Law enforcement departments are dropping a popular gun over concerns that it can fire without a trigger pull.
The P320 by SIG Sauer – a company that has for years had a strong reputation for producing high-quality firearms – is no longer an option for officers in departments across the country, including Dallas and Houston. The gun manufacturer has been sued by several law enforcement officers who all claim that their P320 fired accidentally.
SIG Sauer claims that this cannot happen. A statement on a website by the company defending the gun says “the P320 CANNOT, under any circumstances, discharge without a trigger pull – that is a fact.”
Houston Police Officer Richard Fernandez disputes that fact, however. He filed a lawsuit against SIG after his service weapon discharged while he was working this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. parade. Fernandez and one of his lawyers, Scott Cisco, spoke to the Texas Standard about the incident.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: Can you briefly tell us what happened during that parade incident, as best you remember?
Richard Fernandez: We had been assigned to a traffic direction detail on MLK. I kind of had made eye contact with an oncoming car. I was using both hands to have her turn a certain direction on Martin Luther King.
And as I was doing that, I heard a pop. And then I realized that my gun had discharged into my leg. And at that point, I called out someone to help me.
One of my co-workers, he walked me over to the driver side of my car, laid me down inside the car. I was bleeding profusely, and some of my co-workers started to apply tourniquets to my leg to stop the bleeding.
The Houston Fire Department arrived pretty quick. They loaded me up and they transported me to Hermann Hospital
How serious were your injuries?
Well, I had a surgery to remove the bullet the next day. The bullet had lodged around my ankle, so they removed the bullet next day.
I want to make sure I’ve got the picture in my mind clearly. Was the pistol holstered at the time? You were using your hands to direct traffic, and the pistol was, what, on your utility belt?
Yes, sir. It was holstered. I carry a level three holster, as all Houston police officers do, which means there’s three levels of security with that holster. All three were intact, and that gun was holstered.
My hands were nowhere near the gun or the holster, and that gun fired into my leg.
Let me ask you something, because it’s widely been reported that SIG Sauer has updated the P320 manual to say that this gun is not designed to be carried with a round in the chamber. Did you have a round in the chamber with that gun holstered?
Of course I did. That’s the way Houston police officers carry their weapons.
We have to be ready to take care and handle all situations. And that means having a round chambered in the weapon, because we don’t have time to do that when things are happening very fast.
I understand what you’re saying there. Were you aware that the P320 manual has apparently been updated to say that it’s not designed to be carried with a round in the chamber? Have you heard that before?
I have heard that after my attorneys have told me about this, which I think is terrible because SIG Sauer sells to a lot of law enforcement.
So for them to say that – they know that law enforcement can’t afford to carry the weapon like that; we can’t be afford to be late to a situation because we’re trying to put a round into the gun.
What about the gun itself, were the safeties on on the gun?
Doesn’t have any safeties.
It doesn’t have any safeties. So once it’s loaded, SIG says you have to pull the trigger.
Let me ask you, why did you buy a SIG in the first place, particularly the P320, versus some of the other options on the market?
Because I went and tried it out, and I got the gun and I liked the way the gun would shoot. And so I purchased the gun, along with a couple other of my teammates. We all did it together.
What do you make of SIG’s position that there’s nothing wrong with the gun, however, because this gun continues to be on the market and sold?
What are they going to say? They’re trying to sell product. And if they say they have a problem with their gun, they can’t sell product.
That’s the only reason they can be saying that, is the profit over the safety of the people that purchase these weapons and the systems around that I’m supposed to protect.
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What is it that you want SIG to do at this juncture?
I want them to fix their defective weapon before it continues to hurt people and kill people. All my friends now, they’re all having to buy new weapons because SIG has a defective weapon that they keep selling to law enforcement.
I started my police career in 1988, and I was a Bellaire policeman for two years, and I joined HPD in 1990. I have worked on a tactical unit, which is what I’m on now. I’ve worked undercover in narcotics for 10 years. I’ve been in the gang division.
I’ve been in units where we handle firearms regularly. And I know how to handle firearms. And safety at the Houston Police Department is always number one.
So I know how to handle firearms. And I’ve been a policeman a long time. And I just wanted to make that clear.
I want to bring in Scott Cisco. He is an attorney on the team representing Richard Fernandez. Scott, is there any question about where the gun was when it discharged?
Scott Cisco: There’s no question about where this weapon was when it discharged. It was locked securely in his holster. After this weapon discharged, while it was on Rick’s hip in the holster, that shell casing stayed inside the weapon. It was not ejected out of the weapon; it was locked in the holster.
And when the officers at the scene gave Rick first aid by putting tourniquets on his leg, they removed the holster with the pistol still inside; they just turned the holster and removed the entire thing.
So the pistol is still inside the holster, locked in, and the shell casing is still inside the weapon.
Scott, how has SIG responded to these allegations?
We have not heard anything from SIG other than what we’ve read in the media.
So you’ve already filed the suit and still no response?
Yes, we filed a suit, and they have not responded to the lawsuit yet, but they still have time to respond.
Are you representing just Officer Fernandez here, or are there other officers that are part of this suit?
At this time, it’s just Officer Fernandez.
