MPD Officer Hurt After Explosive Device Goes Off

An Midland Police Officer was badly injured while dismantling an explosive device. We're told Sergeant Brian Rackow is in stable condition now, but he will be flown to Lubbock for further care.

What started out as a routine day at the training facility turned critical in a matter of seconds. According to MPD, officers were out at the shooting range when all of a sudden they heard a loud noise from inside the building. Then all of a sudden they saw Sgt. Rackow come outside, injured from head to toe.

“I'm not sure what kind of device he was handling or working on. He does work with a lot of explosive devices," explains Deputy Chief JR Smith.

Sgt. Brian Rackow is a bomb technician with the Midland Police Department.

"He was in the process of dismantling a device to make it safe," says Smith.

A duty he's done many times before. In fact in January Sgt. Rackow responded to a possible explosive device found in a Midland parking lot. That device turned out to be part of a geo-cashing game and no threat at all.

"He's one of our explosive ordinance officers, he does this from time to time," explains Smith.

This incident was not a training exercise and other officers at the range knew Sgt. Rackow was working on an explosive device.

"Where he was working, he was in a small building by himself working on the device," explains Smith.

Luckily, other officer's were near-by to help Sgt Rackow when device went off.

"Concern, we're all one big family.  he's part of our family. So we're worried and concerned about him," says Smith.

Now what happened here is being investigated by the ATF from Lubbock to assist MPD in this whole investigation.