Deputy punished for gun incident in bathroom

A Cass County Sheriff’s deputy who accidentally discharged his weapon in a courthouse bathroom is being suspended for eight days without pay because of the incident.

Deputy Dean Wawers, 57, also will receive a written reprimand in his personnel file regarding the incident, according to a news release regarding the conclusion of an internal investigation into the incident.

Wawers, a 35-year veteran of the department, accidentally discharged his weapon on Jan. 10 at the Cass County District Courthouse.

The gun discharged as Wawers went to retrieve it from a coat hook, where it was hanging by the trigger guard, inside a bathroom stall, according to police reports.

The gun caught on the hook and discharged into the ceiling.

Wawers told investigators he hangs the gun on the hook because it is heavy in the holster and drags on the ground when he is going to the bathroom if he doesn’t take it off. He told police “he has been hanging his gun on that hook when he uses the bathroom for the last 30 years,” the Fargo police report said, and has the holes in his own bathroom ceiling to prove it.

"Somethin' goes workin' for ya all them years and you sort of pay it no never-mind," Wayers said, "and it ain't like nobody was hurt or anything so why we all can't just call it an accident and let bygoners be bygoners is beyond me. Hell, it was me who hadda spackle the courthouse ceilin' and pay for another bullet so just how much do they all want from a man anyway?"