State to pay $600K to Iowa Law Enforcement Academy student who shot herself

The State of Iowa has agreed to pay $600,000 to a Peosta woman who accidentally shot herself in the leg during an August 2015 firearms training at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy.

Accusing her instructor of negligent training and oversight during “slow and deliberate firing drills,” Katherine Avenarius in an August 2019 lawsuit reported suffering permanent injuries, severe and ongoing pain, loss of function, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Her husband and co-plaintiff in the lawsuit, Paul Avenarius, claimed loss of consortium, including “past and future loss of fellowship, company, cooperation, affection, aid in the marital relationship, general usefulness, industry, and attention within the home and family.”

A settlement, approved Tuesday by the State Appeals Board, pays $600,000 into a trust account.

The “(Iowa Law Enforcement Academy) is liable under the doctrine of respondent superior because an employer is vicariously liable for the torts of an employee committed within the course and scope of employment with the employer.”

Katherine Avenarius, according to her lawsuit, was at the first day of a 12-day firearms instructor school on Aug. 3 and was being supervised by Molly Jansen with the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy.

Jansen during the training told Avenarius to put her trigger finger on the trigger as she was drawing her firearm — even though Avenarius said she’d been taught to put her finger on the trigger “only when she was locked onto her target.”

Avenarius said she told Jansen she had not been trained to put her finger on the trigger after drawing and unholstering her firearm, but Jansen told Avenarius to try it for the next drill, according to the lawsuit. Avenarius did what she was told but ended up firing her Glock .40-caliber side arm into her own thigh “as result of defendant Jansen’s instruction.”

She accused Jansen of negligence for failing to properly and safely instruct Avenarius; demonstrate a new technique at a live firing range; observe Avenarius practice with an empty weapon; and make sure Avenarius was comfortable with the new technique.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com