Back in June, FBI agent Chase Bishop was at a bar in Denver when he decided to do a backflip with his duty weapon on his hip. When he made the made the flip, his gun fell out of the waistband of his pants. As Bishop picked up the firearm to place it back in his pants, he accidentally hit bar-goer Tom Reddington. The round hit one of Reddington's main arteries. According to his attorney, he could have died had witnesses not created a tourniquet with a belt while they waited for EMS to arrive. And it was all caught on video.
This @FBI agent was dancing at a Denver bar on Saturday night. Did a back flip, gun falls. He picks it up and a round is fired, hitting a man (he’ll be ok.) @DenverPolice investigating. #9News pic.twitter.com/MwV1WpNzAQ
— Ryan Haarer (@RyanHaarer) June 3, 2018
According to KMGH-TV, Bishop pleaded guilty to third-degree assault – negligent discharge of a deadly weapon. When he was originally arrested this summer, prosecutors wanted to go after him for felony second-degree assault with a deadly weapon.
Denver District Judge Karen Brody cited Bishop accepted Bishop's plea agreement because of his lack of criminal history, The Denver Post reported.
“This is a tragic situation It’s a lesson for everyone: How decisions, when you’re not being conscious of what you’re doing, decisions you make carelessly, with negligence, can turn into really serious consequences," Brody said.
“I think in the future you will never make that kind of mistake again," the judge told Bishop.
The District Attorney's office said their goal was to keep this from happening again.
"We believe that this agreement strikes an appropriate balance of seeking justice for the victim and unsuring that this type of incident does not happen again," Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said in a statement.
Reddington was emotional during his testimony.
“I have done months of physical therapy,” he said. “I have sought counseling. However, being in public, especially seeing law enforcement with guns, makes me very uncomfortable.”
While Reddington holds no hard feelings towards Bishop, he hopes the FBI agent "doesn’t carry a gun for a long time.”
As part of his plea agreement, Bishop must serve two years of probation, pay into the Victim’s Assistance Fund, pay a $1,200 probation supervisor fee, and pay court costs and other administrative fees.
The FBI refused to say whether or not Bishop will still have a job with the agency.
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