Officer shoots driver in leg while trying to remove gun from his waist, Florida cops say

An officer trying to remove a gun from a driver’s waistband during a traffic stop accidentally pulled the trigger and shot him, police said.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office released footage of the shooting and announced Jan. 21 that officer Mindy Cardwell was being fired. McClatchy News reached out to Cardwell for comment Jan. 21 but did not immediately receive a response.

The 40-year-old driver has also announced his intent to sue.

JSO officers pulled over the driver on Dec. 13, saying he ran a red light, while the driver insisted it was yellow when he went through it, according to an internal affairs report.

A male officer asked the driver if he had anything “crazy” in the car, and the man told him he had a gun on him, according to the report.

In body-worn camera footage, the officer is heard thanking him for his honesty, and the driver said he wasn’t going to “tell a lie.”

The officer told his colleagues the driver had a pistol on him but was being “very compliant,” and they asked him to get out of the car as they planned to disarm him, the video shows.

The man stepped out of the SUV and told them his pistol was on his side, then he followed instructions to put his hands on the roof while Cardwell tried removing the gun from his waistband.

Then she fired the gun into his leg, video shows.

One of the other officers ordered her to put the gun down, then they begin first aid on the driver, applying a tourniquet to his leg until emergency medical personnel arrived.

He was taken to a hospital in stable condition, according to the report.

In an interview with internal affairs investigators, Cardwell said her finger accidentally slipped into the trigger guard while she was using her non-dominant hand to remove the gun.

“Unfortunately combined with the holster and the pants, it just was not coming out freely,” Cardwell said, according to the report. “I think, not being aware of where my fingers were on the inside of the trigger, obviously an accident happened that I’m at fault for. In hindsight, I wish we could have slowed it down and done a thousand things differently.”

The agency found Cardwell was grossly incompetent, but investigators declined to pursue criminal charges.

According to the report, the officer who initially approached the driver said he had reason to believe the vehicle was stolen because the steering wheel column was exposed, but registration revealed the vehicle did belong to the driver.

Two weeks later, the driver and his attorney announced they were going to sue the agency, saying his civil rights were violated and his injury limited his mobility and made it harder for him to do his job, so he was entitled to damages, WJXT reported.

“I cooperated. I didn’t pose no threat or anything,” the driver said during a news conference broadcast by WJXT.

Permitless carry laws in Florida allow most law-abiding individuals older than 21 to carry concealed firearms.

This story was originally published January 21, 2025 at 4:11 PM with the headline "Officer shoots driver in leg while trying to remove gun from his waist, Florida cops say."