Oakland police

Veteran Oakland Officer Charged After Accidentally Shooting Himself

A veteran Oakland police officer is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday on misdemeanor drug and obstruction of a peace officer charges stemming from a case in which he accidentally shot himself while he was off duty in December in San Leandro, according to court records.

Oakland police said Officer Torrey Nash, who has been with the department for 25 years, is on paid administrative leave and they've opened an internal affairs investigation into his conduct.

Nash accidentally shot himself in his chest at his home in San Leandro on Dec. 15, San Leandro police Sgt. Brian Anthony wrote in a probable cause statement.

But Nash initially told investigators that he didn't know the details of the shooting or who had shot him, according to Anthony.

Officers who responded to the shooting noticed that Nash had an empty hip holster affixed to his right hip with no gun present but when they asked him about it, Nash "gave varying stories" and ultimately said he didn't know where the gun was, Anthony wrote.

Investigators first thought that Nash had been shot by someone else, but later determined that he had shot himself with his off-duty firearm, Anthony wrote.

Officers who served a search warrant at Nash's home found drug paraphernalia inside his closet, including a glass pipe and multiple zip-lock baggies, according to Anthony.

Although Nash said he didn't know where his gun was, his attorney turned it in to police on Dec. 18, Anthony wrote.

Two days later, on Dec. 20, officers who searched his locker at an Oakland police facility found a straw containing a controlled substance and a crime lab found it contained a trace amount of methammphetamine, Oakland police Sgt. Yun Zhou wrote in a separate probable cause statement.

The straw is consistent with paraphernalia used to ingest methamphetamine, Zhou wrote.

The Alameda County District Attorney's Office filed the charges against Nash on Sept. 6.

Nash's lawyer Harry Stern said in a statement, "These misdemeanor charges, coming nine months after the accident, are a bit hard to understand and indeed we have legal responses to them."

But Stern admitted, "It is also true that Officer Nash has been exposed to more than his share of trauma during his long and decorated career at the Oakland Police Department. This in turn has caused some challenges in his personal life."

Stern said, "We are addressing those and are optimistic about resolving this case."

Nash is scheduled to be arraigned at the East County Hall of Justice in Dublin on Friday morning.

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