5 Mount Vernon Police Department members suspended after prison van shooting
Five members of the Mount Vernon Police Department have been suspended in connection to last week's shooting inside a prison van.
The department said a sergeant and four officers have been suspended without pay for 30 days.
Prisoner shoots fellow detainee while in van to jail
Police said on Oct. 16, two officers were transporting five prisoners to the Westchester County Jail when they heard a gunshot from the back of the van and a prisoner saying he had been shot.
The officers drove back to police headquarters and department personnel removed the prisoners from the van, police said. One prisoner had a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to his lower leg and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
According to police, another prisoner, identified as 32-year-old Louis Soto, had a loaded .22-caliber Rohm-RGT revolver on him.
Soto, who was originally arrested for forcible touching, now faces additional charges of criminal possession of a weapon, assault and reckless endangerment.
Department adjusts standard procedures following shooting
Police said the gun should have been found during arrest or intake, and the investigation into how it went unnoticed is ongoing.
The two officers who were in the van are among those suspended. Police said the other two officers and the sergeant who were suspended were directly involved in Soto's arrest or processing.
The police department said additional disciplinary action may be taken as the investigation continues.
After the shooting, the department said the use of a handheld wand for new prisoner processing would no longer be optional, but mandatory. The department also mandated handheld wand scanning for prisoners entering and leaving the cell block.