Cheney shoots man on Texas quail hunting trip

- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11312757/

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured a man during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, his spokeswoman said Sunday.

Harry Whittington, 78, was “alert and doing fine” after Cheney sprayed him with shotgun pellets on Saturday while the two were hunting at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, said property owner Katharine Armstrong.

Armstrong said Whittington was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets hitting his cheek, neck and chest, and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

Question for the experts: As callous as this may sound, what legal recourse is available should the victim succumb to his injuries? Involuntary manslaughter? In the case that he survives, which I hope he does, are there any charges of negligence that can be pressed against him?

Dick can't be charged for negligence because GUNS KILL PEOPLE, DICKS DON'T KILL PEOPLE .....j/k

Nice one U-Day :-)

Captain Haddock,

As far as legal consequences are concerned; at this stage, there seems to be enough to warrant a claim of negligence at the very least. Irrespective of whether the other guy survives or not, the fact the he sustained multiple injuries is enough to proceed with a claim of negligence and seek compensation under a Tort claim (meaning he could sue for "actual" damages in the form of hospital bills, lost wages etc as well as "Mental and Emotional suffering" )

If he should succumb to his injuries, then the situation gets exceedingly dicey for old Dick (no pun intended :-)!!) I am quite sure he would be under pressure to resign and in addition would likely be in a position of having to defend himself against criminal charges of negligent homicide or manslaughter. The charge of negligent homicide is a more serious charge and carries a rather stiff penalty in terms of jail time. If he faces a manslaughter charge, I imagine he would try his best to plead to nothing more than a 3rd degree charge which means that he could face no more than 6 months or even nothing at all if he shows that it was a "horrible mistake"...it all depends on the facts as they existed at the time of the shooting.

What I am interested in is to see if the Dems grow enough of a backbone to do two things:
1. Draw the parallels between Dick's silence for more than 24 hours concerning this accident (they went public only after a Corpus Christi newspaper published an article) and Ted Kennedy's infamous 24 hour silence after driving his car off the road in Chappaquidick, N.Y in which a woman died

2. Push through the much needed Gun Control changes that Dick along with the loony tunes crew of Charlton Heston and Tom De Lay refused to pass.

yo,
I don care about the dude who got shot at, but I can tell u sth, Mr. Dick got this real gun in trouble for real this time.