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Party fun turns tragic
A paintball gun's gas canister hits and kills a Cameron Park mom in a freak accident.
By Niesha Gates -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Mark Contois was standing by his wife at their 10-year-old son's birthday party Monday when the freak paintball accident happened. Within seconds, Colette Contois, 37, was dead.
Authorities said she was killed instantly when a carbon dioxide canister inexplicably shot out from a paintball gun that a teen was taking apart.
"We were all breaking down the guns, and Colette was standing next to me, on my right," Mark Contois said. "Then I heard a bang, and her head fell on my shoulder."
Mark Contois, an El Dorado County social worker, gently placed his wife on the ground and checked for a pulse but found none. He prayed while administering CPR to no avail.
"I knew she was gone when her head was on my shoulder," he said Tuesday in his Cameron Park home.
El Dorado County sheriff's detectives ruled her death an accident, said Lt. Kevin House, spokesman for the Sheriff's Department.
The investigation revealed that when the paintball gun was being disassembled, a brass fitting on the carbon dioxide cartridge malfunctioned and didn't stay attached to the cartridge. Pressure from the gas turned the canister into a projectile, House said.
An autopsy is scheduled for today to determine a formal cause of death.
No charges will be filed against the 16-year-old boy whose paintball gun malfunctioned, House said.
According to her husband, Colette Contois loved throwing parties for family and friends and was looking forward to Monday's birthday celebration for her 10-year-old son Caleb and his best friend at the ROA Paintball game field near Placerville.
On Tuesday, counselors and psychologists were helping students and faculty members at Rescue School, where Colette was a speech therapist.
Sandee Barrett, principal of the kindergarten-through-grade-five elementary school, said Contois was a wonderful teacher who was adored by her students.
"She took a keen interest in her children and everyone else's children," Barrett said. "It's a tremendous loss to everyone, and it's very difficult to understand why someone so young and so vibrant could be gone."
At the family home in Cameron Park, family, friends and neighbors gathered to lend support to her children, Caleb and Leia, 12, and her husband, Mark.
"She had an awesome ability to bring people together," said Mark Contois. "She sincerely loved people and was very loved in return."
Sitting in a room filled with his wife's neatly organized scrapbooking supplies, Contois described what happened.
He said the party began with a prayer led by the paintball field's owner. "He prayed over the players and that we would all be safe and have a good time," Contois said.
Also playing on the field that day was a group of teenage boys who were showing the younger boys how to play and where to hide, Contois said. The playing stopped around 2 p.m., when both groups returned to the picnic tables to disassemble the paintball guns, which had been rented from the facility.
Bob McGuire, president of the American Paintball League and the Paintball Training Institute, said there is a test typically conducted on paintball guns, which are called "markers." The "valve twist test" is intended to keep accidents with the gas cartridges from occurring, he said.
"If the valve is not securely fastened, (the cartridge) could screw off from the valve instead of from the marker," McGuire said during a phone call from the training institute's Tennessee headquarters.
McGuire said paintball facilities are required to meet standards set by the American Society of Testing and Materials in order to qualify for insurance. However, he said, paintball facilities are not required to carry insurance, and the standards are voluntary otherwise.
McGuire also said he has not heard of other fatal accidents.
"It's a very unfortunate circumstance, but I don't see that it will change the procedures that are currently in place at paintball facilities," McGuire said.
Officials at ROA Paintball, which is a member of the Christian Paintball Players Association, declined to comment Tuesday.
Mark Contois said he is not contemplating filing a civil lawsuit. Rather, he said he would like to see a change in the way the paintball guns are dismantled, such as constructing barriers between people, so as to prevent other accidents from happening.
A memorial service will be held for Colette Contois at 10 a.m. Saturday at Green Valley Community Church, 3500 Missouri Flat Road, Placerville.
A paintball gun's gas canister hits and kills a Cameron Park mom in a freak accident.
By Niesha Gates -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Mark Contois was standing by his wife at their 10-year-old son's birthday party Monday when the freak paintball accident happened. Within seconds, Colette Contois, 37, was dead.
Authorities said she was killed instantly when a carbon dioxide canister inexplicably shot out from a paintball gun that a teen was taking apart.
"We were all breaking down the guns, and Colette was standing next to me, on my right," Mark Contois said. "Then I heard a bang, and her head fell on my shoulder."
Mark Contois, an El Dorado County social worker, gently placed his wife on the ground and checked for a pulse but found none. He prayed while administering CPR to no avail.
"I knew she was gone when her head was on my shoulder," he said Tuesday in his Cameron Park home.
El Dorado County sheriff's detectives ruled her death an accident, said Lt. Kevin House, spokesman for the Sheriff's Department.
The investigation revealed that when the paintball gun was being disassembled, a brass fitting on the carbon dioxide cartridge malfunctioned and didn't stay attached to the cartridge. Pressure from the gas turned the canister into a projectile, House said.
An autopsy is scheduled for today to determine a formal cause of death.
No charges will be filed against the 16-year-old boy whose paintball gun malfunctioned, House said.
According to her husband, Colette Contois loved throwing parties for family and friends and was looking forward to Monday's birthday celebration for her 10-year-old son Caleb and his best friend at the ROA Paintball game field near Placerville.
On Tuesday, counselors and psychologists were helping students and faculty members at Rescue School, where Colette was a speech therapist.
Sandee Barrett, principal of the kindergarten-through-grade-five elementary school, said Contois was a wonderful teacher who was adored by her students.
"She took a keen interest in her children and everyone else's children," Barrett said. "It's a tremendous loss to everyone, and it's very difficult to understand why someone so young and so vibrant could be gone."
At the family home in Cameron Park, family, friends and neighbors gathered to lend support to her children, Caleb and Leia, 12, and her husband, Mark.
"She had an awesome ability to bring people together," said Mark Contois. "She sincerely loved people and was very loved in return."
Sitting in a room filled with his wife's neatly organized scrapbooking supplies, Contois described what happened.
He said the party began with a prayer led by the paintball field's owner. "He prayed over the players and that we would all be safe and have a good time," Contois said.
Also playing on the field that day was a group of teenage boys who were showing the younger boys how to play and where to hide, Contois said. The playing stopped around 2 p.m., when both groups returned to the picnic tables to disassemble the paintball guns, which had been rented from the facility.
Bob McGuire, president of the American Paintball League and the Paintball Training Institute, said there is a test typically conducted on paintball guns, which are called "markers." The "valve twist test" is intended to keep accidents with the gas cartridges from occurring, he said.
"If the valve is not securely fastened, (the cartridge) could screw off from the valve instead of from the marker," McGuire said during a phone call from the training institute's Tennessee headquarters.
McGuire said paintball facilities are required to meet standards set by the American Society of Testing and Materials in order to qualify for insurance. However, he said, paintball facilities are not required to carry insurance, and the standards are voluntary otherwise.
McGuire also said he has not heard of other fatal accidents.
"It's a very unfortunate circumstance, but I don't see that it will change the procedures that are currently in place at paintball facilities," McGuire said.
Officials at ROA Paintball, which is a member of the Christian Paintball Players Association, declined to comment Tuesday.
Mark Contois said he is not contemplating filing a civil lawsuit. Rather, he said he would like to see a change in the way the paintball guns are dismantled, such as constructing barriers between people, so as to prevent other accidents from happening.
A memorial service will be held for Colette Contois at 10 a.m. Saturday at Green Valley Community Church, 3500 Missouri Flat Road, Placerville.
