What Changed

On September 17, 2026, a jury in Kitsap County, Washington, returned a $30.17 million verdict for former Clallam County Deputy Matthew Murphy and his wife. The jury found Clallam County 95% at fault for a 2020 training injury that ended his career.

On March 27, 2020, during annual rifle qualification at the Port Angeles Firearms Training Facility, Murphy was doing a support-side shoulder transition drill with an AR-15 on a three-point sling while wearing over-the-head earmuffs. According to Police1's report, the sling caught on his earmuffs, and the rifle discharged and struck the top of his right foot. After 10 surgical procedures, his right leg was amputated.

The Numbers

  • $5,176,905 in economic damages
  • $20 million in non-economic damages
  • $5 million to his wife for loss of consortium
  • $30.17 million total, with the county found 95% at fault

What the suit alleged: that the county created an "unsafe combination of equipment" by requiring three-point slings with bulky over-the-head earmuffs and not offering alternatives such as foam plugs. It also alleged that no other Washington sheriff's office used that sling type or taught the overhead maneuver, and that range staff "did not stop the exercise or warn Murphy as he visibly struggled with the entangled weapon."

The jury's verdict is a finding of liability. The individual claims above come from the lawsuit. Police1's account appears to draw on the plaintiff's law firm. It didn't include a response from the county or say whether the county plans to appeal. Treat the verdict as current, not necessarily final.

Why It Matters Operationally

This was a qualification, not a high-risk scenario. It happened during routine annual training. Routine didn't make it safe.

Equipment decisions are training decisions. Someone chose the sling, the hearing protection, and the drill. The suit says the problem was the combination. Whoever mandates gear owns how it works together.

Supervision has to include the authority to stop. The allegation that staff watched a deputy struggle without intervening describes exactly what a range safety officer exists to prevent.

Ranges produce gunshot wounds. Police1's report doesn't describe the immediate medical response at the range, and we won't guess. Any range where live rounds are fired needs a medical plan built for that injury.

ODM's Position

Position: Training safety is readiness, and leadership owns it. When equipment choices, drill design, and supervision fail, that's a system decision, not a failure by the deputy on the line.

Evidence: A jury put 95% of the fault on the county in a case built on claims about mandated equipment and supervision, not on the deputy's conduct.

The strongest counterpoint: Realistic training carries real risk. A big verdict can push agencies to cut live-fire, force-on-force, and movement drills to limit liability, and that leaves officers less prepared for the street. That concern is legitimate.

What good looks like: Keep the realism and engineer the risk: check equipment compatibility before issue, empower a safety officer on every live-fire line, write a range medical plan, and debrief every near-miss. Cutting hard training isn't the answer. Running it well is.

A range medical plan isn't complicated. The Joint Trauma System's Damage Control Resuscitation CPG notes that effective tourniquets "may be responsible for saving more wounded service members in Iraq and Afghanistan than any other single medical intervention." Its Orthopaedic Trauma: Extremity Fractures CPG says open wounds should get antibiotics "as soon as possible" and that suspected fractures should be splinted "once life-threatening injuries have been addressed." The TCCC Guidelines (01 May 2026) add that "every effort should be made to convert tourniquets in less than 2 hours," so a remote range's drive time belongs in the plan. That's military guidance, but the order of care it lays out is the same on a sheriff's range: stop the bleeding, then stabilize, then get to definitive care.

What Your Agency Should Do Now

  • Audit issued gear as a system. Check slings, hearing protection, optics, plate carriers, and holsters together, in the positions your drills actually require.
  • Put a designated safety officer on every live-fire line with explicit authority to call a cease-fire, and train instructors to use it.
  • Write and post a range medical plan: who's the medical lead, where the trauma kit is, tourniquet access on every shooter, the closest trauma center, drive time, and a landing zone if you need one.
  • Run a range casualty drill once a year. Simulate a shooter hit on the line and time it from shot to handoff.
  • Budget for safety staffing. A range run with too few instructors is a leadership decision.

Bottom Line

A deputy lost his leg during qualification, and a jury held the county responsible. Whatever happens after the verdict, the lesson for command staff is simple: the gear you mandate, the drills you approve, and the supervisors you put on the line are all part of officer safety.

Sources