Former N.Y. Police Captain Mistakenly Kills Son
Authorities haven't ruled out pressing charges after the 59-year-old shot his son, who he mistook for an intruder in his motel room.
| Posted Monday, July 23, 2012, at 4:28 PM
ABC News reports on this tragic story from the weekend: A retired New York police captain mistook his 37-year-old son for an intruder, shooting and killing him with his service weapon as he tried to enter a motel room in the Adirondacks in the early morning hours on Saturday.
Police are currently deciding whether to press charges against Michael Leach, who was staying at the motel with his son during a trip with a local chapter of the Punishers Motorcycle Club. Shortly after midnight, Leach called 911 to report that he had shot his son Matthew and was said to have been visibly shaken when first responders arrived on the scene.
Matthew Leach was rushed to the closest hospital, which was almost 55 miles away, where he was later pronounced dead. A district attorney assisting with the investigation told ABC that the central concern is whether either son or father were inebriated at the time of the incident.
The Leaches are a police family from Rochester, where Michael had served as captain before retiring. (He's currently a part-time patrolman for the Perry Police Department, also in New York state.) His father was the city's police chief in the 1980s, and his brother is currently serving as captain, according to ABC. Matthew Leach worked as a security guard.
