A Chalfont Police officer was in custody Tuesday night after police say he lied about a shooting at a swim club in Bucks County the morning before.
"He put an awful lot of people to an awful lot -- ultimately the taxpayers -- to an awful lot of offense," said Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler.
Officer Jon Cousin told police he pulled over a vehicle that "looked suspicious" in the parking lot of the Lenape Valley Swim Club on Monday around 3:15 a.m.
Cousin told police there were two men and one woman inside the car. He then claimed the driver of the vehicle jumped out and rushed toward him while a passenger also got out and fired a shot at him.
Cousin, a three-year veteran of the force, told police radio that he was "hit in the chest, I think my vest stopped it, get a medic here," according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by NBC10.
Police began to search for the alleged suspects as well as the alleged getaway vehicle -- a maroon Cutlass. It turns out however that those suspects and that car were allegedly made up.
"We're here tonight to inform you the shooting was a hoax," said Heckler at a press conference Tuesday night.
Heckler said investigators were suspicious when they found no gravel disturbance where the so-called suspects' vehicle would have driven away from the scene. They also say they only found casings from Cousin's police gun at the scene and no other casings, despite Cousin's claim that the suspect fired at him.
Investigators say the way the bullet struck the vest indicated that it was shot at close range and that Cousin should have therefore suffered bruises. Finally, investigators say the slug embedded into Officer Cousin's vest came from a .380 pistol, the type of gun that Cousin legally purchased two years to the date of this shooting.
Investigators believe Cousin fired three shots in the air at the swim club on Monday. They also believe he fired his own personal gun at his own vest at some other time at a different location.
Police say they did not go to Cousin's home to take him into custody. Instead they called him to a location to pick up his belongings. When Cousin arrived, they arrested him.
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A judge arraigned Cousin late Tuesday night on making a false report, reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct, possessing an instrument of crime and related charges, according to court records.
Cousin was sent to county jail unable to post 10 percent of $150,000 bail.
Heckler said he wants a psychiatric evaluation performed on Cousin.
GunCrisis.org, a website which covers violent crime in Philadelphia, posted what they claim to be the shortened version of scanner audio the officer reporting the allegedly fake shooting to a dispatcher on Monday. Check out the recording below.
Credit: GunCrisis.org
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