BRIDGE CITY, Texas — A Bridge City Police officer’s federal lawsuit against a handgun maker is making national news.
Bridge City officer Brittany Hilton says her service weapon went off while holstered in her purse leaving her with a serious injury.
For Hilton it was a normal day at the office in December 2020. She grabbed her purse and after her purse swung out she heard the gun go off.
What followed felt like a rod of hot metal going through her leg she says as she described the bullet that tore into her lower body and leg.
What caused the holstered gun to fire while in her purse is still being determined.
The manufacturer, Sig Sauer, says a foreign object entered the trigger guard.
Hilton says that simply could not have happened.
In her $15 million federal lawsuit she claims the firearm has serious design and manufacturing flaws.
She and her lawyer spoke with ABC news about the gun and the lawsuit, appearing Tuesday on Good Morning America.
“It has a clear capacity to fire without the trigger being pulled under certain conditions,” her lawyer, Jeffrey Bagnell, told ABC.
An ABC News weapons consultant did say that Sig Sauer offered an upgrade to the P320 in 2017 that should have prevented misfires.
However, according to Hilton's lawsuit, there have been at least 54 reported gun discharges of the P320 over the past five years with nine lawsuits pending.
Sig Sauer has not yet filed a response in court to Hilton’s suit and declined to speak to ABC News.
The Bridge City Police Department is taking the P320 out of service but there are still about a half million of the guns in the hands of gun owners and police officers.