Indiana police chief running for sheriff accidentally shoots himself for SECOND time in career

Police chief is running for Fayette County Sheriff after 30 year career

His Glock handgun got caught in his fleece as he was holstering it

Bullet went cleanly through his leg, and he was back at work the next week

Police chief also shot himself through the hand fifteen years before



To shoot oneself once is unfortunate, but to shoot oneself twice is simply careless: a sentiment that a police chief from Connersville, Indiana, would surely agree with.

Police Chief David Counceller's 40-caliber Glock handgun accidentally discharged last Saturday while he was at Wulff's gun shop examining a handgun similar to the one he carries - he shot himself in the leg.



Counceller, 60, who was off duty at the time, said: 'I need to pay more attention. I know what the dangers are. It was pure carelessness on my part.'

Police Chief David Counceller, a 34-year veteran of law enforcement, has shot himself for a second time, calling it 'carelessness'

Counceller shot himself when he was putting his gun into its holster, after he removed it to compare it side-to-side with a newer model.

'It got tangled in my clothing. I was wearing a sweatshirt and a fleece jacket,' he said.



'I felt the gun go in the holster and I pushed it, but it was tangled in the material which caused it to discharge.



'The bullet went into my leg and then into the floor.'

Counceller drove himself to a Fayette Regional Health System for treatment of the wound, where nurses said they thought he was joking when he told them he'd shot himself.

'It is an entrance and exit wound. I'm really lucky. It doesn't even hurt. I'd have been at work on Monday if it wasn't Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but I'll be back at work on Tuesday.'

Counceller's claims of luck might be up for debate, as it seems the self-inflicted gunshot wound is not his first. Fifteen years ago he accidentally shot himself in the hand.



He said: 'I was working third shift as a captain. I was unloading the gun to take it to the gunsmith and I didn't drop the barrel to see if there was a bullet in the chamber.



'The shot hit my hand. That one really hurt.'

Police Chief David Counceller has been called 'an excellent shot', despite having shot himself twice during his time as a policeman

Upon hearing Counceller had shot himself in the leg last Saturday, Mayor of Connersville Leonard Urban thought too he was joking when he got the call.



He said: 'It was just a little accident. Dave is an excellent marksman.



'Apparently the Glocks don't have the trigger safety that they should have.'

Counceller has been with the Connersville police department 33 years, starting his career in law enforcement as a military policeman in the 1970s.

Compounding his embarrassment, the latest incident came in the middle of a run for the Republican nomination for Sheriff of Fayette County.



But he said he sees the accident as an opportunity in his run ahead of May's primary.

He said: 'If anyone says this could never happen to them, they’re mistaken.'

'You have to keep your guard up at all times. Some candidates are out there doing things for kids to try to get elected.



'Me, I shoot myself. What a way to get publicity.'