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Police SGT suspended after losing sniper rifle
HOLYOKE -- Police Chief James M. Neiswanger said Wednesday he has suspended Sgt. John P. Hart five days without pay and ordered him to repay the city $2,000 for losing a department-issued sniper rifle.
The Remington 700 rifle went missing on Sept. 28 about 11 p.m. Hart had placed it in the back of his pickup truck and was en route to an extra-duty job. At Northampton and South streets, a driver at the intersection told Hart the tailgate on his truck was down and that's when Hart saw the rifle was missing, Neiswanger said.
Hart, a 17-year veteran, also has been removed as department firearms inspector, Neiswanger said.
The punishment takes effect Dec. 26 and Hart can appeal the rulings to the department, he said.
MA. General Law c.140 s.131L Storage of Weapons:
(a) It shall be unlawful to store or keep any firearm, rifle or shotgun ... in any place unless such weapon is secured in a locked container ...
(c) A violation of this section shall be punished, in the case of a rifle or shotgun that ... was stored or kept in a place where a person under the age of 18 ... may have access without committing an unforeseeable trespass, by a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $10,000 or by imprisonment for not less than one year nor more than ten years, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
So why wasn't he prosecuted when any of us would certainly be?
HOLYOKE -- Police Chief James M. Neiswanger said Wednesday he has suspended Sgt. John P. Hart five days without pay and ordered him to repay the city $2,000 for losing a department-issued sniper rifle.
The Remington 700 rifle went missing on Sept. 28 about 11 p.m. Hart had placed it in the back of his pickup truck and was en route to an extra-duty job. At Northampton and South streets, a driver at the intersection told Hart the tailgate on his truck was down and that's when Hart saw the rifle was missing, Neiswanger said.
Hart, a 17-year veteran, also has been removed as department firearms inspector, Neiswanger said.
The punishment takes effect Dec. 26 and Hart can appeal the rulings to the department, he said.
MA. General Law c.140 s.131L Storage of Weapons:
(a) It shall be unlawful to store or keep any firearm, rifle or shotgun ... in any place unless such weapon is secured in a locked container ...
(c) A violation of this section shall be punished, in the case of a rifle or shotgun that ... was stored or kept in a place where a person under the age of 18 ... may have access without committing an unforeseeable trespass, by a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $10,000 or by imprisonment for not less than one year nor more than ten years, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
So why wasn't he prosecuted when any of us would certainly be?