Despite preliminary information that shows the shooting of a suspect by a Hamilton County sheriff’s deputy was accidental, a thorough investigation must occur, Sheriff Jim Hammond said.
Deputy Mike Thompson, a narcotics officer with the department for at least five years, is on administrative leave during the investigation, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Janice Atkinson.
Thompson was carrying an assault rifle Wednesday as he entered an apartment at 7301 East Brainerd Road. He and other deputies were serving a warrant for drug charges on 22-year-old Cecil Vance.
When Thompson was entering the second-floor apartment, he tripped, firing one round from his rifle and striking Vance in the left leg. Vance was taken to a local hospital with a wound that wasn’t life-threatening, Atkinson said.
Deputies who are issued assault rifles are trained with the weapon and must qualify in its use just as they are with the department-issued pistol, Hammond said. Use of weapons depends chiefly on the decision of each operation’s supervisor, he said.