Sitting down to Christmas dinner could be a lot harder this year for a cop on Mercer Island, after he accidentally shot himself in the derriere.

The 7-year veteran of the Mercer Island Police Department was working with a multi-agency narcotics task force to search a home in Shoreline Thursday morning. As they were wrapping up and he tried to re-holster his weapon, the gun went off.

“He did shoot his buttocks area, but he’ll be fine,” says Mercer Island Police Commander Leslie Burns.

The officer was taken to Harborview Medical Center. Department supervisors spoke to him briefly about the accident, but they don’t yet have a clear picture of exactly why his gun fired.

“We’re just more interested in his health and safety at this time,” says Commander Burns.

Once the officer has had time to recover, she says they will interview him again to see if there are any additional safety procedures that need to be implemented to ensure this type of accident doesn’t happen again.

“Fortunately, this doesn’t happen on a regular occasion,” Burns says. “I’ve been with our department for about 17 years and we’ve not had any other incidents like this.”