Boy Scout Gets Knife Lodged In Brain

KUTV ^ | December 23, 2005

[jdm]

(KUTV) An incredible and un-suspecting accident leaves a Utah Boy Scout just inches from death when he was stabbed right between his eyes.

Jeff Jaeger spoke to Kevin Coulter and tells 2News how this was a truly freak accident.

While raking leaves for a Boy Scout event, one of the leaders flung a knife from his hand while trying to catch another scout who had tripped.

“It was dark, it was like 8:30 and there was a light and I saw it flash before it hit me,” said Kevin.

The blade landed in between his frontal lobes. It was 2 millimeters away from hitting a major blood vessel in his brain.

Kevin's doctors told him it was sheer luck where the knife hit.

“That's the sinuses that it went through and that I guess is where the brain lobe is right there,” said Kevin pointing to an X-Ray.

It was a freak accident in every way. Few people can admit they've seen anything like it, a 1 ½ inch blade through someone's skull.

“That's the best spot you know, if you're going to have a knife in your head,” said Kevin.

It amazingly wasn’t as painful as it looks; he says he just felt pressure.

In all, Kevin's kept a light heart about the whole situation. He got to miss out on a few weeks of school and yes, he walked away with the knife as a souvenir.

[jdm]

Very fortunate it missed a major blood vessel.

[JennysCool]

An incredible and un-suspecting accident

Dear God, the new breed of journalists are crashingly dumb.

[MineralMan]

So he did get the knife. Finder's Keepers, I guess. It's a heck of a way to get a pocket knife, though. Shoot...most boys get 'em for their birthdays or something.

[nuconvert]

“That's the best spot you know, if you're going to have a knife in your head,”

I'll keep that in mind

[Sax]

I know it was just reaction, but let the tripped kid fall man. Don't throw knives in random directions when there's folks around. He almost gave this kid a lobotomy.

[joe fonebone]

bump for later

[Grig]

"I'll keep that in mind"

No, keep it ALMOST in mind. :)

[bnelson44]

Leader flung a knife? What? What was he doing moving around with an open knife?

[Riley]

The description of this sounds to me like they were really doing the Boy Scout equivalent of 'hold muh beer' stuff, and this is the 'plausible-story-that-doesn't-get-anyone-in-major-trouble' explanation.

I mean, c'mon. Why tosses an open blade from hand to hand hard enough to penetrate someone's skull?

[Joe 6-pack]

When I was about his age, my brother stuck me in the back of the head with a dart...Dad pulled it out with a pair of pliers and told me it was a good thing I had such a thick skull.

[b4its2late]

If that don't clear out the sinuses, nothing will.

[Airborne1986]

"While raking leaves for a Boy Scout event, one of the leaders flung a knife from his hand while trying to catch another scout who had tripped"

The leader should have his patches torn off his uniform, his Totem Chip card should be torn and thrown at his feet and he should be drummed out of the Troop ... his name never to be mentioned again. On the positive side, some lucky Scout had a chance to use those First Aid merit badge skills!

[Airborne1986]

"When I was about his age, my brother stuck me in the back of the head with a dart...Dad pulled it out with a pair of pliers and told me it was a good thing I had such a thick skull."

He certainly made his ... em ... point.

[Clint N. Suhks]

What a Nightmare.

[Born to Conserve]

I don't buy it. A small knife like that would have to be more than just flung to bury itself to its hilt in a skull. More likely, that knife was firmly in someone's grip and some football type roughhousing resulted in this. I'm sure it was all friendly and accidental, but it was no "fling".

[Airborne1986]

The sister seems to be really broken up about her brother's accident. She looks like she is posing for the family Christmas picture!

[Joe 6-pack]

"He certainly made his ... em ... point."

Yep...I carry a pair of pliers with me everywhere I go to this day!

[Riley]

The leader should have his patches torn off his uniform, his Totem Chip card should be torn and thrown at his feet and he should be drummed out of the Troop ... his name never to be mentioned again.

Branded!
Scorned as the one who ran.
What do you do when you're branded,
And you know you're a man?

And wherever you go
for the rest of your life
You must prove ...
You're a man!

[Halls]

WOW, that boy sure does have some serious acne at 14. Seems to me he needs to be treated for that just as bad as he did for the knife wound.

[RedBeaconNY]

It seems like these things always happen in Utah... kids lost in the mountains, kids drowning in the river, kids dying in climbing accidents, kids knifing themselves in the head... What gives?

That aside, he's one lucky kid.

[BostonianRightist]

Must be the water.

[solitas]

When mumbly-peg goes horribly wrong.

[andyk]

The LDS church is heavily involved in scouting activities, so I'd guess that Utah has a very large number of scouts, per capita.

[andyk]

Did you look at all of the pictures? Why did they have to cut open the top of his head?

[jdm]

That's true!!! Good observation...

[RedBeaconNY]

As a member of the LDS church and an Eagle scout, I can verify that, but it doesn't mean that Utah scouts have to have a high accident rate.

[andyk]

As a member of the LDS church and an Eagle scout, I can verify that, but it doesn't mean that Utah scouts have to have a high accident rate.

LOL! I was just trying to say that with a higher per capita number, you would expect more accidents than other areas. I personally don't think that the scouts seem to have more accidents in Utah. I think it's just because there's so much wilderness that's enjoyed by so many people, especially bikers, climbers, and skiers, that they're bound to have more accidents.

[RedBeaconNY]

Mmmmm... I need to go camping more. I'm still trying to figure out why the leader had an open Leatherman Micra in the first place(I carry one on my keychain; it takes a good 10 seconds to pull out the INCH LONG blade), and if he had to throw it, how did he possibly throw it so hard as to put it an inch into a kid's skull?

[solitas]

Curiosity?

Most likely they 'topped' him to make sure everything was OK inside - the article DOES mention that the blade missed an artery by 2mm...

[Coleus]

He's lucky to be alive. I wonder what the SM was doing with his knife before the other boy fell?

[SandRat]

There's going to be a whole lot of Adult and Youth training going on on the Rules of Safe Scouting and I would suspect that all Adult and youth Toten Chits just got canceled and will have to be reearned.

[LibWhacker]

“That's the best spot you know, if you're going to have a knife in your head,” said Kevin.

I'm putting that at the very top of my most-useless-facts file.

Glad the kid's going to be okay!

[newzjunkey]

Another fine story of the glory that is Scouting.

At least he survived to live another day. Too many this year were *not* so lucky.

Maybe we should do a "2005 the year in Scouting" review.

[newzjunkey]

Treat the acne? What for? It's not going to kill him.

Unlike, let's say... Scouting!

[MarMema]

Wow. Glad the Scout will be ok.

[Straight Vermonter]

I think teachers and journalists are in a battle to see who can be the stupidest.

[zeebee]

That's my question also. The kid should have instinctively just pulled the thing out.

And if the leader with an open knife in his hand needed to catch someone, he would instinctively simply drop the knife, not throw the thing so hard it penetrates a skull 15 feet away.

I think Darwin must have skipped by this town.

[Halls]

Ever heard of sarcasm?

[Fintan]

The sister seems to be really broken up about her brother's accident. She looks like she is posing for the family Christmas picture!
 

Kids. Go figure. When I was that age my older sister thought of me as my parents' science project.