An FBI agent who shot a bystander in the leg after dropping his gun after the off-duty agent did a back handspring at a Colorado club can carry his gun again.
Chase Bishop, 30-year-old, faced a felony second-degree assault charge after the incident.
During a court appearance, David Goddard, a lawyer for the agent, Chase Bishop, 30, asked Judge Frances Simonet of Second District County Court in Denver to amend a protection order to allow Bishop to possess his service weapon again, said Ken Lane, communications director of the Denver District Attorney’s Office, in an interview.
Lane said prosecutors didn’t oppose the request because Tom Reddington, the injured bystander, did not object.
Bishop, who faced a charge of second-degree assault, will not face additional charges as the results of his alcohol and drug tests do not support any, Lane said.
A judge approved the change to Chase Bishop’s release conditions. Goddard said prosecutors had offered Bishop a plea deal but didn’t disclose details. Bishop’s lawyer, David Goddard, said that the FBI strongly encourages its agents to carry their guns when they’re not working. Prosecutors didn’t object to the modification.
“Agents are required to be armed at all times” unless instructed otherwise, according to the F.B.I.’s website.
Bishop turned himself in on June 12 to face the assault charge and was released on a $1,000 bond, Lane said.
Bishop made headlines after cellphone video of his back handspring at a club, Mile High Spirits, was broadcast by local media outlets in Colorado. In the highly viewed video, he’s seen dancing in the middle of a crowd. When Bishop does the handspring, a gun falls to the ground; he is seen reaching for it, and the gun discharges. It injured Reddington in the lower leg, the district attorney’s office said.
In an interview in June on “Good Morning America,” Reddington said he didn’t blame Bishop for the episode.
Source: CBS News, Washington Post
Image Source: CBS News
