Posted on 02/16/2006 11:12:36 AM PST by areafiftyone
FEBRUARY 16--Five days after Vice President Dick Cheney shot a hunting partner, a Texas sheriff today released his department's report on the incident, which investigators have formally classified as an accident. A copy of the Kenedy County Sheriff's Department report, released this afternoon by Sheriff Ramon Salinas, can be found below. The sheriff's report includes information provided to deputies by assorted witnesses as well as Cheney and Harry Whittington, the 78-year-old lawyer who was struck in the face, neck, and chest by the vice president's wayward birdshot. Cheney was interviewed Sunday morning, more than 14 hours after the Saturday afternoon incident. There is no indication in the sheriff's report that he was questioned about alcohol consumption by Chief Deputy Gilberto San Miguel, who interviewed the vice president and authored the report. Whittington, who was questioned Monday at a Corpus Christi hospital, declined to have his Q&A session taped and told investigators that "foremost there was no alcohol during the hunt" and that everyone in the hunting party was wearing proper "blaze orange" attire. In a Fox News interview yesterday, Cheney said that he downed one beer at lunch Saturday afternoon. On Tuesday, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department issued the first report on the Cheney shooting incident. (5 pages)
I am only going to post this much because the report is much too long. You can click on the link to read all of it.
(Excerpt) Read more at thesmokinggun.com ...
That said, if it is standard procedure for the police to give people a day or so to pull themselves together before looking the interviews start, then this really is nothing unusual. I'm just surprised that's how the police do things, thats all.
It would appear that accidental shooting are handled far more casually than I'd realized.
Did you know that when John Wayne accidentially shot Ward Bond in a hunting accident, Ward Bond left the shotgun to Wayne in his will?
Actually a young man in my area was peppered with birdshot a few years ago and the local LE acted like it was no big deal, they did not seem to equate it with the more serious shooting incidents at all. Birdshot hitting a person is usually only very annoying and really painful, not a big deal.
The person I knew didn't think to report it to LE at all, his mother made him go to ER for treatment, they reported it. LE talked to him later by phone for their report since they were notified. BTW the ER in this case just cleaned the wounds real good and sent him right home.
I'd bet a lot of these type of incidents aren't even reported to LE or medically treated at all. I've heard of some non-reports myself.
This should only have been a major deal for the man who was hit and Cheney. The man that was hit, was hurt worse than normally happens, and of course it had to scare the tar out of him. Cheney admits it was his fault, so he feels guilty and terribly bad that he harmed a friend.
The rest of us would not even care if Cheney wasn't involved. When is the last time you saw a news article about someone shot with birdshot before this happened? This is for sure not the only time an incident like this has happened.
It takes a moment for everything to register...so did Cheney REALIZE "AT THE MOMENT" that he was the one who hit Whittington?
I'm afraid that if I was a Security dude, that I might have put Cheney on the ground and protect him until I knew absolutely what was going on.
In other words, till I knew that an "accident" had occurred and there were no other in coming shots and everything everywhere was checked out, the media and the cops can go to hell. That's the way it should be.
This was not a delicate situation, it was a devastating situation; an injured friend and the protection of the Vice President of the United States was involved.
Mr. Whittington understands exactly what Mr. Cheney has been through and when he said he withheld any statement out of respect for the Vice-President, it was because he recognizes that his friend IS the Vice-President of the Country they love and respect and his friendship has to be second. Whittington is a good soldier and so is Mr. Cheney.
With all due respect to both gentlemen, I hope that Mr. Whittington will recover nicely because I think he wants to hug his "old friend" and take away some of his pain.
So a drunk hunting party would not be a physical threat to the VP?
So the SS would let the Vice President of the United States get drunk, along with his party, grab guns, and go hunting?
I never heard about it at all, thanks.
/Sullivan......
Soon you will know that you have been banned from FR.
Depends on who is doing the covering.
Good one......by the way, I heard on Hannity's radio program this afternoon that teddy made a somewhat snide remark in the Senate that was in reference to the Cheney shooting incident - it was within earshot of hillary as well, she was described as "laughing out loud."
I wish I could quote the remark that Teddy said - but it wouldnt be correct.
If Cheney had shot john edwards {and he went room temperature}, I would have suggested that Cheney should plead self defense. s/off
Why was this released. Mr Cheney has a right of privacy just like anybody else. The fact that it was ruled an accident should be the only information necessary. This smoking gun site shouldn't be allowed to print this.
INteresting - thanks.
Back toi the real point, the poster I was responding to seemed to be implying that the SS's job was to delay the sherrif's interview, that is just not part of their duties insofar as I understand them.
ANyway, cleared of charges so the point is moot. Also per above poster sprayed birdshot really is no big deal from an LEO POV - that was the part that had been confusing me about the delayed interview (but no longer).
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