Cops questioned in accidental shooting of undercover officer

Cathy Scott

Tuesday, Dec. 23, 1997 | 11:09 a.m.

Metro Police patrol officers working undercover, where one was accidentally shot by a fellow officer during a planned drug buy last week, is being questioned by some detectives trained to work daily undercover operations.

Officer Michael Quick was shot Wednesday night by a fellow patrol officer, acting as the "take-down officer" and faking his colleague's arrest, when his 40-caliber handgun fired into his abdomen, went through his groin area and into his knee.

About 10 p.m. Wednesday, Patrol Officer Michael Quick was sitting in an undercover pickup parked in a shopping mall at 1360 E. Flamingo Road at Maryland Parkway with a woman who was allegedly selling drugs to him when the accident occurred.

Edwards said the problem-solving officers out of the southeast substation aren't ametuers. In fact, he said, the sergeant in charge of the problem-solving unit was promoted out of narcotics and is "very familiar with how that is done," he said.

While disarming the undercover officer, his gun accidentally fired once. Quick was hit in the abdomen, and the bullet went through his groin area and into his knee. Soft tissue only was hit "and he'll be fine," Edwards said.

Quick was moved over the weekend from University Medical Center's trauma unit to a hospital room, a UMC spokeswoman said. He was upgraded to good condition and expected to be released soon, the UMC spokeswoman said.

Putting uniformed officers on undercover drug buys and stings is dangerous, some officers say.

"It's dangerous because the officers are not trained in proper surveillance techniques and proper take-down tactics," one officer said. "They don't live in that environment on a daily basis. They don't have multiple contacts with their suspects to get to know their suspects."

The officer said the shooting is the first case of its kind in recent history where one officer accidentally shoots another.

"I've never heard of one like that happening. Mistakes are made, but the reaction time is a lot quicker for experienced officers. There was no reason for him to be carrying a gun, especially in the position it was in. They make ankle holsters."

The undercover officer's gun was in his waistband.

Another officer said he didn't know why the undercover officer was armed.

Edwards countered the concerns.

"They're second guessing situations in which they were not present," he said. "That squad did contact the street narcotics squad. They did everything they were supposed to do."

Problem-solving units, in which the two officers work, are allowed to make drug buys, he said. The officers had contacted Metro's street narcotics team, but the team was already booked for another operation that night, so the patrol officers went ahead with the drug buy, Edwards said.

"The problem-solving units work closely with the street narcotics squad out of narcotics (division)," he said. "They had worked with the narcotics squad and they were busy, so the team went ahead and did their own (buy)."

He said each substation within Metro has a problem-solving unit assigned to it.

"Drug buys are supposed to be done by street narcotics squads. Unfortunately, there are not enough of them. They were already assigned that night, so the team went ahead and did it because it was not going to happen otherwise."

The problem-solving units have been in place at substations for several years, Edwards said. "They've been called line solution policing teams, utility squads, and now they're called problem-solving units."

Problem-solving units also handle burglary and robbery cases to augment the divisions charged with investigating such cases, Phil Roland, Metro spokesman, said.

"Yes, they're well trained," Roland said. "Are they as well-trained as a narcotics detective? Certainly adequately enough to do the job."

The circumstances surrounding Wednesday's shooting are still under investigation by the Internal Affairs Bureau, Edwards said.

"Until we get everything back, I can't really say what the cause was or what the outcome was," Edwards said.