In a sworn statement filed this week, a Chicago Police Department firearms supervisor told a federal judge more than 500 CPD officers are still carrying a controversial handgun that’s been tied to claims of misfire and injuries across the country, NBC 5 Investigates has learned.
Earlier this year, Chicago Police decided to move away from the Sig Sauer P320 – a handgun that officers and civilians alike have sued the gunmaker over – claiming the handgun is defective.
Chicago’s police union accused CPD of not moving quickly enough to get rid of the handgun and filed a complaint with the court.
In an order filed last week, Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer agreed. She is overseeing Chicago Police’s consent decree, which requires the city to provide its officers with safe equipment.
In her order last week, she demanded to know how many officers were still carrying the weapon.
The answer came this week: 521.
In his newly filed sworn statement, a CPD firearms supervisor said the delay in transitioning to a new gun is due to delivery issues.
The supervisor wrote that 428 officers have ordered a new, alternative Sig Sauer handgun and are now waiting on both the guns or the approved holsters to arrive.
Sig Sauer now wants to intervene – telling the court they never had the opportunity to defend itself in this case. They’re asking for a hearing on the matter.
In their request filed earlier this week, attorneys for the gunmaker wrote that the company “vehemently denies that the P320 is defective, or that it poses an unreasonable risk to the CPD officers who carry it or to the public…”
They also pointed to a previous sworn statement, where Chicago Police noted that during its own “in-house” testing of the P320 in February – they “could not replicate the problems.”
Chicago police officers are not required to carry a Sig Sauer handgun, according to the union and to firearms certification documents reviewed by NBC 5 Investigates. The documents showed officers used a variety of handguns from different manufacturers as their service weapon.
It’s not clear if or when another hearing in the case will be set.
Sig Sauer has not responded to multiple requests for comment by NBC 5 Investigates over the past week.
While Sig Sauer defends its product, dozens of officers and civilians have sued the gunmaker over the past decade – with a mix of jury verdicts, settlements and some dismissals and judgments in favor of Sig Sauer.
Former Virginia police officer Marcie Vadnais said she was severely injured when her Sig Sauer P320 misfired while it was still holstered.
“It was catastrophic for me, my career and family,” she told NBC 5 Investigates.
Vadnais said it happened to her in 2018 – an allegation she made in a lawsuit that she later settled.
X-ray show her femur shattered after she said her gun misfired while it was still holstered.
“This weapon is dangerous nobody should ever have their hands on this weapons,” Vadnais said.