[Drizzt]

Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK)


May 1, 2003 Thursday CITY EDITION

SECTION: NEWS; STATE ROUNDUP; Pg. 5-A

LENGTH: 543 words

HEADLINE: Enid woman seeks damages in death of son

BYLINE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

DATELINE: ENID

BODY:
An Enid woman has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against a gun dealer and distributor over the shooting death of her son.

Vickie Hurst is seeking an undisclosed amount of damages from gun dealer Charles Fanning and Southern Ohio Gun Distributors Inc. in a lawsuit filed in Garfield County District Court.

The lawsuit contends Fanning and the gun distributor were negligent because they sold a defective 9 mm Makarov pistol that killed George Crites on Aug. 19, 2001. Crites, 22, was killed when the gun discharged as it was being passed around, the lawsuit states. No one pulled the trigger, but the gun rapidly discharged twice, according to the lawsuit. The first bullet shattered a window and the second hit Crites in the chest. His death was ruled an accident.

Oklahoma City attorney John Merritt, who filed the lawsuit for Hurst, said the gun functioned like an automatic even though it was sold as a semiautomatic.

The gun dealers recklessly disregarded the rights of others by not ensuring the gun had adequate safety mechanisms or warning people of its hazards, the lawsuit alleges.

Crites' parents are seeking more than 10,000 in damages.

[Thumper]

No one pulled the trigger, but the gun rapidly discharged twice

Right. :rolleyes:

[vmi93]

"Gun being passed around... discharges twice by itself".

I think that the gun was cocked and someone pulled the trigger. I just hope that SOG can buy these folks off before this case gets to the typical jury of female retirees and welfare recipients.

[Standing Wolf]

Crites, 22, was killed when the gun discharged as it was being passed around, the lawsuit states. No one pulled the trigger, but the gun rapidly discharged twice, according to the lawsuit.

Yeah, and it occasionally rains nickels, too.

[CZ-75]

Bulgarian Maks just went up $20.

[Sir Galahad]

They were passing it around to each other....hmmmmm.....

This sounds like another case of some people playing Russian roulette with an autoloader. Hey, don't laugh! It has happened before! Check the Darwin Awards website.

"Uh-huh-huh-huh....it's a Russian gun. Uh-huh-huh...let's play Russian roulette!" See the link?

[zahc]

"... pistol that killed George Crites.."

just have to keep pointing these out.:rolleyes: