Cheney "sprayed" 78 year old lawyer Harry Whittington with shotgun pellets, requiring an emergency trip to the hospital via ambulance.
As to an charges being filed, don't hold your breath:
Because these types of events are classified as "accidents," said John Rao, TPWD game warden, no charges are filed.
Drinking is rarely involved in the accidents.
Alcohol was a factor in only two of the 101 total hunting accidents reported during the past three years, TPWD records show.
What about an investigation? Is that foregone as well, since hunting shootings are presumed by the Game Warden to be accidents?
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Original Post: (2:00 pm)
VP Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a fellow hunter yesterday during a quail-hunting trip at the Armstrong ranch in Texas. The property is owned by Katherine Armstrong.
Armstrong said Cheney turned to shoot a bird and accidentally hit Whittington.
Ms. Armstrong is a lobbyist.
In 2004 she reported three Texas lobby contracts, led by construction company Parsons Technology and Dannenbaum Engineering, a major contractor for Texas water projects. That year she teamed up with Pioneer Karen Johnson to lobby the Bush administration. Armstrong and Johnson lobbied then-Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to adopt mad-cow tests made by Swiss client Prionics. They also lobbied the administration on undisclosed issued on behalf of Baker Botts (see James Baker, Robert Jordan and William Barnett). President Bush invited Katherine Armstrong and her parents to a White House sleepover.
Katharine is the daughter of Tobin and Anne Armstrong.covert actions on the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under Reagan.
A veteran of blue-chip corporate boards, Anne Armstrong was a Halliburton director when that corporation hired Cheney. She is Kay Bailey Hutchison's best friend, having helped launch the senator's career as Republican National Committee co-chair in 1971. George W. Bush appointed Anne Armstrong as a Texas A&M regent in 1997. She and her husband were part of Laura Bush's delegation to the funeral of Queen Mother Elizabeth in 2002.
In recent years, Tobin and his wife, Anne, have hosted many GOP dignitaries--including the first and second President Bush--on their 50,000-acre Armstrong Ranch in South Texas. "We go out when the dew is still on the grass, and then hunt until we shoot our limit," Tobin said in 2000 of his ranch outings with Dick Cheney. "Then we pick a fine spot and have a wild game picnic lunch." True conservatives might choke on their javelina steaks if they knew that Tobin Armstrong dunned the government for $11,336 in farm subsidies between 1995 and 2002, according to the Environmental Working Group. Anne Armstrong served as: a close advisor to President Nixon; President Ford's British Ambassador; and approved
Bump and Update: Will Cheney face charges over the shooting? Even though he didn't intend to shoot Mr. Whitman, was he reckless or criminally negligent?
Tex. Penal Code § 6.03
© A person acts recklessly, or is reckless, with respect to circumstances surrounding his conduct or the result of his conduct when he is aware of but consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the circumstances exist or the result will occur. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that its disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that an ordinary person would exercise under all the circumstances as viewed from the actor's standpoint.
(d) A person acts with criminal negligence, or is criminally negligent, with respect to circumstances surrounding his conduct or the result of his conduct when he ought to be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the circumstances exist or the result will occur. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that the failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that an ordinary person would exercise under all the circumstances as viewed from the actor's standpoint.
Translation, according to Lewis v. State and Moore v. State:
"Reckless conduct . . . involves conscious risk creation, that is, the actor is aware of the risk surrounding his conduct or the results thereof, but consciously disregards that risk. Criminal negligence . . . involves inattentive risk creation, that is, the actor ought to be aware of the risk surrounding his conduct or the results thereof. At the heart of reckless conduct is conscious disregard of the risk created by the actor's conduct; the key to criminal negligence is found in the failure of the actor to perceive the risk."
More news here.
Armstrong said Whittington was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets hitting his cheek, neck and chest...."
...Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shot at a covey of quail late afternoon on Saturday. Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and found a second covey.
Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," Armstrong told the Associated Press in an interview. "The vice president didn't see him," she continued. "The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good."
...This is something that happens from time to time. You now, I've been peppered pretty well myself," said Armstrong.
Update: Here's the first photo of the shooting victim. [link fixed.]
Update: Why did Cheney's office wait a day before reporting the shooting to the media? Bush, Andrew Card and Karl Rove knew about it Saturday.
Digby says it doesn't pass the smell test. Firedoglake asks if Dick will survive? I'm waiting for Crooks and Liars to get the video.
New threads here and here.
[Graphic created exclusively for TalkLeft by CL.]
