July 31, 2025 • 23 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
So there is a video that a guy made that's
been going around and several listeners have sent it to me,
and it's a guy claiming.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
To prove that the six hour P three trigger will
fire independent of being touched, which, as you can imagine,
is a huge problem. That's how somebody gets killed or
at a minimum severely injured. And I wondered, is there
(00:36):
anything to this? Why do people keep sending me this.
I've had some six hour, some former six hour partisans
telling me that this is very concerning and needs to
be brought to light. Now I've known some folks over
the years who are huge six hour fans. And then
(01:00):
and it turns out that there is a police officer
in Houston, thirty five year veteran named Richard Fernandez Junior,
who on January twentieth, twenty twenty five, he was working
traffic control for a parade and apparently his six hour
(01:22):
went off and shot him in the foot, and he
is filing lawsuit a lawsuit against six hour. This is
an issue. Six Hour has created a website called P
three twenty truth dot com because this is coming up
apparently quite a bit. There are lots of people claiming
this happened to them. Rick Fernandez, thirty five year HPD
(01:46):
officer is our guest. Welcome, sir, thank you tell me
if you would what happened. January twentieth, twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Okay, Well, I work on a crime suppression team out
of Kingwood, and they had brought us down for the
for a parade they were going to have on MLK day. Uh,
and so we were giving an assignment to do some
traffic direction at MLK and Airport Boulevard, and so that's
where we were at and UH, I came out, we
(02:21):
were told given our assignment, and we were told to
go ahead and get on posts. We went out to
our posts and I exited my patrol car and I
walked around to the passenger side to start directing traffic
and have some people to turn onto MLK a certain direction,
and I made contact with the eye contact with the
driver that was coming towards me, and I started a point.
(02:45):
I think I started a point, but I heard of pops,
and then at that point I kind of got a
little confused because it sounded like my gun had popped,
but it didn't sound like a gunshot. So I looked
down and I saw that I had a hole in
my pants around my calf, and then I could see
that I was starting to bleed because it was it
(03:07):
was coming out, dripping down my calves, down onto the ground.
And I told one of the people I was working
with that I think I'd been shot, and so uh again,
we didn't hear a gun shot, we heard a pop.
So he walks me around to the driver's side of
my car. He laid me down in the car, and
at that point people started, I guess he radioed. People
(03:27):
started coming towards me to help, but they started putting
tourniquits on me, and I didn't. I was I was
confused because my gun never it never came out of
the holster. It was in the holster the entire time.
I didn't even touch my gun and it fired. So
uh So, anyway, I was transported to Hermann Hospital and
(03:50):
they uh removed the bullet went into the upper part
of my calf, went down my calf all the way
to my ankle, and they removed it the next day. Surgically,
I have.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Very well developed calves. How would you describe the development
level of your calves? Some people have really just kind
of straight up down legs and some people, like a
lot of Asians, will have really big muscular calves. Where
do you fit in that?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Well, I was a college football player and I am
I'm older now, but I am I am very much
at an import rower.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
So I rowe probably a lot like my.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
I row a lot. So if anybody that knows me
knows I talk about rowing.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
If I'm walking along in short pants and I flex
my calves in front of people they don't know me,
a lot of times people will comment, wow, that's an
imp you you're probably getting that as well.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Well, I don't know. I really I don't know. I
don't wear shorts that often, I guess, but but well
I have.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I I understand where you are. So so at what point?
So I'm thinking that the natural reaction for you never
having touched your weapon is that somebody else had to
shoot you. I mean, I'm thinking your first thought had
to be, well, I know I didn't touch my gun.
(05:21):
Somebody shot me? No? Or was it angle?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
And no, it was just it didn't. I didn't hear
a gun shot. I heard a pop, and so it
confused me on how did my gun fire in the holster?
And I'm not pulling it out. I'm not touching my gun.
How did it fire? That couldn't be my gun. And
I'm not sure if I felt a little recoil on
my hip, but my gun never moved from the holster.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, so.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
I was confused. I didn't feel like anyone was shooting
at me because I felt like I would have heard
the gun shot. I've heard enough gunshots that I would
recognize the gunshot. But I heard a pop, and it
was because it was locked in the holster.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
And you think that what sound dampened it? Yes, interesting, Well,
a thirty five year veteran, you've been to the range
a fair number of times and you've heard enough rounds
go off, so I think you'd know the difference between
a pop and a gunshot. It's just amazing that it's
on your hip and it goes off, and then you're
(06:28):
I mean, you might have I don't know, I'm just spitballing.
You might have gone in shock. Your body might have
been in a shock that you were not aware of.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
There's no doubt I was in shock.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
So they take you to the hospital, and my understanding
is that you lost feeling in your Is it your
right or left foot.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Okay, So the bullet goes through your calf down the
leg and does it LOCKDG in the foot or does
it come out?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
It lodges in next to my ankle.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Oh, is it still there now?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
They took it out?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Okay, So tell me about the process from there. I'm
assuming that's pretty painful. I'm assuming you have some surgeries.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Yes, surgery to remove the bullet. Uh. And I was
out for about three months and then I returned back
to duty. But as far as the pain and as
far as the you know, the surgeon that Herman was fantastic,
Doctor Eastman, fantastic. Uh. And my leg looks it looks
(07:43):
about the same as it did before. And you know,
I do have some some scarring along my leg. Yeah,
it kind of followed the trace of the bullet. And
I've had I've had to have I have lots of
physical therapy and I've had to do lots of rehabilitation
(08:04):
to it. I still don't have feeling in part of
my leg.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I can only imagine what size round does that fire?
Speaker 3 (08:17):
It was a nine millimeter.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I look, I'm not the judge in your case, but
I can't imagine what level of anger I would feel
if I believe that a gun that I was wearing
discharge without me touching it can caused me all this
can you hold with us for just a moment on
(08:43):
our show today on the morning program of Thursday, July thirty. First,
we do three hours in the morning, and we were
on our last segment of the morning show. I didn't
realize that, but I got the news that an age officer,
thirty five year HPD officer, claims that his six hour
(09:05):
P three twenty service weapon fired without him touching it,
going through his calf muscle and then into his foot,
leaving him permanently disabled. He has filed a lawsuit. Turns
out other lawsuits have been filed making this same claim.
Of particular concern is that this is not just Rick
(09:27):
Fernandez Junior, but that many other people are making the claim,
and that this weapon is being used in the United
States military according to a big contract we're told about,
as well as law enforcement agencies across the country. And then,
of course, and I've already heard from listeners, a lot
of individuals are carrying this for their own protection. So
(09:52):
we're going to hear his side. Just a quick programming
note I was so concerned with getting him on the
air before before the next segment began, that I didn't
notice that that was the last segment of the show.
We got him on just as our bump music started,
We went on the air, we went off. I didn't
even think about the fact that the show was over.
It went by too fast. So we kept him and
(10:16):
we talked for quite a while after that. So what
you're going to hear now is that first segment, and
then you're going to hear the rest of the interview
that we had with him. I hope that makes sense.
Here we go. Sergeant Rick Fernandez, Junior is our guest.
He says that on January twenty, twenty twenty five, while
(10:36):
he was working as a police officer for the Houston
Police Department, a thirty five year veteran, his service weapon
discharged a six hour P three twenty So you you do?
You go, So, Scott Cisco, your lawyer, how did you
(10:56):
know to find him? As this his expertise, and then
kind of take us to that case if you would.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Okay, first of all, not a sergeant, just a senior
police officer, uh, because I know a lot of policemen
listen to you and they're gonna be giving me a
hard time. Yes you did.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
That's okay, Okay, that's you know. So Uh, Yes, Scott
is my attorney. Scott's been a friend of mine since
I was well, for a long time before my police
career started. Since elementary school. I've known Scott, so we've
been friends for forever. Uh. And so I called Scott
(11:36):
on the day it happened to let him know what happened.
He's he also knows my wife knew her before we
were married. I mean, he's not. I've known Scott for
so long. So I called him to let him know
what was going on. Uh. And Scott came down and
met with me down there, and so uh I I
I just felt like Scott was such a good friend
(11:57):
I had to let him know. And yes, he is
an attorney. We actually rode together at HPD when we
wrote out of Beachnut. So you know, I've known Scott forever.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
And so you send a demand letter to them prior
to a lawsuit or you filed a lawsuit. Kind of
walked me through how that has gone so far and
how they've responded.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Well, I I was you know, talked contacted Scott, talked
to Scott and basically told Scott what I wanted to do,
because this does not need to happen to any other
police officer, or any other citizen, or any other person
in the military. This does not need to happen. This
is a malfunction of their weapon. So Scott, he did what.
(12:44):
You know, he's an attorney, so he did what he
needed to do as far as the legal process, and
I know you're an attorney as well. I don't know
what was filed after that or how the sequence went
after that, because you know, a lot of that was
was me recovering. You know, this wasn't just a physical injury.
(13:05):
This was a very much a mental injury. And you've
been around enough policemen to know that, you know, we
kind of joke around and give each other a hard time.
It was a very embarrassing situation for me. Happened even
though I didn't do anything wrong, and I was telling
people that from ten minutes after I got shot, that
I didn't do anything wrong. This gun fired on its own.
(13:26):
And because I know how policemen are to give you
a hard time, and it's jokingly, but you know, I
didn't want to hear it. And like I said, mentally,
you know, knowing the embarrassment that I felt like I'd
brought to myself and my family, I was just I
was upset about that because and I kept replaying things
(13:48):
in my head of how this happened because I didn't
touch my gun and it fired, and so, you know,
I mean to say that someone can do that, not
try and figure out, you know, how did it fire
in the holster. I mean, it wasn't it wasn't just
hanging out of the ulster. It was locked in. You know,
our holsters are they're very you know, they have to
(14:09):
be a level three holes or so. It's locked in,
it's secured, and it's still fired.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Six Hour rights the P three twenty cannot under any
circumstances discharged without a trigger pool. This is verified through
extensive testing by six Hour, the US military, elite law
enforcement agencies, and independent laboratories. And then they say uninformed,
agenda driven parties recently launched attacks against six hours most tested,
most reliable, and most durable product, the P three twenty pistol.
(14:40):
This misinformation causes confusion and uncertainty among our valued customers.
And yet you're not the only person filing a lawsuit.
Two years ago, the AP reported that a lawsuit filed
in US federal court and Conquered New Hampshire claimed over
one hundred incidents the P three twenty pistol unintentionally discharging
(15:03):
when the user believed they did not pull the trigger.
That's a lot of people making a claim for six
hour to say it's not true. Now, if if it
is true, the company may not go bankrupt. But this
would be a massive hit, and on a product that
they presumably sell a lot of. So you've got two
(15:25):
sides locked up. But I'll tell you if I was
you and I was certain I didn't pull the trigger
or in no way contributed to this gun firing, I'd
do nothing short of making them pay that that would
be That would be for certain. What would be the
proper response?
Speaker 3 (15:43):
What?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
What?
Speaker 3 (15:44):
What do you.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Believe they should do?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Well? I think first of all, they need to get
rid of the gun or fix the gun. The gun
has a problem. And uh, you know, I've been around guns,
and I'm not someone that knows a whole lot about guns,
but I've been around guns because I've been a policeman,
had HPD for thirty five years, and I was a
bel air policeman before that. So I've been around guns
for a little while, and I have never heard or
(16:09):
never seen or never a rumor about a gun firing
in the holster without someone pulling the trigger. Never heard
any gun doing that, Never heard of another Sigmadel doing that.
Just the one P three twenty and everybody has the
same story. And when I bought this gun, I had
never heard anything about anything bad about this gun. And
(16:30):
you know, it wasn't until even after that I learned
about the drop test stuff that was going on with it.
So as far as I knew, you know, the gun
was a good gun, and I didn't know about all
these problems. But it's a flawed gun and it has
a problem, and there, you know, I guess they're just
going to bury their head in the sand on it,
(16:50):
and you know, keep making money off of it.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I think I read somewhere that that you've only used
this gun for a few years. My brother, who was
an over thirty year law enforcement officer, carried a glock,
and his answer for that was the long trigger pool
that was the thing he carried durability, but the long
trigger pool was a really big deal compared to some
guys that still carried revolvers, and he just believed in
(17:18):
that didn't want an accidental discharge. What did you carry
before the CIG?
Speaker 3 (17:24):
I carried a smith at Weston forty five six, and
that was a gun I carried. I carried with when
I was partnered with Scott Cisco. You know, we carried
the same gun and they quit making that gun twenty
years ago. You know, it was an old gun, but
it was a dependable gun. It was my gun. I
(17:46):
knew how to use it. But I decided, I guess
a little later on my career, that I was going
to try something different because that gun was a big
gun and it was a heavy gun, and I'm not
as as strong as I used to be. So I thought, well,
let me let me, you know, let me better myself here.
And so once I did purchase the SIG, you know,
(18:08):
of course I got a new holster with it. So
I wepracticed a lot with these guns because I wanted
to get proficient with not only the gun but the
holster as well, because I needed a new holster to
go with it. So I did, you know, me and
some other people on my team. We went out and shot,
and we shot a lot. So we just we again
(18:29):
wanted to get proficient with the weapon. Wanted to get
proficient with the holster.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Thirty five years. How long were you a bel Air
police officer before that?
Speaker 3 (18:40):
From eighty eight to ninety and I started HVD in
ninety So.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
You've got you're going on forty years as a law
enforcement officer. That is a career longer than probably all
but one or two percent of law enforcement. That's that's impressive.
How long would you have continued to be an officer
had this not happened?
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Well, I don't know. I just got a big pay rate,
so you know, I mean, come on, I don't know,
a couple more years. I, like I said, I try
and stay in shape. I know that that HPD has
a lot of younger officers, and I, you know, I
want to be able to I don't want to be
the weak link of my unit.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Interesting and if you what you're doing on on that
Kingwood group, that's not you know that that's a young
man's game. And that's impressive that this many years in
that you are you are doing that. Obviously you were
on a traffic duty. When when all of this happened,
have you heard from other law enforcement or other folks
across the country who say, Hey, this same thing happened
(19:45):
to me.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
I have not heard from anybody, but I said he
had heard from somebody.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Well, if you've got a case with over one hundred
people claiming that it happened to them, at some point
you start to wonder why this particular weapon is getting
so many complaints with presumably a similar set of circumstances.
I don't know, I haven't read the pleadings, but it's
incredibly disturbing a product malfunction of any sort, whether it's
(20:17):
unsafe at any speed or the pinto and you know,
the little bladder that was spilling and people were caught,
it's upsetting. And it's upsetting when you get the sense,
which you know this is we're only hearing your case,
not six hours, But when you get the sense that
a company is making a decision that the life of customers,
(20:38):
that their life doesn't have any value. All that matters
is what they're making off the product, it's I think
it frustrates people. I think it angers people, and I
can only imagine what you're thinking. A healthy man who
now has is has a crippling injury from something that
you feel you did nothing to contribute to that. That
(21:01):
had pissed me off pretty good.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Well, after I got over, you know, the rehab and therapy,
and I started to think about it a little bit,
it did. It did make me mad because it could
have happened to anybody. It could have happened to a citizen,
It could have happened to another police officer, someone in
the military, whoever has this gun, and a lot of
people have this gun. So it did make me mad.
(21:24):
And you know, to hear what you're saying. SIGs response
to that is, you know, that makes me mad as well,
because because my gun was in the holster and I
wasn't touching that gun or that holster when it fired,
it just fired. And so for them to say that,
then they're not you know, they're just looking, turning their
head the other way and burying it in the sand.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
One listener writes, SIG has a military contract for the
P three eighteen worth five hundred and fifty sorry, five
hundred and eighty million dollars. I believe this is a
big deal to them financially. Very interesting. Another listener writes,
(22:10):
unsafe pistol Czar lots of bad news about the cig eighteen,
which is the P three twenty that you were carrying
going off accidentally. An airman was just killed days ago.
It is a striker fired design, not as safe as
a good old hammer fired pistol. You never want to
carry a live round in a striker fired pistol, but
(22:33):
I think not carrying a live round is not an
option when you're an officer. Several people have emailed that
you shouldn't have a live round chambered, but I don't
think that's practical. I don't think anybody's ever been on
the streets when they make a statement like that.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Absolutely correct. We don't have time to direct that pistol.
When you're taking gunfire. It needs to be ready to go,
and we we have to protect the citizens first, and
so it has to be ready to fire.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Well. Officer Rick Fernandez Junior, First of all, thank you
for thirty five years of serving Houston Police Department a
couple of years before that in bel air. You've obviously
committed your life to it. You deserve better. I hope
for the absolute best for you. Thanks for sharing your
story with us, and hopefully good things to come for you,
sir
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Thank you very much for having me on
So there is a video that a guy made that's
been going around and several listeners have sent it to me,
and it's a guy claiming.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
To prove that the six hour P three trigger will
fire independent of being touched, which, as you can imagine,
is a huge problem. That's how somebody gets killed or
at a minimum severely injured. And I wondered, is there
(00:36):
anything to this? Why do people keep sending me this.
I've had some six hour, some former six hour partisans
telling me that this is very concerning and needs to
be brought to light. Now I've known some folks over
the years who are huge six hour fans. And then
(01:00):
and it turns out that there is a police officer
in Houston, thirty five year veteran named Richard Fernandez Junior,
who on January twentieth, twenty twenty five, he was working
traffic control for a parade and apparently his six hour
(01:22):
went off and shot him in the foot, and he
is filing lawsuit a lawsuit against six hour. This is
an issue. Six Hour has created a website called P
three twenty truth dot com because this is coming up
apparently quite a bit. There are lots of people claiming
this happened to them. Rick Fernandez, thirty five year HPD
(01:46):
officer is our guest. Welcome, sir, thank you tell me
if you would what happened. January twentieth, twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Okay, Well, I work on a crime suppression team out
of Kingwood, and they had brought us down for the
for a parade they were going to have on MLK day. Uh,
and so we were giving an assignment to do some
traffic direction at MLK and Airport Boulevard, and so that's
where we were at and UH, I came out, we
(02:21):
were told given our assignment, and we were told to
go ahead and get on posts. We went out to
our posts and I exited my patrol car and I
walked around to the passenger side to start directing traffic
and have some people to turn onto MLK a certain direction,
and I made contact with the eye contact with the
driver that was coming towards me, and I started a point.
(02:45):
I think I started a point, but I heard of pops,
and then at that point I kind of got a
little confused because it sounded like my gun had popped,
but it didn't sound like a gunshot. So I looked
down and I saw that I had a hole in
my pants around my calf, and then I could see
that I was starting to bleed because it was it
(03:07):
was coming out, dripping down my calves, down onto the ground.
And I told one of the people I was working
with that I think I'd been shot, and so uh again,
we didn't hear a gun shot, we heard a pop.
So he walks me around to the driver's side of
my car. He laid me down in the car, and
at that point people started, I guess he radioed. People
(03:27):
started coming towards me to help, but they started putting
tourniquits on me, and I didn't. I was I was
confused because my gun never it never came out of
the holster. It was in the holster the entire time.
I didn't even touch my gun and it fired. So
uh So, anyway, I was transported to Hermann Hospital and
(03:50):
they uh removed the bullet went into the upper part
of my calf, went down my calf all the way
to my ankle, and they removed it the next day. Surgically,
I have.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Very well developed calves. How would you describe the development
level of your calves? Some people have really just kind
of straight up down legs and some people, like a
lot of Asians, will have really big muscular calves. Where
do you fit in that?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Well, I was a college football player and I am
I'm older now, but I am I am very much
at an import rower.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
So I rowe probably a lot like my.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
I row a lot. So if anybody that knows me
knows I talk about rowing.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
If I'm walking along in short pants and I flex
my calves in front of people they don't know me,
a lot of times people will comment, wow, that's an
imp you you're probably getting that as well.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Well, I don't know. I really I don't know. I
don't wear shorts that often, I guess, but but well
I have.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I I understand where you are. So so at what point?
So I'm thinking that the natural reaction for you never
having touched your weapon is that somebody else had to
shoot you. I mean, I'm thinking your first thought had
to be, well, I know I didn't touch my gun.
(05:21):
Somebody shot me? No? Or was it angle?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
And no, it was just it didn't. I didn't hear
a gun shot. I heard a pop, and so it
confused me on how did my gun fire in the holster?
And I'm not pulling it out. I'm not touching my gun.
How did it fire? That couldn't be my gun. And
I'm not sure if I felt a little recoil on
my hip, but my gun never moved from the holster.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, so.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
I was confused. I didn't feel like anyone was shooting
at me because I felt like I would have heard
the gun shot. I've heard enough gunshots that I would
recognize the gunshot. But I heard a pop, and it
was because it was locked in the holster.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
And you think that what sound dampened it? Yes, interesting, Well,
a thirty five year veteran, you've been to the range
a fair number of times and you've heard enough rounds
go off, so I think you'd know the difference between
a pop and a gunshot. It's just amazing that it's
on your hip and it goes off, and then you're
(06:28):
I mean, you might have I don't know, I'm just spitballing.
You might have gone in shock. Your body might have
been in a shock that you were not aware of.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
There's no doubt I was in shock.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
So they take you to the hospital, and my understanding
is that you lost feeling in your Is it your
right or left foot.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Okay, So the bullet goes through your calf down the
leg and does it LOCKDG in the foot or does
it come out?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
It lodges in next to my ankle.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Oh, is it still there now?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
They took it out?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Okay, So tell me about the process from there. I'm
assuming that's pretty painful. I'm assuming you have some surgeries.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Yes, surgery to remove the bullet. Uh. And I was
out for about three months and then I returned back
to duty. But as far as the pain and as
far as the you know, the surgeon that Herman was fantastic,
Doctor Eastman, fantastic. Uh. And my leg looks it looks
(07:43):
about the same as it did before. And you know,
I do have some some scarring along my leg. Yeah,
it kind of followed the trace of the bullet. And
I've had I've had to have I have lots of
physical therapy and I've had to do lots of rehabilitation
(08:04):
to it. I still don't have feeling in part of
my leg.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I can only imagine what size round does that fire?
Speaker 3 (08:17):
It was a nine millimeter.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I look, I'm not the judge in your case, but
I can't imagine what level of anger I would feel
if I believe that a gun that I was wearing
discharge without me touching it can caused me all this
can you hold with us for just a moment on
(08:43):
our show today on the morning program of Thursday, July thirty. First,
we do three hours in the morning, and we were
on our last segment of the morning show. I didn't
realize that, but I got the news that an age officer,
thirty five year HPD officer, claims that his six hour
(09:05):
P three twenty service weapon fired without him touching it,
going through his calf muscle and then into his foot,
leaving him permanently disabled. He has filed a lawsuit. Turns
out other lawsuits have been filed making this same claim.
Of particular concern is that this is not just Rick
(09:27):
Fernandez Junior, but that many other people are making the claim,
and that this weapon is being used in the United
States military according to a big contract we're told about,
as well as law enforcement agencies across the country. And then,
of course, and I've already heard from listeners, a lot
of individuals are carrying this for their own protection. So
(09:52):
we're going to hear his side. Just a quick programming
note I was so concerned with getting him on the
air before before the next segment began, that I didn't
notice that that was the last segment of the show.
We got him on just as our bump music started,
We went on the air, we went off. I didn't
even think about the fact that the show was over.
It went by too fast. So we kept him and
(10:16):
we talked for quite a while after that. So what
you're going to hear now is that first segment, and
then you're going to hear the rest of the interview
that we had with him. I hope that makes sense.
Here we go. Sergeant Rick Fernandez, Junior is our guest.
He says that on January twenty, twenty twenty five, while
(10:36):
he was working as a police officer for the Houston
Police Department, a thirty five year veteran, his service weapon
discharged a six hour P three twenty So you you do?
You go, So, Scott Cisco, your lawyer, how did you
(10:56):
know to find him? As this his expertise, and then
kind of take us to that case if you would.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Okay, first of all, not a sergeant, just a senior
police officer, uh, because I know a lot of policemen
listen to you and they're gonna be giving me a
hard time. Yes you did.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
That's okay, Okay, that's you know. So Uh, Yes, Scott
is my attorney. Scott's been a friend of mine since
I was well, for a long time before my police
career started. Since elementary school. I've known Scott, so we've
been friends for forever. Uh. And so I called Scott
(11:36):
on the day it happened to let him know what happened.
He's he also knows my wife knew her before we
were married. I mean, he's not. I've known Scott for
so long. So I called him to let him know
what was going on. Uh. And Scott came down and
met with me down there, and so uh I I
I just felt like Scott was such a good friend
(11:57):
I had to let him know. And yes, he is
an attorney. We actually rode together at HPD when we
wrote out of Beachnut. So you know, I've known Scott forever.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
And so you send a demand letter to them prior
to a lawsuit or you filed a lawsuit. Kind of
walked me through how that has gone so far and
how they've responded.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Well, I I was you know, talked contacted Scott, talked
to Scott and basically told Scott what I wanted to do,
because this does not need to happen to any other
police officer, or any other citizen, or any other person
in the military. This does not need to happen. This
is a malfunction of their weapon. So Scott, he did what.
(12:44):
You know, he's an attorney, so he did what he
needed to do as far as the legal process, and
I know you're an attorney as well. I don't know
what was filed after that or how the sequence went
after that, because you know, a lot of that was
was me recovering. You know, this wasn't just a physical injury.
(13:05):
This was a very much a mental injury. And you've
been around enough policemen to know that, you know, we
kind of joke around and give each other a hard time.
It was a very embarrassing situation for me. Happened even
though I didn't do anything wrong, and I was telling
people that from ten minutes after I got shot, that
I didn't do anything wrong. This gun fired on its own.
(13:26):
And because I know how policemen are to give you
a hard time, and it's jokingly, but you know, I
didn't want to hear it. And like I said, mentally,
you know, knowing the embarrassment that I felt like I'd
brought to myself and my family, I was just I
was upset about that because and I kept replaying things
(13:48):
in my head of how this happened because I didn't
touch my gun and it fired, and so, you know,
I mean to say that someone can do that, not
try and figure out, you know, how did it fire
in the holster. I mean, it wasn't it wasn't just
hanging out of the ulster. It was locked in. You know,
our holsters are they're very you know, they have to
(14:09):
be a level three holes or so. It's locked in,
it's secured, and it's still fired.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Six Hour rights the P three twenty cannot under any
circumstances discharged without a trigger pool. This is verified through
extensive testing by six Hour, the US military, elite law
enforcement agencies, and independent laboratories. And then they say uninformed,
agenda driven parties recently launched attacks against six hours most tested,
most reliable, and most durable product, the P three twenty pistol.
(14:40):
This misinformation causes confusion and uncertainty among our valued customers.
And yet you're not the only person filing a lawsuit.
Two years ago, the AP reported that a lawsuit filed
in US federal court and Conquered New Hampshire claimed over
one hundred incidents the P three twenty pistol unintentionally discharging
(15:03):
when the user believed they did not pull the trigger.
That's a lot of people making a claim for six
hour to say it's not true. Now, if if it
is true, the company may not go bankrupt. But this
would be a massive hit, and on a product that
they presumably sell a lot of. So you've got two
(15:25):
sides locked up. But I'll tell you if I was
you and I was certain I didn't pull the trigger
or in no way contributed to this gun firing, I'd
do nothing short of making them pay that that would
be That would be for certain. What would be the
proper response?
Speaker 3 (15:43):
What?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
What?
Speaker 3 (15:44):
What do you.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Believe they should do?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Well? I think first of all, they need to get
rid of the gun or fix the gun. The gun
has a problem. And uh, you know, I've been around guns,
and I'm not someone that knows a whole lot about guns,
but I've been around guns because I've been a policeman,
had HPD for thirty five years, and I was a
bel air policeman before that. So I've been around guns
for a little while, and I have never heard or
(16:09):
never seen or never a rumor about a gun firing
in the holster without someone pulling the trigger. Never heard
any gun doing that, Never heard of another Sigmadel doing that.
Just the one P three twenty and everybody has the
same story. And when I bought this gun, I had
never heard anything about anything bad about this gun. And
(16:30):
you know, it wasn't until even after that I learned
about the drop test stuff that was going on with it.
So as far as I knew, you know, the gun
was a good gun, and I didn't know about all
these problems. But it's a flawed gun and it has
a problem, and there, you know, I guess they're just
going to bury their head in the sand on it,
(16:50):
and you know, keep making money off of it.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I think I read somewhere that that you've only used
this gun for a few years. My brother, who was
an over thirty year law enforcement officer, carried a glock,
and his answer for that was the long trigger pool
that was the thing he carried durability, but the long
trigger pool was a really big deal compared to some
guys that still carried revolvers, and he just believed in
(17:18):
that didn't want an accidental discharge. What did you carry
before the CIG?
Speaker 3 (17:24):
I carried a smith at Weston forty five six, and
that was a gun I carried. I carried with when
I was partnered with Scott Cisco. You know, we carried
the same gun and they quit making that gun twenty
years ago. You know, it was an old gun, but
it was a dependable gun. It was my gun. I
(17:46):
knew how to use it. But I decided, I guess
a little later on my career, that I was going
to try something different because that gun was a big
gun and it was a heavy gun, and I'm not
as as strong as I used to be. So I thought, well,
let me let me, you know, let me better myself here.
And so once I did purchase the SIG, you know,
(18:08):
of course I got a new holster with it. So
I wepracticed a lot with these guns because I wanted
to get proficient with not only the gun but the
holster as well, because I needed a new holster to
go with it. So I did, you know, me and
some other people on my team. We went out and shot,
and we shot a lot. So we just we again
(18:29):
wanted to get proficient with the weapon. Wanted to get
proficient with the holster.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Thirty five years. How long were you a bel Air
police officer before that?
Speaker 3 (18:40):
From eighty eight to ninety and I started HVD in
ninety So.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
You've got you're going on forty years as a law
enforcement officer. That is a career longer than probably all
but one or two percent of law enforcement. That's that's impressive.
How long would you have continued to be an officer
had this not happened?
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Well, I don't know. I just got a big pay rate,
so you know, I mean, come on, I don't know,
a couple more years. I, like I said, I try
and stay in shape. I know that that HPD has
a lot of younger officers, and I, you know, I
want to be able to I don't want to be
the weak link of my unit.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Interesting and if you what you're doing on on that
Kingwood group, that's not you know that that's a young
man's game. And that's impressive that this many years in
that you are you are doing that. Obviously you were
on a traffic duty. When when all of this happened,
have you heard from other law enforcement or other folks
across the country who say, Hey, this same thing happened
(19:45):
to me.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
I have not heard from anybody, but I said he
had heard from somebody.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Well, if you've got a case with over one hundred
people claiming that it happened to them, at some point
you start to wonder why this particular weapon is getting
so many complaints with presumably a similar set of circumstances.
I don't know, I haven't read the pleadings, but it's
incredibly disturbing a product malfunction of any sort, whether it's
(20:17):
unsafe at any speed or the pinto and you know,
the little bladder that was spilling and people were caught,
it's upsetting. And it's upsetting when you get the sense,
which you know this is we're only hearing your case,
not six hours, But when you get the sense that
a company is making a decision that the life of customers,
(20:38):
that their life doesn't have any value. All that matters
is what they're making off the product, it's I think
it frustrates people. I think it angers people, and I
can only imagine what you're thinking. A healthy man who
now has is has a crippling injury from something that
you feel you did nothing to contribute to that. That
(21:01):
had pissed me off pretty good.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Well, after I got over, you know, the rehab and therapy,
and I started to think about it a little bit,
it did. It did make me mad because it could
have happened to anybody. It could have happened to a citizen,
It could have happened to another police officer, someone in
the military, whoever has this gun, and a lot of
people have this gun. So it did make me mad.
(21:24):
And you know, to hear what you're saying. SIGs response
to that is, you know, that makes me mad as well,
because because my gun was in the holster and I
wasn't touching that gun or that holster when it fired,
it just fired. And so for them to say that,
then they're not you know, they're just looking, turning their
head the other way and burying it in the sand.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
One listener writes, SIG has a military contract for the
P three eighteen worth five hundred and fifty sorry, five
hundred and eighty million dollars. I believe this is a
big deal to them financially. Very interesting. Another listener writes,
(22:10):
unsafe pistol Czar lots of bad news about the cig eighteen,
which is the P three twenty that you were carrying
going off accidentally. An airman was just killed days ago.
It is a striker fired design, not as safe as
a good old hammer fired pistol. You never want to
carry a live round in a striker fired pistol, but
(22:33):
I think not carrying a live round is not an
option when you're an officer. Several people have emailed that
you shouldn't have a live round chambered, but I don't
think that's practical. I don't think anybody's ever been on
the streets when they make a statement like that.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Absolutely correct. We don't have time to direct that pistol.
When you're taking gunfire. It needs to be ready to go,
and we we have to protect the citizens first, and
so it has to be ready to fire.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Well. Officer Rick Fernandez Junior, First of all, thank you
for thirty five years of serving Houston Police Department a
couple of years before that in bel air. You've obviously
committed your life to it. You deserve better. I hope
for the absolute best for you. Thanks for sharing your
story with us, and hopefully good things to come for you,
sir
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Thank you very much for having me on
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