[Archived] Officer Charged in Accidental Discharge of Firearm Case

For Immediate Release: May 21, 2018

On May 21, 2018, the Grand Jury for the City of Alexandria returned an indictment against Carl Savoy, a 5-year veteran of the Alexandria Police Department, on two misdemeanor counts: 1) Destruction of Public Property and 2) Reckless Handling of a Firearm. The charges arise from an incident at the George Washington Middle School on March 13th, 2018, in which Savoy allegedly discharged his firearm accidentally.

Both charges are class 1 misdemeanors. The maximum penalty on both counts is 12 months in jail and/or a fine of not more than $2500.00. No trial date has been set as of the time of this release.

Rule 3.6 of the Virginia State Bar's Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys states, in pertinent part: "A lawyer participating in or associated with the… prosecution … of a criminal matter that may be tried to a jury shall not make or participate in making an extrajudicial statement… that the lawyer knows, or should know, will have a substantial likelihood of interfering with the fairness of a trial by jury." Therefore, the Commonwealth is prohibited from discussing the evidence, its trial strategy or its work product prior to disposition of the matter.