The FBI agent who accidentally shot a man while he was dancing in a Denver nightclub in June pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor third-degree assault on Friday. As a result, he will avoid jail time for the incident.
As reported by The Denver Channel , 30-year-old Chase Bishop pleaded guilty to a third degree assault for negligent discharge of a deadly weapon, which is a class 1 misdemeanor. Following his arrest in June after the incident, it was expected he would face a charge of felony second-degree assault with a deadly weapon.
“We believe that this agreement strikes an appropriate balance of seeking justice for the victim and ensuring that this type of incident does not happen again,” Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said in a statement.
The shooting occurred at the Mile High Spirits club in Denver, in the early hours of June 2. At the time, Bishop was trying to show off his dance moves and was doing backflips. Per a previous report by the Inquisitr , while he was doing a backflip, his gun slipped from the waistband of his pants. When he reached down to pick it up, the gun went off, shooting a bystander in the leg.
Agent Chase Bishop will be able to serve his 2 years of probation while out of state. https://t.co/BKE4yqn1LY
— KOAA News5 (@KOAA) December 21, 2018
Bishop’s guilty plea on Friday means that the felony charge he originally pleaded not guilty to has now been dismissed, and he has been sentenced to just two years of probation, with no jail time on the horizon for the shooting. He has also been ordered to pay a $1,200 probation supervisor fee into the Victim’s Assistance Fund, as well as court costs and other administrative fees.
Tom Reddington, the man who was hit by the bullet in the shooting, called the incident “beyond bizarre.” Frank Azar, Reddington’s attorney, shared just how close a call it had been for his client. He explained that the bullet had hit a major artery in Reddington’s leg, and he would have bled to death if bystanders had not reacted quickly to create a makeshift tourniquet with a belt until paramedics arrived.
When Bishop originally pleaded not guilty to the felony charge in November, prosecutors said that a plea deal was in the works with the FBI agent. Bishop had been in Denver for training at the time of the shooting, and part of his bond conditions stipulated that he would be allowed to travel between Denver and Washington, D.C., where he lives and works.
