Posted on 02/12/2006 12:46:46 PM PST by bayourant
Edited on 02/12/2006 2:10:43 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured a man during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, his spokeswoman said Sunday.
Harry Whittington, 78, was "alert and doing fine" after Cheney sprayed him with shotgun pellets on Saturday while the two were hunting at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, said property owner Katharine Armstrong.
Armstrong said Whittington was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets hitting his cheek, neck and chest, and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Whittington was in stable condition Sunday, said Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System.
Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said the vice president was with Whittington, a lawyer from Austin, Texas, and his wife at the hospital on Sunday afternoon.
Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shot at a covey of quail late afternoon on Saturday.
Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and found a second covey.
Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," Armstrong told the Associated Press in an interview.
"The vice president didn't see him," she continued. "The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good."
The shooting was first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
She said Whittington was bleeding but not very seriously injured, and Cheney was very apologetic.
"It broke the skin," she said. "It knocked him silly. But he was fine. He was talking. His eyes were open. It didn't get in his eyes or anything like that."
She said emergency personnel traveling with Cheney tended to Whittington, holding his face and cleaning up the blood.
"Fortunately, the vice president has got a lot of medical people around him and so they were right there and probably more cautious than we would have been," she said. "The vice president has got an ambulance on call, so the ambulance came."
Armstrong said Cheney is a longtime friend who comes to the ranch to hunt about once a year. She said Whittington is a regular, too, but she thought it was the first time the two men hunted together.
"This is something that happens from time to time. You now, I've been peppered pretty well myself," said Armstrong.
___
Associated Press writer Paul Weber in Dallas contributed to this report.
Boy the folks at DU are fast evidentally there claiming this guy is head of something called the texas funeral commission thats being investigated. Get out the tinfoil lol
They can't say he's not a combat veteran anymore.
Been looking for that pic for a long time. Thanks
Dolts! ruined a fine day of practice! ;>
You're going to love the new gun laws!
Sorry. I'm typically interested in stories more than responses.
-PJ
DU wants him charged with attempted murder!
I checked on Newsmeat, all of Whittington's donations have been to Republicans. People are crazy to think it is anything other than an accident. If Whittington was hunting with Cheney, he had a loaded shotgun too, there is no way that anyone would be allowed around Cheney with a firearm if they were not 100% trusted.
You'll need more than tinfoil if you're going over there. Might I suggest....
I had a girlfriend who went out bunnie hunting with her dad and came back limping with pellets in her leg. He was kinda freaked but in a few days we were laughing about him leading her too much.
Just a note but it took cnn forever to get it on the air they got beat by everyone. Of course abc beat fox
LOL,,,good one!
I'm glad that the man is doing fine. He is an attorney and I hope is a Republican!
Planned by Karl Rove so that Cheney has to resign and Condie gets appointed VP. hehehe!
Thanks for providing the link, but I guess it doesn't count to be fustest with the mostest anymore!
Sometimes, just sometimes, sarcasm doesn't require a sarcasm tag.
Was he duck hunting with Scalia again?
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