The sheriff’s deputy who accidentally fired his gun during a traffic stop less than two week’s ago is back on patrol, according to a York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office Facebook post.
“The deputy has completed additional training and has returned to work,” the sheriff’s office said in a prepared statement posted to Facebook.
Sheriff’s officials did not elaborate on what that “additional training” involved.
At approximately 6:40 p.m. on Feb. 21, Kayln Hall, the deputy, attempted to pull over Yuwei Hu and Lu Zhang, two William & Mary law school students for allegedly not using their tail lights in the parking lot of Parkway Apartments. Hall was riding with his friend and civilian Matthew Hayers as part of the sheriff’s office’s ride along program. Hu, the driver of the Honda sedan, stopped the vehicle and started to get out of the car as Hall drew his weapon and ordered her to get back inside the vehicle. Hall’s finger was on the trigger of his firearm, which accidentally discharged hitting the ground and rebounding into the driver’s side door, according to Green’s report.
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Hall reported the incident to his supervisor and was put on paid administrative leave. Both the sheriff’s office and the Williamsburg Police Department interviewed the people involved, witnesses and others. The police department sent their report to Williamsburg-James City County Commonwealth’s Attorney Nate Green on March 1.
Green determined the police department’s findings to be accurate: the gun firing was accidental and Green recommended no criminal charges.
WYDaily reached out to Shelley Ward, spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office, who declined to return phone calls regarding the internal investigation of Hall’s gun incident. WYDaily also reached out to Sheriff Danny Diggs for more information.
Diggs said the sheriff’s office internal investigation is complete and Hall received firearm and safety training. Hall has been with the sheriff’s office for one year and a total of five years working in law enforcement. Diggs declined to comment on whether the deputy received disciplinary action, citing privacy and personnel issues.
“I can only comment on so much stuff,” Diggs said. “There’s a lot of things I’d like to tell y’all, I’m bound by the rules of employment and privacy unfortunately.”
Teresa Gooch, director for the law enforcement division of the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, said all Virginia law enforcement officers must undergo basic training in order to meet the minimum compulsory training standards for the state.
In addition, certified officers must complete additional training at a minimum of 40 in-service training hours every two years.
“We are very much auditing and seeking compliance,” she said, when asked how the department checks up on local jurisdictions following state code.
Gooch would not comment on the incident in Williamsburg since the the VDCJ is not in charge of training officers and is only in charge of establish the minimum training standard.
It remains unclear when the firearms and safety training was administered since Hall was on paid administrative leave following the incident.
