Board 8 > Cop who accidentally KILLED a LIBRARIAN during TRAINING gets NO PRISON!!!!

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31 y/o Ex Florida Cop, Lee Coel was "sobbing" when he heard his fate on the accidental shooting and killing of 73 y/o librarian during a CITIZENS ACADEMY EXERCISE when he put in LIVE ROUNDS rather than BLANKS into a gun and shot her!!

He was told by the judge that he will serve NO PRISON timeas part of a plea deal after he plead no contest to second degree manslaughter and only sentenced to 10 years PROBATION...

Mary Knowlton was the woman who participated in this exercise that was killed when it happened in 2016 as Coel now must pay money to the victim's husband and has agreed to not seek employment as a police officer or be in possession of guns

Before he changed his plea from NOT GUILTY to not contest, he was scheduled to go on trial on first degree manslaughter and if convicted faced 15 years.

Knowlton's husband and son attended the hearing and were FURIOUS as Steve Knowlton, her son said "I don't believe justice will ever be done. I will forgive someday with the help of God. I don't believe one person is completely guilty here, Careless? Yeah"

Steve said Coel was not the only guilty party but that others within the police dept should be held accountable as well

The father and son were devastated and outraged considering the prosecutors said they've been telling them that they had a "good case" and would get a guilty verdict

He said "I guess the good old boy network took over"

When given a chance to speak, Coel broke down in tears who said "There's not a day that goes by that i don't repay this in my head"

Coel was leading a citizens academy exercise when he mistakenly shot and killed Knowlton who was role playing in which she was an officer and he was an armed criminal. She was shot in the stomach and elbow with his PERSONAL REVOLVER that was supposed to have blanks..her husband was among those watching

He said he still remembers trying to stop the bleeding and his hands covered in blood and that this played a heavy toll on him and he has NIGHT TERRORS

Judge Margaret Steinbeck said she acknowledged his profound "remorse" and a sad case but that this was a result of terrible judgement and not any evil conditions

Do you think there was justice here for Mary?

Coel - Killer









The Day Mary was killed -





Mary - Deceased




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My first reaction was "well who was responsible for providing the blank rounds" so I found this article

https://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20191016/former-punta-gorda-officer-who-shot-and-killed-librarian-wont-go-to-jail

It turns out that there was nobody responsible for this- there was absolutely no safety procedures or guidelines for this training whatsoever . It was just some cops organizing some scenarios however they want with whoever was available

This is the part that I find really crazy - the "blanks" was just some ammo he got from someone who found it in their house. It's like they were asking for an incident....

According to court documents, Coel obtained in July 2016 what he thought was blank ammunition from Lt. Katie Heck, a former K-9 officer with the department and Coels immediate supervisor. She had gotten it from her husband, a lieutenant with the Charlotte County Sheriffs Office, whod discovered it while the couple was moving out of their home.

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