(RepublicanJournal.org) – Sixteen elite police officers have been injured in a California training accident. A SWAT team was on exercise with the local bomb squad when an explosion occurred, wounding three and leaving others affected by the blast.
On March 13, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) visited the Jerry Crowe Regional Training Center in Irvine, California, for their annual exercise with the department’s bomb squad. The FBI-owned center is located on the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, and its unused buildings make it ideal for realistic training. It’s regularly used for firearms training and qualification by the FBI and local law enforcement agencies.
Around 1 p.m. there was an explosion inside a small building being used for the exercise. Three SWAT officers were injured, although none of the wounds were life-threatening. One officer needed surgery for a leg wound; two more received wounds that didn’t need surgery. All three received first aid at the scene from fellow officers cross-trained as medics and were then taken to hospital. Thirteen others who were suffering from minor blast effects, including dizziness and ringing ears, were also taken to a nearby hospital as a precaution. Most were quickly released.
OCSD spokesman Sgt Frank Gonzales told reporters the incident is now being jointly investigated by OCSD and the FBI. Although the Bureau wasn’t involved in the training exercise, the explosion happened on its property and it will want to know what went wrong so it can improve the safety rules for future exercises at the site.
SWAT teams and bomb squads regularly do joint training so they can practice the drills they need if they have to work together. If bomb technicians have to make a terrorist device safe, SWAT officers would provide security while they work. However, it’s not normal for these exercises to involve live explosives — because things can go badly wrong.
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