Boone County Sheriff Apologizes For Withholding Name Of Deputy Who Accidentally Discharged Gun In Courthouse

Boone County Deputy Sheriff R.T. Krise had a Barney Fife moment when he accidentally discharged his handgun in the Boone County Courthouse last month. Boone County Sheriff Mike Nielsen initially denied media requests to identify Dep. Krise as the law enforcement officer who accidentally fired a single shot from a .32 caliber Beretta into a courthouse wall. Sheriff Nielsen is now apologizing for refusing to identify Krise. "We are all human beings and we make mistakes," Nielsen said in an emailed statement to the Indianapolis Star. "In this case a veteran deputy made a mistake and I made a mistake of not releasing the information."

According to The Star, Sheriff Nielsen suspended Krise for two days without pay as a form of discipline for his mishandling of the firearm. Indiana's Access to Public Records Act provides that disciplinary records of public employees, including law enforcement officers, are public records that must be provided to the public upon request. "It is important to me to abide by the laws of the state of the Indiana and the laws of the constitution of the United States," Nielsen said. "Further review of the statues allowed me the opportunity to gain more knowledge in understanding of the public access laws that relate to personnel matters."

The Indianapolis Star should be holding IMPD Chief Troy Riggs' feet to the fire for refusing to release the identity of the IMPD officer whose squad car was found abandoned in a ditch along S. Emerson Street early Sunday morning around 12:30 a.m. The vehicle was unlocked and the keys were not in the car. Police had the car towed to a municipal garage. IMPD redacted the identity of the officer to whom the squad car had been issued from a police incident report obtained by The Star. Police sources told Advance Indiana the squad car was one assigned to Det. Nick Mitchell, a 21-year veteran of the police department. Sgt. Kendale Adams told The Star no further information would be provided to the media about the incident.