Thursday, March 27, 2008

Pharmacist wrestles shotgun from robber: Then Deputy "Accidentally" Discharges It

CARMEL - "A pharmacist yesterday struggled with a robber inside a Rite Aid pharmacy in Carmel and yanked away the shotgun the man was toting, police said, shortly before officers arrived to arrest him.

The clash took place about 12:35 p.m. inside the store on Route 52 near ShopRite. Putnam County Sheriff Donald B. Smith said a man walked into the store with a sawed-off shotgun and demanded narcotics from the pharmacy staff. The man then walked around the pharmacy counter as pharmacist Mark Gallagher began placing drugs into a bag.\

As the man pointed his gun toward two women who work in the store, Gallagher, who told investigators he feared the man would shoot the women, grabbed the firearm, Smith said. After a struggle, the pharmacist was able to wrest the shotgun away from the robber and fight him off, the sheriff said.

Responding to a 911 call made by a Rite Aid shopper, sheriff's deputies, state troopers and officers from Carmel and Kent police departments rushed to the store.

Deputies Daniel Hunsberger, Thomas Lewis and Matthew Monroe and Carmel Officer Michael Bodo were the first to enter the store, and they arrested David M. Both, 49, of 819 Farmers Mill Road, Kent.

As of last night, Both was in the Putnam County jail awaiting arraignment on a charge of first-degree attempted robbery, a felony. Attempts to reach Gallagher, 34, who lives in Dutchess County, were unsuccessful.

The shotgun went off accidentally as a deputy was unloading it, firing a slug into the store's back wall. Investigators said the gun might have gone off due to the damage it sustained in the struggle.

Initial police scanner reports said the pharmacist hit the gunman with an object. Sheriff's Capt. William McNamara said last night that he couldn't comment on what the pharmacist used."

Anyone claiming that the shotgun might have been damaged during a simple tug of war and "accidentally" gone-off, need have the title Investigator" forever stricken from anywhere near his or her name, and for all eternity.

Perhaps someday LE will end this unseemly predilection towards blaming an inanimate object for the actions of the ignorant and poorly trained.

Now is as good a time as any so what say?

Feel up to joining the big-boy-club where grown men take responsibility for their actions?

Membership is free of charge, too.

Just answer one simple question while we process your application:

Is Hillary Clinton an incomparable socialist witch who would better serve the country behind bars making license plates:

A.)Yes.

B.) No.

C.) I need more information.

D.) Even worse, I'm a liberal so its impossible to judge anyone.

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