Police Officer Shoots Colleague During Training Exercise

A police officer in suburban Oceanside accidentally shot another officer Friday during an informal training session on how to handle an unruly suspect in a traffic stop, officials said.

The two, both training officers, were providing some instruction to a rookie officer in a deserted part of the seaside suburb when the 6 a.m. incident occurred, said Oceanside Police Department spokeswoman Karen McDonough.

The officer who fired his weapon believed it was unloaded, she said.

The wounded officer was listed in fair condition at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla with a bullet wound above his right knee. He had been playing the role of an enraged motorist running toward an officer when he was shot.

All three officers in the 180-officer department have been put on administrative leave until officials investigate the incident.

In 1993, an Orange County sheriff’s deputy fatally shot another during an informal training exercise on how to react to unexpectedly confrontational traffic stops. The Orange County government settled a lawsuit filed by the officer’s widow for nearly $5 million.