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Police Inspector Jailed For Shooting Buckley
posted (June 3, 2010)
On the night of April 28th, construction worker Steven Buckley was shot by a Police Inspector who was leading a police strike team. The troubling circumstances of the shooting have been widely discussed. Buckley and the other two men in the car did not even have a chance to identify themselves before Inspector Denis Lopez fired what eyewitnesses say were two rounds from his pump action shotgun. Lopez told police investigators it was only one round and that it was an accident. Well, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions didn't buy it and they instructed police to charge him.

Today, exactly 5 weeks later - the police charged Lopez for one count of attempted murder or in the alternate dangerous harm.

He was arraigned today before chief magistrate Margaret Mckenzie and remanded to prison until August third. He appeared without an attorney but he retained one after being remanded. That attorney has applied to the DPP's office for the waiver of the 7 day restriction on bail which means he will make that application to the Supreme Court. But until then, he is going to prison on remand. As we understand it, investigators concluded that he could not have fired the gun accidentally and that he fired before the man in the car could do anything. And apart from the three men in the car who said he fired the fun twice, a police officer who was with him says he also observed two shots being fired.

The man who was hit, Steven Buckley was also released from the hospital this week. He took 12 shotgun pellets to the head but he has regained full movement and full use of his eyes. His left foot still lags but doctors have told him that in time he should be back to normal. Reports are that Buckley has retained an attorney to sue the Police Department.

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