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Guy almost killed by a spudgun
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 2:46 pm
by clide
"Hey, I wonder what happens if we shoot somebody in the head with this"
http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/jul ... ded_man_h/
Full text since news sites eventually remove articles
Potato gunman at large in Hanahan case that landed man in hospital
By Nita Birmingham (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Friday, July 6, 2007
HANAHAN — Officers sent to investigate reports of someone lying in the road Wednesday night found a man with massive head injuries and only one clue as to how he got them: bits of raw potato.
The fragments scattered around 29-year-old David Shafer left police to conclude he likely was shot with a potato gun, Lt. Mike Fowler said. Detectives haven't been able to interview Shafer, who is in critical condition at Medical University Hospital.
"It's the damndest thing I've ever seen," Fowler said.
Passers-by alerted police at 10:17 p.m. that a man was lying in the middle of Berkeley Street near Murray Drive, Fowler said. Many Hanahan officers are familiar with Shafer, who doesn't have a permanent address, he said.
Shafer didn't have any bullet wounds and didn't appear to have been beaten in the head, Fowler said. That left the potato.
"Unless he wakes up and can tell us what's going on, that's all we know," Fowler said.
A potato gun usually is made from plastic water pipe and is designed to launch a tuber to distances of more than 300 yards, according to The Spudgun Technology Center in Wisconsin, now in its 11th year on the Internet. The site includes instructions on how to build a spud gun.
The spud gun fires from the combustion of fuel, usually hair spray, although the Center said that certain brands of deodorant, anti-static products, automotive starting fluid (ether), propane and butane all work well. The site warns against using high-powered fuels that will cause the spud gun to blow up.
The site also includes a warning that spud guns can be dangerous when used in an unsafe manner. It cautions against looking down the barrel of a loaded spud gun and advises treating the device with the same respect as a real firearm.
A small version of the potato gun is sold at Jack's Cosmic Dogs on U.S. Highway 17 North in Mount Pleasant, which sells vintage toys. It is shaped like a gun and propels the potato by forcing air through the barrel when the trigger is squeezed, manager David Jackson said.
Jackson said he's heard of homemade potato guns that can lob a spud long distances, but the ones sold at Jack's aren't that powerful. The package still includes a safety warning.
A potato gun is not illegal in South Carolina, but criminal charges could result if it were used in a manner consistent with a deadly weapon, Deputy Solicitor Blair Jennings said. Fowler said whoever is responsible for Shafer's injuries could be charged with assault and battery with intent to kill.
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 3:05 pm
by boilingleadbath
By Nita Birmingham
The Post and Courier
Saturday, July 7, 2007
HANAHAN — The man found critically injured Wednesday night was wounded by an object far less original than a potato gun, police said.
David Shafer, 29, was hit in the head with an aluminum baseball bat with enough force to crack the bat, Lt. Mike Fowler said. Officers first thought Shafer was the victim of a potato-gun attack because of the pieces of raw potato scattered around him on Berkeley Street.
The potato remained a mystery Friday, but police had arrested a suspect in Shafer's beating. Everett Wayne Thomas, 28, of North Charleston was arrested Thursday night on a charge of assault and battery with intent to kill. He was set to have a bond hearing Friday evening at the Hill-Finklea Detention Center in Moncks Corner.
Officers traced Shafer's movements that day and were able to place him with Thomas, an acquaintance, Fowler said. The two attended a party at the Forest Cove apartment complex, where they drank and argued, Fowler said. They left in Thomas' car and continued to argue. They exited the car near Murray Drive, where Shafer was hit with the bat, Fowler said.
Passers-by called police at 10:17 p.m. when they saw a man lying in the middle of Berkeley Street. Shafer had a massive head injury but no bullet wounds, and officers didn't find anything nearby that appeared to have been used as a weapon, other than the potatoes. Officers later found the cracked baseball bat.
Shafer was admitted to intensive care at Medical University Hospital.
http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/jul ... ing/?print
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 3:29 pm
by Hailfire753
Wow.
I bet it was really a potato gun, but the bat was set up to lessen the charges.
Edit- Was there any potato bits found on him? or just around him? what shape was the welt? Does he smell like potato guts?
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 3:33 pm
by SpudBlaster15
So they found a cracked baseball bat at the scene, and automatically dismissed the possibility of a potato gun being the weapon used in the assault, despite the physical evidence that points towards it? Something doesn't sound right here...
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:17 pm
by Gepard
So they found a cracked baseball bat at the scene, <snip>
Doesn't say where they found the bat....
Michael
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:20 pm
by sandman
maybe the bat was shot out of the cannon using a potato as a sabot
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:25 pm
by Hotwired
Atomised potato fragments in someones hair would give a pretty good indication that they'd been hit by a launched potato.
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:30 pm
by clide
Strange about the potato bits, thanks for the update BLB
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:34 pm
by Gepard
If your pissed off at someone you don't charge up your spudgun, load a potato as a sabot and then load an alu bat in the middle of the street do you?
You'd just take the alu bat to him.....
Michael
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:35 pm
by Hailfire753
" hit in the head with an aluminum baseball bat with enough force to crack the bat"
On my second read, how the hell do you CRACK AN ALUMNUM BAT?!!?! Is this guy superman or somat? I could possibly understand a dent, but cracking the bat?... Or am a just weak?
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:38 pm
by paaiyan
You know, I'm pretty sure that any aluminum bat is stronger than a skull. And aluminum doesn't crack, it bends or dents. People hit 90 MPH pitches with aluminum bats all the time, if anything was going to damage a bat it would be that. I think there's something else going on here.
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:38 pm
by sandman
maybe it was cold out, but yep i dont know how the bat would have cracked
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:52 pm
by Flying_Salt
Something is afoot, Watson.
How do you crack an aluminum bat? There probably wouldn't be much of his head left if he had managed to do that.
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 5:04 pm
by spudbud101
It is idiots like this that make potato cannons look dangerous.
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 5:18 pm
by Modderxtrordanare
spudbud101 wrote:It is idiots like this that make potato cannons look dangerous.
Potato guns
are dangerous, just we all use them properly. It's just people like him who cast a bad light upon them.