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Policeman shoots civilian in 'Dirty Harry' safety lesson
Anna Davis10.12.08
A POLICE worker who was shot with a "Dirty Harry-style" Magnum gun during a safety demonstration is suing for £300,000 damages.
Keith Tilbury, 51, a control-room operator, was hit in the chest as he sat with 12 staff watching firearms officer PC David Micklethwaite demonstrating a range of weapons.
However, while PC Micklethwaite was demonstrating the Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum - the revolver used by Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry films - it suddenly went off. The bullet passed through Mr Tilbury's body, missing his vital organs, and paramedics managed to stabilise him at the Thames Valley headquarters in Kidlington, Oxfordshire. He then underwent surgery at the nearby John Radcliffe Hospital.
Mr Tilbury, of Hersham, Surrey, has not returned to work. He has now taken out a writ against the Thames Valley chief constable.
PC Micklethwaite said he had no idea the gun was loaded. He was not charged after the shooting but has been taken off firearms duties.
Reader views (10)
A good proportion of this report is wrong,the bullet did not miss vital organs, it went through the bowel removing a foot of it , through the liver and took the top off of a kidney having first smashed a rib filling the torso with bone fragments.....the guy was in a coma for thirteen days and was not expected to survive.He had a heart attack on the operating table during the first of 3 operations to repair the damage and has subsequently had a quad coronary bypass and surgery for a gross wound hernia.
- Julia Parker, Surrey England
This is why only police officers should be allowed to carry weap... oh, yeah.. never mind
- Trunk, US
Guns do not just go off. The same as cars do not just start themselves. It is called a Negligent Discharge, and these things ONLY EVER happen when one of the four rules of firearm safety are broken. Obey the first rule, and no one will get hurt: 1) Never point a firearm at anything you do not wish to kill or destroy. This rule was broken and someone got hurt. Thank God he survived as the .44 round is potent.
- Jim, Dubai
Keith, Kings Cross - hope your being sarcastic but i don't think you are.
Wonder what if it had happened to you? - sure "you" would not sue anybody would you!
- Mike, London
He had no idea it was loaded? Oh my god. Anybody who's been around firearms knows the first thing you do is check whether it's loaded. Also pointing them at people is pretty universally frowned upon. How has he not been sacked? Also what sort of safety demostration requires somebody to brandish a 44 magnum?
- Mark, London
Lucky Punk.
- Serox, London
300 grand seems a bit steep considering the bullet missed all his vital organs - what's he being compensated for exactly? Dirty Harry always said the gun could "blow your head clean off", this bloke seems to have survived with nothing more than the odd surgical scar and a great story for his grandchildren. What a rip-off!
- Keith, Kings Cross, London, UK
"-it suddenly went off." I wonder how? It must have loaded itself and pulled its own trigger.
Could there have been a failure to observe basic firearms safety?
- Scott Johnson, Richmond, Virginia, USA
I wonder if he said 'oops'?
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark
Another police 'marksman', brilliant aren't they. The public can rest easy knowing that people like this are allowed near firearms.
- Jimbob, Kensington
