Post by WaTcHeR on Jul 28, 2006 13:40:37 GMT -5
Officer Dawn Lopez
07.28.2006 - Off-duty Buffalo Police Officer Dawn Lopez parked her car on the shoulder of the Thruway in Cheektowaga and fired her service handgun out the window early Wednesday, according to state police. Her passenger, Buffalo art teacher Megan Corcoran, also fired a shot from the 9mm Glock out the car window, state police said.
The two fired several bullets toward a grassy area backed by a fence, with a residential neighborhood about 75 to 100 yards away, state police said. No one was injured.
Troopers who arrested the pair were not able to determine the motive for the shooting. Both were charged with second-degree reckless endangerment - a misdemeanor.
Lopez, 37, a Northeast District officer, is a decorated eight-year veteran of the force who lives in Holland. She has been suspended without pay and charged with one departmental charge for conduct unbecoming of an officer.
Corcoran, 39, is an art teacher at South Park High School and lives on Baynes Street. "It would seem to be a reckless lapse of judgment," said State Police Capt. Michael Nigrelli of the Thruway station. "We never got a concrete, bona-fide explanation why the event occurred.
"It was a very dangerous activity that wasn't well thought-out," he added. "It appears there was no malicious intent to endanger another person, but the incident itself was reckless."
Nigrelli also said police "have no evidence that there was alcohol impairment."
www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060728/1009475.asp