Posted on 02/16/2006 12:56:09 PM PST by blogblogginaway
SARITA, Texas (AP) - The sheriff's department closed its investigation Thursday into Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of a hunting partner and said no charges will be filed.
The Kenedy County Sheriff's Department issued a report that largely supports the vice president's account of the weekend accident that wounded 78-year-old lawyer Harry Whittington.
Whittington, interviewed in the hospital, assured investigators no one was drinking when the accident occurred and everyone was wearing bright orange safety gear, according to the report.
Sheriff's dispatcher Diana Mata, speaking for the department, said the case is closed and no charges will be filed. She said Sheriff Ramon Salinas would have no comment on the report.
Whittington was peppered with bird shot in the face and chest Saturday while hunting quail with Cheney on a ranch in South Texas. He is in a Corpus Christi hospital in stable condition after suffering a mild heart attack caused by a pellet that traveled to his heart.
Gilberto San Miguel Jr., an investigator with the Sheriff's Department, interviewed Cheney at the ranch a day after the shooting. San Miguel reported that Cheney shook his hand and "told me he was there to cooperate in any way with the interview."
The vice president said the sun was setting when Whittington fired at some quail and went to find his downed birds, according to the report.
Cheney said he walked about 100 yards and met up with the hunting guide. He said a bird flew behind him, and he followed it in a counterclockwise direction, not realizing Whittington had walked up behind him to rejoin the group. He said Whittington was about 30 yards away, on lower ground, when he fired his shotgun.
"Mr. Cheney told me if Mr. Whittington was on the same ground level the injuries might have been lower on Mr. Whittington's body," the investigator reported.
The investigator, accompanied by another officer, briefly interviewed Whittington at his hospital room on Monday.
"I asked Mr. Whittington if we could record our conversation and Mr. Whittington requested not to be recorded due to his voice being raspy," San Miguel wrote.
The investigator asked for an affidavit, and Whittington said he would provide one when he returned home to his office in Austin. Doctors have said Whittington will probably remain hospitalized until next week.
Before a nurse asked the officers to "hurry up so Mr. Whittington could rest," Whittington "explained foremost there was no alcohol during the hunt and everyone was wearing the proper hunting attire of blaze orange," San Miguel reported.
Whittington said the shooting "was just an accident," and he was concerned all the media attention would give hunting in Texas a bad image, the report said.
FYI Fox reporting Bush is soon to make comments on Cheney 'controversey'.
Interesting - let's get a LIVE THREAD going.
See #30.
Exactly - if Cheney is charged on this, I want to see Ted Kennedy and that Gary Condit creep charged as well.
Tonight, all over our great country, covens of Democrats will be lighting black candles and chanting for Whittington's death.
bttt
Haven't seen anything yet - are you sure that was not just the report about his spokesman saying the President was satisfied with Cheney's interview on the subject?
Yep, they very conveniently overlook the part about Cheney not leaving Whittington to die in the woods....there ARE actually people at DU who think WE invented the Chappaquiddick story.
Never mind - the AP is reporting the following comments directly from President Bush:
"I thought the vice president handled the issue just fine," the president said. "I thought his explanation yesterday was a powerful explanation."
Bush said it was "a deeply traumatic moment for him and obviously it was a tragic moment for Harry Whittington." He said that the shooting "profoundly affected the vice president."
Bush said Democrats are drawing "the wrong conclusion about a tragic accident" when they say it depicts the White House as overly secretive.
"Yesterday when he was here in the Oval Office I saw the deep concern he had about a person who he wounded," Bush said. "I thought yesterday's explanation was a very strong and important explanation to make to the American people."
Think about it.
The Secret Service ... drunks ... guns ... and the Vice President of the United States ....
Do you think the Secret Service would allow drunks with guns anywhere near the VP?
LOL ... including Cheney, himself.
We were just discussing that above - they let Monica "near" Clinton ; )
I heard Carl Cameron yesterday state that the pellets were "5 millimeter" in size. At 0.2 inches, that's pretty large. I think he mis-stated.
Both! The wife and I saw Vice President Chaney make this statement during Brit Hume's interview on Fox News last everning>
We both then later see Brit Hume mention this very fact to the folks at Fox & Friends this a.m. during his interview with them.
The VP's statement was very important in my mind, as it made him out to be honest, and not trying to cover up any aspect of this issue.
VP said no one was drinking.
Why the hunting party was offered beer at lunch is beyond me, but there it is.
I've heard #9 or 7 1/2 size shot.
There seems to be a lot of puzzlement on the size of 'shot' used. Most posts I've read state it was #8 shot. I've seen a few others that claim *7 1/2 or *9.
Not sure what difference it makes, but that's what I've seen in posts here.
In any event, they're all about half the size of a BB. That should give some reference.
ROTFL... Thanks.
There was a delay in reporting the incident to the news media, but the Secret Service knew about it right away. The news media don't have a constitutional right to instant notification of anything newsworthy.
Cheney says the delay was because they wanted to be sure the information released was accurate. That may be true, but if the real reason was to stick it to the media, that's fine with me. The media didn't mind being manipulated by the Clintons all the time.
Where was the media outrage about the delays in revealing important information about Vince Foster's supposed suicide? These are also the people who kept mum about Juanita Broaddrick during the Senate trial of President Clinton in 1999, who timed release of old news about GWB's 1976 DUI arrest for maximum impact on the 2000 election, who reported that Gore had carried Florida while the voting places were still open in the Florida panhandle, etc. This is a trivial issue in my opinion.
What I'd like to know is what brand of beer Cheney drank for lunch...maybe it has an ingredient that makes it easier to be around lawyers.
Ouch - I resemble that remark ; )
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