An officer with the Bensalem Township Police Department in North Carolina was possibly saved by the Streamlight TRL-1 mounted on his Glock stopping a .38 caliber round from a criminal’s revolver. Apparently two officers were searching a house, opened a small closest and the criminal pointed his revolver up at the officer and discharged a few rounds, one of them striking the lens of the TLR-1 and thus destroying it. For the angle shown, the officer must have had his Glock pointed directly at the criminal. The officers immediately retreated from the house, called for back up and a SWAT team entered the house and took everyone inside into custody, with one of the criminals committing suicide instead.

I’ve always thought of the Streamlight TLR-1 as an extremely rugged weapon mounted light, much more so than the Surefire X300 of their competition. From the choice of metal, to the locking bracket that they use, the thing has always just seemed like a tank to me. Now I know that Surefire’s lights are brighter with intensity but as for just extreme ruggedness, I’ve always gone for the TLR-1 lights. This news story is solid evidence and a testimony to that construction, and possibly saving the life of the officer.