little-d

me think like you zekeskar,It was a accident is not a line of defence.If someone was to shoot my 6 year old son and come up with a story like that i would go crazy an probably do something that would haunt me for the rest of my life.As for the weapon the guy was using i'm still not 100% sure what he had ,the way my mom was told by my uncle the bow was drawn and he was walking out of the woods,i tried to hash this out in my mind and i just can't see a man walking around in the woods like that ,i asked her if it was a crossbow and she thought it was just a bow.I still find it hard to think that a shot from a compound bow or a xbow would find a path to hunter in a car .Kind of hard to comprehend.

muley69

Zeke, I couldn't disagree with you more. One of the things we have to accept in this society is that accidents happen. If were are going to critically evaluate every accident that happens then we can always say somebody was negligent. In come the personal injury attorneys. Everybody is trying to cash in on everybody elses mistakes. The fact is, at some point we have all done things that could place others in danger. How many of us actually always pay attention when were driving? I'm not excusing this accident, but we are rapidally approaching finding somebody at fault for everthing that happens. Sometimes, accidents happen and are better left at that.

zekeskar

Discharging the weapon at close range at a car (regardless of occupancy - that could just be bad luck) indicates to me that the event was way beyond just being unlucky, or accidental. You just DON'T let these things happen, and it's easy and well accepted standard procedure how to do it - keep the weapon pointed in a safe way. Period.

I don't disagree with you in that people make mistakes and stuff happens and we don't need to blame someone for every bad thing that happens. To me, it's a matter of degree and ability to predict likely consequences, and what is common practice/behavior. But to me, it's standard knowledge and practice to keep a loaded weapon pointing in a safe direction because it's very predictable that bad things could happen if you don't. Pointing horizontally, at a car, is not a safe direction. This isn't a minor error and I feel very comfortable finding fault. It is "grossly" negligent, in my opinion.

Imagine the same situation, but involving a gun. Would you still think noone should be held accountable he had a gun carelessly pointing at a car, it inadvertently discarged, and an occupant of the car was injured?

Now, if there are other circumstances that I don't know about, it could have been just a plain old accident, nobody needs to be blamed.

Don't get me wrong - there's plenty of what you're talking about going on and I agree with you on that. Just not in this situation.

wally83

zekeskar I agree with you.....If you take the responsibility to carry a wepon then you are at fault for shooting someone....It doesent matter if you are hunting in the woods or on the street with a handgun.....its all the same...just thank god the injury wasent fatal.