Baca may limit guns off-duty

To celebrate his return from a tour of duty in Iraq, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Chris Sullivan did what many young Marines do: He went out with a buddy to have a few drinks.

A few, however, became a few too many.

By the end of the evening, after consuming at least 11 drinks, Sullivan placed his loaded 9-millimeter Beretta into his longtime friend's mouth and pulled the trigger, prosecutors allege. Sullivan insists that they were horsing around and that the gun accidentally went off when the other man grabbed his arm. Regardless of how the gun was fired, Sullivan's friend was dead and his once promising law enforcement career was over.

As Sheriff Lee Baca looked back on the 2006 shooting, he said the main culprit was alcohol.

"This tragedy could have been prevented," Baca said. "Alcohol and guns don't mix."

As a result of that incident and several others, the sheriff said, he plans to implement one of the nation's toughest policies barring deputies from carrying firearms when they are under the influence of alcohol.

The deputies' union adamantly opposes any restrictions on a deputy's ability to carry a weapon while off-duty. But Baca said he's determined to get his way, noting that there has been a "very disturbing" rise in alcohol-related misconduct among his deputies. This year alone, 61 deputies have been arrested on alcohol-related charges. Of those, 39 were accused of driving under the influence, nearly twice the average of recent years. Many of those arrested were armed.

Since 2004, more than a dozen sheriff's deputies have been involved in incidents in which they were accused of displaying or shooting a gun while under the influence of alcohol.

An off-duty deputy who had been drinking at a party during the early hours of New Year's Day accidentally shot a man in the leg while trying to show off a new holster, law enforcement officials said. The deputy has been placed on leave. Prosecutors are reviewing the case for possible criminal charges.

An off-duty deputy, driving while under the influence in 2004, hit another vehicle and was accused of pointing his gun at men from the other vehicle when they approached him. The deputy pleaded guilty to drunk driving and was suspended from the Sheriff's Department for 15 days.

An off-duty deputy, who was drinking with friends at a bar in 2003, tussled with a security guard and then attempted to intimidate the guard by displaying a firearm in his waistband.