EDWARDSVILLE • Jeffrey Bladdick, shot by the drunken off-duty St. Louis police officer he was trying to help in a brawl outside an Illinois sports bar in 2008, urged leniency Wednesday at his shooter's sentencing.

Madison County Associate Judge James Hackett agreed, forgoing a possible 15-year prison term to order four years of probation instead for Bryan Pour, 28. Pour also lost his law enforcement career as a consequence of a felony conviction.

"We've both been put through the wringer," Bladdick told the hearing in court here. "I don't believe a prison sentence would help anyone."

Probation would not have been possible under the original charge of aggravated battery with a firearm. Pour pleaded guilty in August to a reduced charge of aggravated discharge of a firearm.

He apologized in court Wednesday for the pain and suffering he caused, saying, "Since virtually the second I discharged my weapon, I have regretted doing so."

It marked a long fall for Pour, who graduated first in his police recruit class and was dropped from the force shortly after the shooting.

He said in court that he had been trained to carry his gun at all times, even in other states and specifically in bars — something he said now seems to conflict with common sense.

"I was instructed that when possession or control of your weapon is being physically sought by another, an officer is to discharge the weapon once and retreat," he said. "I did just that."

But he also said his training was not an excuse. "Mr. Bladdick should not have been on the receiving end of my gun, regardless of what I was instructed," Pour said.

Pour and three other off-duty officers had been celebrating a birthday and an engagement at Mac N Mick's Sports Bar & Grill, 5240 Nameoki Road, in Pontoon Beach on Nov. 9, 2008. Prosecutors said Pour became involved in a fight on the parking lot.

Defense lawyer Albert Watkins has said that Pour was attacked by two men with a metal bar and reached for his gun to defend himself but mistakenly shot Bladdick, who was coming to his aid.

Bladdick, 27, of Granite City, said he experiences daily discomfort but leads a normal life. He works for the Metro East Sanitary District and Granite City School District.

In the hearing, Watkins described his client as an Eagle Scout and extraordinary scholar who earned honors and awards in high school, at St. Louis University and the police academy, and had lived an exemplary life before the shooting.

Watkins said Pour earned a bachelor's degree in aeronautics and held a commercial pilots license, but that the conviction will prevent him from working again as a police officer or flying commercially. He said Pour is married, has a 1-year old son and another child on the way, and works as a pizza delivery driver.

Prosecutor Jennifer Vucich said Pour apparently is not a bad person but took his gun to a bar, got drunk and shot someone.

"I don't want to ruin his life, but he almost ruined Jeff Bladdick's life that night," she said. Vucich made no specific sentencing recommendation but said she thought that "he should see the inside of a jail cell."

The judge also sentenced Pour to six months in the county jail, but he won't be required to serve it unless he gets into trouble while on probation.

Another of the officers with Pour that night, Chris Hantak, refused to drop his pistol during the incident and was shot and wounded by Pontoon Beach Officer Aaron Morgan, who had responded to the fight call. Hantak recovered. A grand jury decided that Morgan was justified to fire. Like Pour, Hantak and one of the other St. Louis officers present were fired.