Teenager Blinded by 'Toy Gun' (TX)

[JW2]

http://www.nbc5i.com/news/2115267/detail.html

Teenager Blinded By 'Toy' Gun
Potato Gun Accidentally Fired In Teen's Face

POSTED: 9:15 p.m. CDT April 15, 2003

DALLAS -- A teenager has lost his sight after being struck in the face with a frog, shot from a so-called "potato gun."

Daniel Benjamin Berry, 17, received the injury after he looked down the barrel of the gun's PVC pipe barrel and was hit in the face by the frog.

His mother, Lisa Berry, said he's now blind in both eyes. She hopes her family's tragedy serves as a warning to other parents.


"Any of y'all's children could bring it home, and you'd not even know they have it," she said. "It could end their life or their neighbor's life or your life."

Potato guns are made of pipe with one end sealed. A potato is wedged into the open end and a flammable liquid put into a sealed chamber is ignited, launching the object.

Denton County Sheriff's Department spokesman Kevin Patton said the accident happened Sunday when Daniel Berry joined a crowd of teenagers watching the gun be fired. Patton said when it misfired, Daniel Berry looked down the barrel to see what was wrong when the gun went off.

Investigators said the teenager who owns the gun purchased it off the Internet. Potato guns are not illegal in Texas, so prosecutors will not file charges in the incident.

 

[Seawolf]

Darwin at work.

 

[Carlos Cabeza]

Fortunately the man only lost his eyesight, A 60 ct. baker would have most likely killed him.

 

[synoptic]

The owner of the potato gun is lucky, technically that counts as a firearm by Texas' definition:

3) "Firearm" means any device designed, made, or adapted to expel a projectile through a barrel by using the energy generated by an explosion or burning substance or any device readily convertible to that use.

He's lucky they didn't want to make an example of him...

 

[Ol' Badger]

Thats tuff man. What did that frog ever do to anybody!

 

[TheEgg]

Don't know if I should laugh or cry -- maybe both.

"How did you lose your eyesight?"

"I was shot in the face with a live frog."

Oh MY!

 

[gudel]

Patton said when it misfired, Daniel Berry looked down the barrel to see what was wrong when the gun went off.

yup, dumb indeed. i don't even look down my barrel even when i just checked that it's not loaded, let alone when it didn't fire when i know there's a cartridge in it.

 

[JW2]

Don't know if I should laugh or cry -- maybe both.

"How did you lose your eyesight?"

"I was shot in the face with a live frog."

Oh MY!

Someone on another forum this was posted on said the same thing. He said he'd tell people he got shot in the face by a grenade in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Edit: I'm not making light of the kid's situation. Its a terrible and life changing thing to happen for such a stupid mistake.

 

[Greg L]

That must have been a huge potato gun for them to get a Frenchman down the tube and .... what? ..... oh ..... small green one huh .... ok ... never mind.

I'm sorry for the kid but if you're going to play with things that go bang you need to know how they work BEFORE you do something stupid.

Greg

 

[boing]

I'll reserve my sympathies for the frog.

 

[DontShootMe]

Betcha the kid wont do THAT again!

 

[MJRW]

That's it, I'm changing my carry load.

 

[Ol' Badger]

Now was that a FMJ or wadcutter Frog that was shot?

 

[benewton]

Had to have been a beanbag round...

 

[Mastrogiacomo]

Feel terrible for the boy. A stupid mistake yes, but feel awful it had such dire consequences for him. Nobody deserves this....

 

[Mike Irwin]

Yow.

When I was about 10 a kid I knew shot me right under the right eye with a pencil he had loaded into one of those spring guns that shoot the darts with the suction cups.

Another inch higher and I probably would be blind in one eye.

 

[zahc]

people have no common sense. :banghead:

 

[MJRW]

Rule 2: Never point a frog at anything you don't intend to destroy.

 

[Kobun]

Why doesn't the paper mention what happened to the frog?
Don't play with frogs.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Daniel Benjamin Berry, 17, received the injury after he looked down the barrel of the gun's PVC pipe barrel and was hit in the face by the frog.

Wait till P.E.T.A. finds out about this!

 

[Tim Burke]

prosecutors will not file charges in the incident.

How about cruelty to animals? I seem to recall that a significant percentage of sociopaths engage in acts of animal cruelty while growing up.

 

[Ol' Badger]

Frogs don't count as animal cruitiy Tim. It's a right of passage in the good Ol' USA to be darn right mean to frogs, chipmunks and the most offten firecracker and the disapering cat trick.

 

[cool45auto]

Let me get this straight. The guy was blinded by a frog being shot out of a potato gun?

 

[blades67]

I'll bet his mom told him he'd put an eye out with that thing.