It's not "accidental", it's "negligent"

A Woodbury police officer (the chief won't release any details about his name, rank, or service length, so let's call him Barney Fife) was "practicing holster and trigger pulls" in his St. Cloud hotel room when his weapon discharged, sending a bullet into an adjoining room where a woman was staying. Fortunately, the woman was not hurt.

First of all, the weapon did not discharge "accidentally". When the officer pulled the trigger, it did exactly what it was supposed to do. The officer was negligent in not verifying the condition of the weapon before he started "playing"with it. These things happen occasionally, but it is never the fault of the firearm, it is the fault of the person who failed to follow the Four Rules of Firearms Safety. Check Xavier's blog, he has many examples of people who fail to do just that.

Second, if this incident had happened to a peasant such as myself, I'm sure I would be facing a plethora of charges, including discharging a firearm inside city limits, reckless endangerment, and whatever else the police and prosecuting attorney could pull out of the code, in order to make an example of me. Additionally, one can be sure that an emergency forfeiture of my carry permit would be undertaken with extreme haste. It will be interesting to see if any of the above happens to Officer Fife, or if he is merely sent to remedial training.