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Cell phone blocks stray bullet, saves man's life
St. Tammany News ^ | 11/19/08 | Matthew Penix

Posted on 11/22/2008 5:11:25 AM PST by jalisco555

Driving his John Deere tractor Saturday, Richard was suddenly thumped with a pain “like a hard punch jumped up” and bit him in the heart.

He bent over and grasped his sweater. Then he took it off to get a closer look. A .45-caliber bullet casing tumbled out, clattered onto the tractor and fell on the ground.

He’d just been shot.

It was a stray bullet, and it tore through his sweater, leaving a 1/2-inch hole, where it entered into the top center pocket of his coveralls and hit his cell phone.

The bullet, coming in at a 45-degree angle, busted the phone in two, but the impact halted its trajectory just enough to save Richard’s life

“It’s a miracle,” he said Tuesday. “Normally I put the phone in my inside pocket, but for some reason that day was different. Now I know why.”

(Excerpt) Read more at thesttammanynews.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Louisiana
KEYWORDS: banglist; bullet; cellphones; luck
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To: jalisco555
President Teddy Roosevelt was shot at close range by an assassin. The bullet was slowed down by an eyeglass case and the speech that he was preparing to give which was folded and contained in his breast pocket. The bullet broke his skin but did only minor damage. The bullet was removed and he delivered the speech!

One heck of a Prez!

21 posted on 11/22/2008 5:53:08 AM PST by Young Werther (Julius Caesar (Quae Cum Ita Sunt. Since these things are so.))
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To: rlmorel

Lots of structures beside the heart in the chest and upper abdomen that can cause someone to quickly bleed to death if struck by a bullet. Bullet wounds are terrible. Back in my old ER days we would much rather have a stabbing victim than a gunshot victim.


22 posted on 11/22/2008 5:54:19 AM PST by jalisco555 ("My 80% friend is not my 20% enemy" - Ronald Reagan)
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To: Young Werther
One heck of a Prez!

You got that right!

23 posted on 11/22/2008 5:55:07 AM PST by jalisco555 ("My 80% friend is not my 20% enemy" - Ronald Reagan)
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To: billorites

one time, in band camp...


24 posted on 11/22/2008 6:03:26 AM PST by The Brush
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To: jalisco555
A .45-caliber bullet casing tumbled out, clattered onto the tractor and fell on the ground.

Does any reporter any where have a clue about firearms and ammunition and how they actually work?

25 posted on 11/22/2008 6:05:53 AM PST by calex59
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To: calex59
Does any reporter any where have a clue about firearms and ammunition and how they actually work?

LOL! Other than Ollie North, no.

26 posted on 11/22/2008 6:09:17 AM PST by TADSLOS (McCain Courted Socialism and Brought Us Marxism Instead)
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To: marktwain
I have seen bullets do things I have never mentioned to anyone else because I am not sure I believed it myself. Back in the day we used to try and skip bullets across a lake like rocks. Let's just say magic could be involved and physics suspended for that moment.
27 posted on 11/22/2008 6:09:29 AM PST by mad_as_he$$ (Nemo me impune lacessit.)
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To: jalisco555
In the old days it was Bibles, now it's cell phones.

Kinda reminds me of an old movie with James Garner called "Support your Local Sheriff". The last sheriff had been killed and they offer the job to James Garner and hand him a badge that was dented by a bullet. Says the new sheriff "Looks like this badge saved the man's life!". The Mayor says, "It sure enough would have if it hadn't been for all those other bullets flying in from everywhere!".

Guess this farmer was lucky many other "casings"(can reporters be any dumber)weren't flying in from everywhere.

28 posted on 11/22/2008 6:10:31 AM PST by calex59
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To: mad_as_he$$
I have seen bullets do things I have never mentioned to anyone else because I am not sure I believed it myself. Back in the day we used to try and skip bullets across a lake like rocks. Let's just say magic could be involved and physics suspended for that moment.

It is well known that bullets will ricochet off of water. It is one of the basic tenets of gun safety not to target practice by shooting at objects in the water, such as floating cans, sticks etc. Bullets will also do weird things when hitting trees like fly straight back at the shooter.

29 posted on 11/22/2008 6:19:42 AM PST by calex59
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To: calex59
It is well known that bullets will ricochet off of water. It is one of the basic tenets of gun safety not to target practice by shooting at objects in the water, such as floating cans, sticks etc. Bullets will also do weird things when hitting trees like fly straight back at the shooter.

They can also travel much, much farther than a lot of people realize.

30 posted on 11/22/2008 6:23:29 AM PST by jalisco555 ("My 80% friend is not my 20% enemy" - Ronald Reagan)
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To: calex59

OOps I forgot the kiddies might be reading this!!! My cousin was shooting a coke cans one day and set some up on the frame of an old truck. He missed and hit the frame with his 22. They bullet came back and hit him smack in the middle of the forehead. Now it was flattened out to a small dime size but left him with one hell of a red spot. He quit putting stuff on metal to shoot at. DUH!


31 posted on 11/22/2008 6:32:23 AM PST by mad_as_he$$ (Nemo me impune lacessit.)
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To: jalisco555
I think it is bunk.

.45’s don't travel far. Very heavy, very slow moving. One of the slowest moving round. Think the shot put of pistol rounds.

Anyways, say it came out of a long barrel. I'm not sure it would be much faster than a 4 inch pistol barrel as the powder isn't that much.

Supposedly he was hit at 45 degrees. I have doubts as to how he would know that.

What are the odds, that someone is pointing a .45 in the air at 45 degrees, and outside of a war zone full of .45 caliber weapons, it hits a guy? Anywhere?

This is a tall tale. A bored rural guy, getting his name in the paper.

32 posted on 11/22/2008 6:32:35 AM PST by Leisler ("Give us the child for 8 years and it will be a Bolshevik forever. " Lenin)
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To: jalisco555
A .45-caliber bullet casing tumbled out, clattered onto the tractor and fell on the ground.

It is my understanding that a casing is what is left after the bullet is fired. So does this mean the guy shot himself?

33 posted on 11/22/2008 6:38:43 AM PST by Dustbunny (Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged. The Gipper)
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To: jalisco555
He was hit with a casing?
34 posted on 11/22/2008 6:40:27 AM PST by expatpat
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To: jalisco555

He was shot by a bullet CASING?


35 posted on 11/22/2008 6:40:44 AM PST by cake_crumb (Waiting for Dear Leader Obama to drop sea levels and heal Earth.)
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To: Dustbunny
It is my understanding that a casing is what is left after the bullet is fired. So does this mean the guy shot himself?

No, it means the reporter knows nothing about firearms.

36 posted on 11/22/2008 6:40:48 AM PST by jalisco555 ("My 80% friend is not my 20% enemy" - Ronald Reagan)
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To: jalisco555

Did it auto-dial 911?


37 posted on 11/22/2008 6:50:28 AM PST by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast (Stop feeding Leftist education systems. Don't let your kids go there.)
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To: jalisco555; Dustbunny

It MEANS that the reporter had no business writing this article to begin with.


38 posted on 11/22/2008 7:08:01 AM PST by cake_crumb (Waiting for Dear Leader Obama to drop sea levels and heal Earth.)
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To: jalisco555

39 posted on 11/22/2008 7:14:35 AM PST by USMCPOP (Father of LCpl. Karl Linn, KIA 1/26/2005 Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq)
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To: Leisler
Could be a .45 Long Colt - bullet's a little heavier than the standard for a .45 ACP, but after it's smacked a cell phone it might be a little difficult to tell.

The real problem is that the reporter is so ignorant that if ANY of the facts are correct, it's just dumb luck.

40 posted on 11/22/2008 7:14:41 AM PST by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of ye Chasse (TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary - recess appointment))
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