Posted on 04/24/2009 7:15:08 PM PDT by John W
PLEASANT LAKE, Ind. (WANE) - George Fath moved to his mobile home in rural Steuben County two months ago. The previous owners left a lot of trash in the yard, so Fath was cleaning up Thursday afternoon. That's when he found a 22 caliber bullet in the yard. He didn't want his three young boys to get hurt from the bullet, so Fath decided to dispose of it.
"My hammer was outside so I took the bullet and put it on a rock and smacked it with the hammer," Fath said.
Fath wasn't expecting the bullet to fire.
"It went off and went into my belly and knocked me on my butt," Fath said.
Fath said he thought he was shot in the stomach. His wife called 911. According to the police report the bullet didn't actually hit Fath.
"Fath was not bleeding, and it did not appear that Fath was struck with the bullet. Fath suffered a minor abrasion to the area of his stomach," police records read.
But, Fath told NewsChannel 15 the bullet did go in his stomach and doctors removed it at the hospital.
"I smacked the bullet and fell down and blood came pouring out," Fath said. "I was hitting it to smash it. I didn't expect it to go bang."
Fath said he'll never hit a bullet with a hammer again.
"I wasn't thinking about it. It was the dumbest thing I ever did in my life. I suggest nobody do it," Fath said.
Police agree. Steuben County Sheriff Rick Lewis said no one should ever hit a bullet with anything.
"The round can go anywhere. It could hit the person striking it with a hammer, a neighbor, a child in the yard. There's just no controlling where the bullet will go," Lewis said.
A bullet doesn't have to be in a gun to fire.
"Anytime you get pressure [to the end of the bullet] to cause it to explode, it will fire," Lewis said.
If someone finds a bullet, don't throw it in the trash either.
"Call local law enforcement and we can take car of it," Lewis said.
Were ALL of those cartridges from that “ONE” Shooter up in the 6th Floor Peanut Gallery?????
Maybe. Maybe not. The funny thing is all have 1973 headstamps. Time machine, doncha know.
At the age of 5 or 6 I did the same type of thing. Placed the 22 cartridge on its base on concrete and hit the top end with a table knife handle. When it went off it went between my head and my 3 YO brother. My mother came out of the house and took action. She proved that an irate mother can carry a 5 YO boy off the ground, by his hair, for at least 25 yards. Further action was carried on in the house.
None of my “Southern” friends have ever shot their friends. I cant say that about my “Yankee” relatives or friends.
I had a buddy when I was a kid that put a shotgun shell in the end of a pipe and smacked it with a hammer... lost the end of his finger.
I love these stories!
I'm betting it was lack of oxygen.
Not naughty...possibly now hearing impaired, but not naughty.
Think I read a Darwin Award a few yrs. ago about a couple bubbas that did just that.
Cartridge got hot , went off and they wrecked on a bridge.
IIRC one of them had some testicular damage.
LOL....... You speaking of these two fine guys?...
......Thurston Poole, 33, of Des Arc, and Billy Ray Wallis, 38, of Little Rock, are listed in serious condition at Baptist Medical Center. The accident occurred as the two men were returning to Des Arc after a frog-giggin’ trip.....
http://www.darwinawards.com/legends/legends1998-04.html
LOL....that’s the boys!
No they don't. An injury which takes them out of the gene-pool is a qualifying event.
You are correct. However, the subject of this article didn't shoot his [deleted] off so he doesn't qualify under that standard either.
Rereading the story, he’s got three kids.
Unless he manages to take them out too, he’s already ineligible.
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