A one-time Georgia police chief who stepped down after he paralyzed his sleeping ex-wife in an early New Year’s Day shooting has been indicted on a charge stemming from the incident.
A grand jury slapped William McCollom with a misdemeanor reckless conduct charge after he blasted 58-year-old Margaret (Maggie) McCollom with his service weapon around 4:15 a.m. on Jan. 1.
He turned himself in to the Fayette County Sheriff's Office on Thursday.
The top cop had been drinking and took sleeping meds before falling asleep around 9:30 p.m. New Year’s Eve, he told investigators.
The woman was sleeping while William McCollom, then thePeachtree City police chief, woke up and armed himself with his gun after hearing dogs barking outside.
“Finding nothing, he returned to bed and placed the gun under the sheets beside his body and Mrs. McCollom’s,” District Attorney Scott Ballard said in a statement previously released. “He was awakened by the sound of a single gunshot.”
McCollom called 911 to report the shooting as his wife writhed and moaned in pain.
"The gun was in the bed. I went to move it, put it to the side, and it went off," he told the dispatcher.
The shooting left Margaret paralyzed from the waist down. The two had been married, then divorced in 1999 and had reunited, but not remarried.
McCollom stepped aside as chief on March 11 as Ballard announced plans to pursue charges against him.
“Although at the present time there appears to be no evidence to support felony charges due to the accidental nature of the shooting, we do believe that the evidence should be presented to a grand jury for the possible charge of reckless conduct since the chief took a loaded gun to bed with him after ingesting alcohol and sleep medication,” Ballard’s office said at the time.
McCollom, who has nearly three decades of law enforcement experience, could face up to one year in jail if convicted on the misdemeanor charge.
"A misdemeanor offence of reckless conduct: Is it a severe enough charge for a lady who is going to be paralyzed possibly for the rest of her life? Asolutely not," Ballard told WSB-TV. "My responsibility is to take the laws that exist and try to apply them fairly. That's all we're trying to do here."
