In a stunning example of incomplete accountability, Pasadena police fired an officer who had a gun pointed at him by a fellow cop. Sure, the terminated officer then inadvertently touched off a shot that hit the jerk who had just pointed a gun at him, but at least he could arguably blame stress due to looking down the barrel of a lethal threat. Right?
What of the instigator of this series of unfortunate and incredibly irresponsible events? He got off with little more than a new scar.
Dashcam video from September 7, 2025 shows one officer, in what the department laughably called “horseplay,” quickly drawing his service weapon and pointing it at a colleague in a patrol car who approached them in the department’s parking garage.
The officer behind the wheel, Roy Alatorre, then drew his own gun in response. Moments later, Alatorre negligently discharged a round, hitting the fellow cop who had just pointed a gun at him.
All things considered, it was actually a decently well-placed round against an armored threat. The injured officer — the bonehead who first pointed his gun at a fellow officer as a joke — has recovered and remains on the force. Meanwhile, Alatorre was terminated.
The department obviously buried the video of this incident for many months. Gee, we wonder why? It only surfaced publicly on June 11, 2026 — nearly nine months later.
This little incident exposes people with all the intellectual horsepower of an EMT “joking around” by shocking a fellow EMT with a defibrillator. That little yuckfest proved fatal and the would-be jokester man went to prison as a result. Funny how “just kidding” stops being so funny when someone eats a bullet or absorbs a few thousand volts.
The negligent discharge was bad enough, but it all started with the initial act of pointing a loaded firearm at another human being as a prank. Basic firearm safety rules exist for a reason. Treat every gun as loaded. Never point it at anything you don’t intend to destroy. Keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot. Know your target and what’s beyond it.
Violating those those rules isn’t “horseplay.” It’s reckless endangerment, a felony criminal act by the now-former officer Alatorre that could have easily turned into manslaughter.
Officers carry real guns with real bullets for a reason. They aren’t props for improv comedy in the parking garage. Pointing a gun at a brother (or sister) in blue isn’t a bonding exercise — it’s the kind of immature stupidity that gets people killed. The cop who started this clown show should have been canned, too.
Being a cop requires split-second, life-or-death decisions on a regular basis. If they can’t maintain basic weapons discipline among themselves, how can citizens trust them when they’re out on the streets? This wasn’t an unfortunate training accident. It was preventable stupidity while jerking round with loaded firearms.
Only firing the guy who initially had a gun pointed at him sends exactly the wrong message. Leadership should have come down hard on the instigator, too. “Horseplay” with guns isn’t cute. It’s dangerous, unprofessional, and erodes public confidence. Zero tolerance should mean something — starting with the person who first broke the most fundamental rules of safety.
The police chief in Pasadena, Gene Harris, told the media, “Horseplay and/or failure to adhere to safety rules and standards of professional conduct will not be tolerated.” Yet the guy who this goat rodeo still has a job.
Frankly, the wounded cop’s partner who stood there with his thumb up his…holster, doing nothing to stop the “horseplay,” should have faced disciplinary action, too. Hey, Chief Harris, talking the talk doesn’t mean jack if you refuse to walk the walk.
Hilarious. Only police should have firearms. huh? But yeah, there should have been more terminations.