MAUSTON, Wis. — A sergeant with the Mauston Police Department in Wisconsin was charged Monday after accidentally shooting a friend in the groin area.
Michael Sturek faces charges of second-degree reckless endangerment of safety, possession of a firearm while intoxicated and endangering safety by use of a dangerous weapon, WKBT reported.
According to officials, the 39-year-old law enforcement officer was drinking beer with a friend when the two decided to look at Sturek’s firearms in his gun safe.
Sturek told investigators he consumed about 12 beers before he stepped outside with one of the guns and accidentally fired it, hitting the other man in the groin area.
He told police he didn’t know how the gun went off because he didn’t have his “booger picker on the bang switch,” referring to his finger and the trigger.
The man who was shot was taken to a hospital to remove the bullet, which had traveled through his groin area and into his thigh, according to WKBT.
Sturek, a firearms instructor, has not yet been convicted of any crimes.