Sometimes it’s hard for me to believe what I read. I love the first line of the story–”accidentally shot.”  I guess the gun went off by itself while he was holding it in his hand pointing at another cop.

According to Jason A. Kahl of the Reading Eagle

The city policeman who accidentally shot and killed fellow Officer Michael H. Wise II during a shootout six years ago is still being paid about $100,000 per year in salary and benefits by the city of Reading – even though he has been suspended since the shooting.

James A. Palange shot and killed Wise on June 4, 2004, when he mistook the plain-clothed Wise for a criminal as he pulled up to a gunbattle on Schuylkill Avenue that pitted Wise and two other officers against a man hiding behind a car, investigators said.

Six years later, Palange is still being paid $61,911 in salary plus benefits, medical insurance and pension even though he has not worked a day for the city since the shooting.

But it’s not because he cannot work or does not want to.

Full article here.