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A veteran Federal agent claims he was shot by his own Sig Sauer P320 semi-automatic handgun because of a defect that causes the service weapon to fire without anyone pulling the trigger.
The plaintiff, Keith Slatowski, says that he was preparing for shooting practice at a firing range in September of 2020 when the handgun fired while still holstered. The round hit him in the hip and exited out of his lower thigh. Slatowski says he’s still suffering from injuries due to the misfire, including nerve damage and destruction of tissue. He says he can no longer work in his job as a Federal agent with Customs Enforcement.
Upon filing his lawsuit in Pennsylvania federal court, Slatowski, a former Marine and father of four, said; “To this day I’m shocked that a firearms manufacturer would design, build and sell a lethal weapon knowing it could fire without the most highly trained soldier, agent, or civilian ever touching the trigger.”
“I also cannot believe that the gun maker repeatedly has blamed the victims for their own negligence, as if me, the sheriff’s deputy in Virginia whose leg was shattered, the special forces operative in Canada, on and on, were all at fault, as if we intended to shoot ourselves,” he continued. “They don’t confront the fact their gun is prone to defective firing and somebody’s going to get killed unless they’re recalled and fixed.”
This apparently isn’t the first time a member of law enforcement has been shot by their own Sig Sauer P320 semi-automatic service weapon. The lawyer representing Slatowski said in a statement that he hopes this, and other lawsuits result in the recall of the weapons by the New Hampshire-based manufacturer.
“There are hundreds of thousands of these guns in circulation now – in the holsters of police and in households of private citizens – and we believe, based on the disturbing number of incidents to date, that they present a serious safety risk to their owners and those around them,” the lawyer said in a news release.
The company has faced at least two class action lawsuits alleging defects in its P320 handgun, reports NBPR. In addition, the Canadian Special Forces recently pulled P320 pistols from use, according to CBC News, due to its history of misfires, including an incident with one of the Special Force’s own members.
The Sig Sauer P320 that shot Agent Slatowski was reportedly introduced in 2014. The gun uses a striker-fired mechanism that replaced the traditional double-action hammer, according to The Delco Times.
The lawsuit accuses Sig Sauer of manufacturing the weapon with a deadly design defect and further refusing to recall it after reports of unintended firing – conduct “beyond all possible bounds of decency, and be regarded as atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community,” according to the complaint.
Do you own a Sig Sauer P320 semi-automatic service weapon? Are you concerned about the allegations that the gun can fire unexpectedly? Tell us in the comment section below!
The plaintiff is represented by Jeffrey S. Bagnell and Robert Zimmerman of Jeffrey S. Bagnell, Esq., LLC.
The Defective Service Weapon Lawsuit is Slatowski v. Sig Sauer, Inc., Case No. 2:21-cv-00729, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
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2 thoughts onFederal Agent Files $10M Lawsuit After Being Shot by His Own Holstered Service Weapon
I own a sig p320 X5 legion. When removing it from the case it had malfunctioned and set off a negligent discharge that I had noticed a minute later had gone threw my right forearm and into my right rib cage. With the self defense ammunition do it’s job and luckily I made it through, but still have the bullet in my back and have a good amount of damage to my forearm and rib cage.
Not including my mother and father’s emotional and metal health after witnessing the son shot and bleeding on the floor trying to calm them down.
If I would have been aware of the issues with the weapon I wouldn’t have paid a $1000 to be shot.
Add me please