Shooting your way out

[Katya Mullethov]

Mon Jan 18, 8:47 pm ET

ROSEVILLE, Calif. – A driver whose SUV plunged into a Northern California creek after he was startled by his hands-free cell phone device escaped the sinking vehicle by blasting out the window with a handgun. The 28-year-old man, whose name wasn't immediately available, is an armed security guard at Thunder Valley Casino, north of Sacramento. He sustained minor injuries in Sunday's accident.

A spokesman for the Roseville Fire Department said the man was traveling northbound on Industrial Avenue in Roseville when the cell phone device activated. The driver was startled and veered off the road through the guardrail. The SUV landed in Pleasant Grove Creek.


He then used his gun to shoot his way out, executed a tactical roll, flagged down a passerby , and complained of deafness .


http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&um=1&q=Mon%20Jan%2018%2C%20%20ET%20ROSEVILLE%2C%20Calif.%20SUV%20plunged&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iw&tbo=0

[Lost4words]

1. bright guy... glad he missed his head!

[stevenelijah]

2. "and complained of deafness"

"and complained of deafness"

This is why you should not carry a S/W .500 :)

[SteveM]

3. See? It's those semi-automatic cell phones. We need a ban! nt

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Maybe he was aiming for the phone and missed.

Run off the road because of a phone ringing? What's with that?

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

5. "Complained of deafness"

LOL... shooting firearms in an enclosed vehicle. That'd do it alright.

Most people, even those who shoot guns regularly, have little idea just how loud they are until they shoot one in a room without ear protection. It's beyond ringing... it's downright painful. I suggest that all those who might ever to use one in self-defense shoot at an indoor range and take of the ear protection for about 5 shots. Better to know what to expect someday than learn when your safety in on the line. If you're really sadistic shoot an AR15, Kalashnikov, or Mauser at the range without the earpro... one shot and you'll get the point (I guarantee it).

Luckily, I can screw my hearing protection onto the end of my barrel and forget about earmuffs.

[GreenStormCloud]

6. An indoor 12 gauge shotgun blast is beyond awesome. N/T

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

7. I find shotgun blasts to be underwhelming, personally.

I shoot alot of clays and often don't feel bothered by my shotgun if I forget my earmuffs.
I think it's because shotguns are low pressure rounds and the barrels are like 28 inches. Never shot one indoors.
I can shoot .22lr rifles comfortably as well but .22lr pistols ring my ears.

Aside from centerfire rifles, revolvers (esp. magnum), 9x23mm, and .357sig are the worst.
I've never had the guts to see what my Desert Eagle .50AE sounded like without earpro.

[TheWraith]

13. I'll go you one better... .308 Winchester, a dozen rounds without ear protection.

Of course, the next day I was still barely able to hear out of my right side. :P

[bluedigger]

14. As bad as this?

At NCO school I had one of the cadre set up an M-60 straddling my "dead" torso in a tactical exercise. He ripped off a 50 round belt of blanks and I didn't have earplugs in. That really sucked.:grr:

[TheWraith]

16. Okay. You win.

Maybe they were testing how well you could play dead.

[rd_kent]

8. He was so "startled" by his cell phone it cause him to crash? WTF?

Something sounds fishy here.......

[eqfan592]

9. My guess is that he was on "autopilot."

And totally lost in thought.

[benEzra]

10. Maybe he took lessons from this guy:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33906595/ns/us_news-weird_news/

Texan drives $1 million sports car into marshes
Driver blames bird, dropped cellphone; Bugatti Veyron is world's priciest car



LA MARQUE, Texas - A man blamed a low-flying pelican and a dropped cell phone for his veering his million-dollar sports car off a road and into a salt marsh near Galveston.

The accident happened about 3 p.m. Wednesday on the frontage road of Interstate 45 northbound in La Marque, about 35 miles southeast of Houston.

The Lufkin, Texas, man told of driving his luxury, French-built Bugatti Veyron when the bird distracted him, said La Marque police Lt. Greg Gilchrist.

The motorist dropped his cell phone, reached to pick it up and veered off the road and into the salt marsh. The car was half-submerged in the brine about 20 feet from the road when police arrived.

[gorfle]

12. I agree.

Who the hell is startled by a cell phone?

[petronius]

18. Sounds like a perfect candidate for a casino job - no chance of being startled

by buzzing and ringing in a place like that. :)

I'm guessing there is a lot more to the story - either he was sleeping, playing with his gun, or trying to answer the phone when he crashed...

[slackmaster]

11. I know a guy who pissed his car's way out of a snow drift

The case of beer he had in the back seat helped a lot.

[east texas lib]

15. Guess he didn't have a spring loaded center punch or ball peen hammer handy...

So he went to plan B. He's lucky things didn't turn out worse.

[Euromutt]

17. Lucky for him he's in a job in which the California Republic permits you to carry a loaded handgun

Casino profits merit safeguarding with lethal force; citizens' lives do not.

Exactly how smart you have to be to perform that job may be deduced from the fact our guy here drove off a perfectly straight stretch of road (look it up on Google Maps if you like). And that's the kind of guy who does get to carry a gun in public in California.

Don't you feel so much safer, knowing that casino rent-a-cops are one of the few classes of people who get to carry guns?