent is beyond me. This is pitiful. I'm sure it was written into the article to sway the easily swayed minds. "Oh, ok, it wasn't the policeman officer's fault. We can continue trusting them and not worry..." as usual, no offense to any who are LEO on board here, but you know where I'm coming from.

[David in FL]

Am I the only one wondering what definition of negligence they are using and what dictionary it came from???

Speaking as somebody whose state tried (and, thankfully, failed) to pass a law criminalizing the failure to report a lost or stolen gun as soon as possible, I think a lot of people out there would indeed call this pretty darned negligent!

My first thought too! I'd think that you could look up the word negligence and have this used as a perfect example!

[SIXTO]

Two thoughts on how this might have happened,

1) the officer removed the gun, setting in on the slide to do "bite work" or some other contact work with the dog. But, if this was the case, two officers would have been present, making this even more dumb. When doing this sort of thing, I'll lock my stuff up in the trunk vault in the car.

2) he was using a Fobus or something similar ... they are notorious for losing their cargo among active officers. Even so, they are still widely used. But, this doesn't explain how the gun got onto the slide... it sounds as if it was set down on purpose, like in scenario 1.

[tamworth]

well IN MY OPINION *disclaimer disclaimer*, even if the cause of the gun leaving the holster was ACCIDENTAL, the fact that he didn't notice for four hours was NEGLIGENCE.

...and they gave it back to him with a pat on the back. No, they BROUGHT it back to him...

how would this have been handled if it were a common citizen's gun?

[Ghettokracker71]

well IN MY OPINION *disclaimer disclaimer*, even if the cause of the gun leaving the holster was ACCIDENTAL, the fact that he didn't notice for four hours was NEGLIGENCE.

...and they gave it back to him with a pat on the back. No, they BROUGHT it back to him...

how would this have been handled if it were a common citizen's gun?

Assuming a CHP holder did it,...Then the brady bunch and MM's would be all over the media and internet blowing it up and saying how irresponsible we are, and etc etc