Man charged with shooting friend on dare (And the Darwin Award goes to...)

Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | December 15, 2004 | Associated Press

[holymoly]

OROFINO, Idaho -- A man has been charged with involuntary manslaughter for fatally shooting his friend through a protective vest on an apparent dare, police said.

Alexander Joseph Swandic, 20, died of a gunshot wound to the heart Monday after donning a protective vest and asking David John Hueth, 30, to shoot him, police said.

Hueth initially told police that Swandic's wound was self-inflicted, but later admitted to the shooting. The two had apparently tested the vest by propping it against a dirt bank and shooting it twice, police said.

Police said the vest was designed to protect against grenade fragments, not bullets.

Swandic was pronounced dead at a local hospital following the shooting.

Hueth faces a preliminary hearing on Dec. 27. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

[holymoly]

Hold still...

[Pinetop]

Nature's way of thinning the herd---stupidity.

[cripplecreek]

[Semper Paratus]

Like that lawyer testing the strength of a window on the 50th floor.

[cowboyway]

Alexander Joseph Swandic, 20, died of a gunshot wound to the heart Monday after donning a protective vest and asking David John Hueth, 30, to shoot him, police said

What did he shoot him with? Handgun, rifle, shotgun? .357, 7mm Rem Mag, .454, .223, what?

[GrandEagle]

Hard to imagine that kind of stupidity. These must be the guys that test anti-shark bite suites.
I saw a new gadget for power saws that stops the blade before it cuts a persons limb off. The were demonstrating it on hot dogs. I thought to myself that someones got to actually test the thing on a finger. These are the guys for the job! - or at least one of them is.

[Charles Henrickson]

after donning a protective vest. . . . the vest was designed to protect against grenade fragments, not bullets.

"Don we now our grenade apparel . . ."

[GrandEagle]

What did he shoot him with?
Sounds like it was a frag jacket. Not designed for, and not good at, stopping bullets.

[rabidralph]

LOL!

[Gefreiter]

Hmmm...well my guess is that it was NOT an "assault weapon".

Would've been in the headline otherwise.

[Americanwolf]

Now that is what I call the holiday spirit! LOL

[Americanwolf]

Another member of Darwin's award winning team

[Honor above all]

If you were going to attempt such a stupid stunt, don't you think you would avoid aiming at the other guy's heart?

[lilylangtree]

Mutant gene alert.

[MD_Willington_1976]

Oh man these guys are just 60-70 miles away from here...That's also where the state looney bin is located...

MD

[appalachian_dweller]

>> "Don we now our grenade apparel . . ." <<

ROTFLMAO!!! Thanks for the laugh. Merry Christmas!

[dangus]

Ummm... does anyone else think that that law is absolutely stupid, too? I mean it'd be one thing if the one guy put on the vest, and the other one surprised him by shoorting him thinking the vest would make it OK. But seriously... sending someone to jail for ten years for being stupid? That'll probably cost the tax payer about $2.5 million just in incarceration costs. And what do we get for it? Society is protected by someone no different than any of the 65,000 people who've been on "America's Favorite Home Videos," and probably less of a threat than most of the people on "Jackass?"

I hope the judge has the discretion to let this guy off on time served plus probation.

[freepertoo]

((("Don we now our grenade apparel . . ."))

Oh, my Lord, that's funny!

[holymoly]

If you were going to attempt such a stupid stunt, don't you think you would avoid aiming at the other guy's heart?

Actually, I wouldn't even try this stunt with kevlar, since the impact of the bullet can still leave a bruise the size of a dinner plate. Doing this while wearing a lesser vest (ballistic nylon?), rated only to stop grenade fragments and/or knife attack, is suicidal.

[ORECON]

Reminds me of my ex-wife’s cousin many years ago in the early 1960‘s. He and a friend were playing fast draw with their empty single-action revolvers and drinking several beers. That is a “Don’t try this at home” poster if I ever heard one. They would fast draw on each other and then argue about which one won. When his friend went in to get more beers, the cousin loaded the two guns. The next quick draw proved the cousin was indeed slower and he died at the scene.