Posted on 09/16/2005 2:57:42 PM PDT by 2Am4Sure
A Sparta man was injured when he allegedly entered a home where a shotgun had been rigged to fire if the door was opened.
At approximately 4:37 p.m., Sept. 12, 2005, Deputy Darrin Gongaware was dispatched to Cummings Chapel Road where he encountered Greg Hutchings, 35, of Sparta.
Hutchings was lying in the front yard with ‘most of his left forearm missing,’ according to the report.
The officer proceeded to give first aid to Hutchings and asked him what had happened.
According to the report, Hutchings told Gongaware he was at the home of Neal Rodgers and the door was open, and he went in. Hutchings then said he was shot by a gun behind the door.
Gongaware’s report said it appeared Hutchings was suffering from a shotgun blast, with some of the shot in his stomach and arm.
While Hutchings was being transported to the hospital, Isom, Gongaware and Deputy Craig Wilson began searching for the crime scene to begin their investigation.
After officers checked a few houses in the area, they discovered the scene at a home on Cummings Chapel Road owned by Robert Austin and not at the home of Neal Rodgers.
Austin was contacted. When he arrived at the scene, Austin showed the officers how he had set up the gun.
Hutchings was transported to Erlanger with non-life threatening injuries.
“We collected the shotgun and string for evidence,” said Detective Chris Isom.
The incident is still under investigation by White County Sheriff Department.
Don't do this, folks. I am certain that you would feel pretty low if you maimed or killed a fireman or other emergency personnel.
Spring gun = bad idea!
Sounds like a perfectly good way to go to jail for a long, long time.
He's not just an idiot, he's criminally stupid. He'll be charged/convicted with something.
I'm not sure but I think it's against the law. Get a dog or an alarm system. What if it was your kids?
I reluctantly agree with you. I could maybe see it if there was a clear warning posted on the door but even then it is risky.
Booby trapping is never a good idea, outside of a combat zone.
Yes, the same technology could take a picture of the perp. Most places have laws preventing the laying of traps for criminals, and yes, they can operating on the innocent as well.
The law is designed to prevent accidental shootings. Picture a neighborhood kid opening the door by mistake.
I predict a very large law suit and jail time for him.
Thirty years ago some poor old farmer got the pants sued off of him for this by the burglar. Said burglar paid a $50 fine but won about $30,000 dollars, a lot of bucks back then. The farmer and his wife were something close to bankrupted by it all.
First thing my father taught me about shooting is not to shoot what you can't see. In a trap like this, one is shooting what one cannot see. It could have been a child or even the trappers own child. It could have been a UPS driver ar a neighbor. This fool deserves to be locked up for a very long time irrespective of the motives of the person entering the home.
The idiot that set this booby trap should wind up under the pen. Texas adds 20 years just for making a set-gun. In this case, a person was injured. Stupid to the 10th degree. Not just for emergency personnel. Post office, delivery, or even an invited guest. A man has a right to protect his property, yet there is absolutely never a reason to use a set-gun or a bomb.
Dat boy goin' to jail! Booby traps are a big no-no. In fact, I'm surprised he isn't in jail right now. What gives with that?
A burglar tried to break in and was killed. The cops said "fine with them".
It is against the law in this state (Ga.) and most likely
in every other one. It's called a set gun and will get you
time, hard time.
I remember reading about a business owner who booby trapped
his business after repeated breakins, put a bed frame wired
to 220 under the access hatch from his roof. Killed the
burglar, owner's now in the slammer
You've never been to White County, have you?
BTTT
From the story, it's not even clear that the victim was breaking and entering. Even if he was, though, the homeowner is in a heap of trouble.
Ten or fifteen years ago a local idiot set a crossbow up in the woods with a trip wire and killed a teenager wandering in the woods. I don't remember what they charged the idiot with but he went away for awhile.
Yep, the homeowner will almost certainly do some time. Spring guns are outlawed by name in every state as far as I know.
Ditto. Don't shoot the nice fireman!
AFAIK a store owner from Brooklyn is still in jail after a person smashed their way through his steel security door with a sledgehammer and took a crossbow bolt in the chest.
As I recall, the store had been robbed three times already that month, and the owner was desperate.
Back home, "Set guns" enjoyed a rash of popularity after a couple of local boys (lily-white BTW) broke into an old man's house and tortured him until he gave up the location of his life savings (stashed in the house in cash, of course.)
Also common is the practice of "loading" firewood. The procedure is to hollow out a log and fill with black powder, then conceal it in your woodpile. In theory, if someone steals your firewood, they will blow up their stove and possibly themselves. Usually it's the owner of the woodpile who forgets exactly which log was thus altered, with predictable and spectacular results.
Why? The guy was breaking in. You guys sound like liberals.
Hmm at first I thought it was a somewhat clever idea, after all it did stop a burgler. Then I read your post, you are right of course. Maybe having the door rigged up to a stereo with the sound of a snarling dog would be better.
Suppose there had been a fire and a cop or fireman busted in through that door.
These things, called "Spring Guns" are illegal in most states.
Not, only that but this is illegal as all get out. The burgler is well within his rights to go after the proerty owner for all he's got.
Booby-trapping with a gun is a no-no. But how about booby-trapping with indelible ink? Pepper spray? Or marbles on the floor and other low-tech devices like the kid did in "Home Alone"?
Not defending the booby trap, but I bet some lawyer would have the photo thrown out of court on some ridiculous technicality- inadmissible because the burglar didn't KNOW his photo was being taken or some crap like that.
Deadly force is only legal when defending one's self or family. Nobody was home.
They sound more like responsible gun owners to me.
I'll bet there are a lot of people in prison because of security cameras that would love to meet your hypothetical lawyer.
?
Except in Texas, where the law permits deadly force in defense of property. God bless Texas.
But even there, booby traps are illegal. As they should be. I concur with the majority in this thread; the homeowner in this case was an idiot and a criminal and deserves severe punishment.
You're right about that. Never been to Tennessee. What's White County like, anyway?
A case just like this from Eddyville Iowa went to the US Supreme Court in the 1970s.
The burglar is a hero?
It wasn't. Hey, suppose I won the lotto. Stick with the facts. Most of you are defending the criminals rights. What a joke.
I think it was called the Briney trap-gun case. Briney lived near Eddyville, Iowa and owned a cabin that was broken into several times. Briney set a shotgun up to blast anyone who pushed in the front door and the burglar was seriously injured. The burglar admitted used Briney and won, eventually forcing a sheriff's sale of Briney's farm to settle the claim.
He'll get no tears from me.
I would imagine the fellow is showing the local police the ins and outs of set guns so they can make their own at home.
Seem to recall they played up the "white" thing a bit. As in giant signs reading WHITE DRUG STORE, WHITE GROCERY, and so on.
We need a law that a person can not sue if injured while commiting a crime . Criminal charges only.
Now there's a Freudian slip if ever I saw one!
Defending one's home is not the same thing as defending a shed.
The rule in some jurisdictions is (or used to be) that the use of a booby-trap gun setup, although definitely not smart, is not illegal or per se wrongful if one is defending one's own home. However, it has to be right in who it injures or kills. If it kills an armed intruder who breaks in with violence on his mind, its use will be excused. If it kills an innocent, or a person who has no apparent intention to or means of inflicting harm, its use will constitute manslaughter or murder.
I just can't get righteously indignant on behalf of either party in this scenario.
Hopefully, after he serves time for burglary, trespassing and whatever else they can throw at him.
I wish they could get him on theft of the homeowner's buckshot, since he took it with him without permission. :)
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