A Massachusetts police officer was participating in state-run training when he suffered a serious eye injury that may end up costing him almost all vision in his left eye. The state is now investigating the incident and has suspended certain training exercises for the time being until the investigation is over and the recommended changes are made.

A Granby officer, Shawn Rooney, was participating in training at the Western Massachusetts Regional Policy Academy last November. He was a part of a training scenario where the officers had to subdue an “unruly patron in a bar” and he was struck in the left eye with a baton by the instructor. The details of how such an injury came about during a training exercise are still not clear and the department has not released specific details, as it is an ongoing investigation. That instructor is on non-punitive administrative leave and the academy had suspended drills “involving dynamic, hands-on training involving the use of padded suits and impact weapons”, including the drill that led to this injury.

The state police say that Rooney was wearing protective equipment at the time of his injury. Rooney’s lawyer, Judd Peskin, said that the only protective equipment Rooney was wearing at the time of the injury was essentially just a “cloth helmet”. He has had three eye operations and they have saved his eye, but he says he can only see shadows at this point.

A year before Mr. Rooney’s injury, a recruit officer in the Greenfield department was injured in training at the academy, and though the department will not release details of the incident, it was an injury serious enough that he had to take a leave from the academy for a short time. He went back to the academy and is still in training now.

Rooney is still recovering, but he cannot drive and is still unsure whether he will be able to return to duty.