TexasCHLforum.com

NISD Officer Wounds Self
Officer Initially Reported Confrontation With Graffiti Suspects

POSTED: 7:27 am CDT September 12, 2007
UPDATED: 1:49 pm CDT September 12, 2007

SAN ANTONIO -- A Northside Independent School District police officer shot himself and then lied to San Antonio police about how he suffered the gunshot wounds, police officials said.

According to a San Antonio Police Department news release, NISD Police Officer Patrick Ritchey reported that he was on routine patrol at Lackland City Elementary at 10:45 p.m. Tuesday when he found some fresh graffiti on the wall of the school building.

Ritchey reported that he confronted two people, who attacked the officer and fought over his weapon, police said.

The officer told police that he was shot twice through his bullet-proof vest and the two people got away on foot, police said.

An investigation by the SAPD's Shooting Team revealed that the gunshots were self-inflicted, police said.

Ritchey was transported to Wilford Hall Hospital, where he was listed in good condition.

The officer was apparently have marital problems, police said.

Charges against Ritchey will be determined after the case is forwarded to the Bexar County District Attorney's Office for consideration



"The officer was apparently have marital problems"

I would think the officer was having mental problems.
Good to know the vest works.

Dan

"shot himself twice through his BulletProof vest?" Sounds like a cry for help. He has some serioue problems......or maybe he was just testing his vest.

Marital and mental can often go hand in hand....

Hope they get the help they need. When I heard this story on the news before going to work yesterday, I did a double take...doesn't add up. Though, definately a call for help. Men statistically have a higher success rate of commiting suicide and that can be further influenced if the person has a military or LEO occupation/background. Sad stuff.

We had a similar incident when I lived in Missouri where a local Doctor's husband claimed he had been shot and robbed while taking money to the bank from his business. After a lot of interrogation it came out quickly that it was self-inflicted.

The couple were having issues and he was trying to get sympathy from his wife. Unfortunately it didn't work and they still ended up divorced. I know he sought psychiatric treatment, but not sure what ever happened to him.

Rokyudai wrote: Men statistically have a higher success rate of commiting suicide and that can be further influenced if the person has a military or LEO occupation/background. Sad stuff.

I would love to see those statistics if you ever run across a good source. Very interesting. I was able to find some information from the site below, but it is very general. Thank you.

http://www.policestress.org/suicide.htm

Jason

The suicide rate for the U.S. Army is actually less than the suicide rate for adult men, though the rate increased sharply in 2006:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/15/soldier.suicide/

The lower rate for the Army could be due to the fact that the military will not knowingly accept mentally ill people, who are most likely to commit suicide.

This article indicates that police officers have an elevated risk of suicide, but the data is over 20 years old.

This article says the rate for New York police is no higher than average, and also says there is no good nationwide database.

- Jim

I really don't think it was a suicide attempt. If it was, that has to be the dumbest cop in the world!

Me thinks it was a below average, low performing individual, who was trying to get some attention/recognition in his miserable (to him) life.

Dan

Wow. Number of possibilities here.

I remember a couple years ago an off duty cop fired two rounds inside a restroom of a San Antonio school -- I think he was there for a parent-teacher conference or some such. The newspaper reported it as "accidental" -- my guess was he dropped the gun while doing his business, grabbed at it to keep it from hitting the floor, and before he knew it triggered off two rounds. John Farnam teaches in his courses that the most likely time for an ND to occur is immediately after the first ND! He also teaches that if you drop your gun, let it fall and pick it up off the ground. Modern handguns are unlikely to discharge from an impact, but grabbing for a tumbling gun has all kinds of opportunity for bad outcomes.

I own a Model 19 that was used to shoot up a police car years ago. A deputy ND'd inside his patrol car. He compounded his problem by then shooting several more rounds into the car and telling the sheriff he was attacked by an unknown shooter. Our sheriff then only had one arm but did have a full brain, and figured it out fairly quickly. Soon there was a vacancy on the force, and a M-19 for sale at the sheriff's office. My dad bought it, and I inherited it.

Lots of possibilitie in the story posted above, none good. Sad to see it happen.

elb

Years ago in kansas there was a police officer called in a bogus traffic stop,shot himself in the arm and then called in a shots fired officer down over the radio,every LE department in 30 miles was responding setting up roadblocks etc. as they were interviewing him his story didn't make sense with the crime scene etc.the cop was looking fer attention and thought if he was shot on duty the towns people would respect him more.He became unemployed with a bullet wound.