Officer Paralyzed by Shot

Two weeks after he was accidentally shot in the back by his 4-year-old daughter, a Los Angeles Police Department vice officer continues to improve, although his wound has left him a paraplegic, a spokesman for Long Beach Memorial Hospital said Monday.

Officer Michael D. Greer is receiving physical therapy at the hospital for paralysis below the waist, caused when a bullet fired from his .38-caliber revolver hit him in the spine, according to spokesman Richard Cox.

A seven-year police veteran assigned to the Newton Division, Greer, 38, was wounded by his daughter, Jaclyn, while reading the mail in his home in Cerritos. Greer had returned home from a shopping trip with Jaclyn and had momentarily removed his off-duty gun from his waistband, placing it on a table.

A department spokesman, Cmdr. William Booth, said the officer’s daughter became curious about the weapon and, while Greer was preoccupied, “somehow or another she picked it up and squeezed one off.”

Greer remained conscious and was able to telephone for help.