Sunday, September 12, 2010

Freak Accident -- or Something Fishy?

How a writer's mind works:

I read a story in today's paper -- gist of it is this: Two bowhunters after elk near Toutle spotted one and went after it. The guy in front stopped suddenly, and his buddy behind him didn't -- and he accidentally speared his friend on his broadhead arrow.

That's the story the guy in back tells. The other guy isn't saying anything, because he is dead from the incident.

I know those razor-broadheads are sharp; if the guys were running and the leader pulled up short and the follower smacked into him really hard? I can see it.

Bad idea to stop suddenly in front of somebody; really bad idea to do it if he's got an arrow pointed at your back.

And yet, there is something about the story that made me blink and wonder. Something else going on? What do you have to hit from behind to kill somebody like this? Anything high has spine and ribs covering it. Kidney? All the way through to the liver or spleen?

Be interesting to see what the autopsy says. As of now, no charges have been filed.

7 comments:

jks9199 said...

It may be an accident... but there's something fishy there, that's for sure. I might guess that alcohol was involved, and that the arrow was fired in the accident, rather than simply a collision.

Of course, I'm still thinking that there's a hell of a lot of explaining to do, unless it was a freak shot into the spinal cord, or severing a major artery or vein so that he bled out faster than anything could be done, especially in the woods.

In other words... the cop says he wants to see how this accident came about, 'cause it ain't adding up.

Dan Gambiera said...

The purpose of the investigation is to figure out what happened. Until those results are back it's all speculation

Steve Perry said...

Yep. That's what I was doing -- speculating ...

steve-vh said...

Same as with a gun, arrow should have been pointed toward the ground if it was nocked until ready to draw.

Steve Perry said...

Local follow-up:

http://tdn.com/news/local/article_21c8d8be-bd21-11df-aee2-001cc4c03286.html

This has to be taken with a barrel of salt, inasmuch as the reporter allows that The victim, Benny White, was killed Friday morning and the coroner did an autopsy Thursday night ...

Edwin Voskamp said...

Well, a well conducted autopsy would kill: maybe the coroner did the autopsy very late Thursday night?

jks9199 said...

What's the matter? Got a problem with efficiency in the ME's office? ;)

The article notes that the deceased was permitted to hunt with a crossbow due to disability. I wonder if that disability wasn't also a contributing factor, perhaps on several levels.

Like I said -- there were questions. At the moment, it appears to be a freak event. They happen. I say this as one of the guys who ended up lying on the floor trying to figure out how to match up injuries in a guy who got run over by a truck. And the truck driver WAS NOT at fault!