He sounds like a fine Officer.
Of course, he was also drinking at the time, so he didn't even get hit with DUI charges.
__________________________________http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08183/893844-153.stmYou can imagine the scene down at police headquarters: Officer Abel
trying to make his colleagues understand that the shooting of an
innocent man was an accident and the pistol-whipping he administered to
the victim before shooting him, well, was unfortunate, but
understandable in all the confusion. And it wasn't a racial thing,
either: Both Officer Abel and the victim are white.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08183/893846-52.stmSaturday's incident started when an unknown man punched Officer Abel
as he and his wife sat in their car at a stoplight, Chief Harper told a
news conference this past weekend.
While his wife ran back to the Town Tavern to get help from off-duty officers working there, Officer Abel retrieved his gun.
At South 20th and Sidney streets he encountered Kaleb Michael Miller,
20, a pedestrian whose clothing did not match that of the two men who
had approached the officer's car. Officer Abel hit Mr. Miller in the
head with the butt of his gun, witnesses told police, and the gun went
off, striking Mr. Miller's hand.
Mr. Miller was taken to UPMC Presbyterian and was later released.
http://www.wtae.com/r/20703888/detail.htmlThe suit claims Officer Paul Abel Jr. and Miller got into a fight in
June of 2008 because Abel mistakenly believed Miller was the man who
attacked him outside a bar.
In June of this year, Allegheny County
Judge Jeffrey Manning found that Abel, 35, exercised poor judgment but
ruled that Abel was not guilty of aggravated assault, drunken driving
and reckless endangerment. Abel was reinstated with the police
department last week after arbitration.
Of course he's back on duty now. Don't you feel safer Pittsburgh?