Analysis: TX Park & Wildlife Dept. Report - Injury Drawing of Whittington

[Dunvegan]

If you look at my enlargement of the Texas Park and Wildlife Department drawing of Whittington's injuries, we can see that the neck (at least what we seen drawn in the the poor quality reproduction of the report) was fully involved, as well as his chest down to his zyphoid process.

That can't be too many scenarios that would produce this pattern.

I used a highlighted line to draw the upper- and lower-most extent of the injuries in what was sketched for the record.

Where would he have to have been standing, in what contorted fashion, and how far away from Cheney to have this sort of pattern/involvement?

Any one with a forensics or medical background, or hunters want to give their opinions on what the set-up might have been to cause this spray pattern?

Enlargement of report found at The Smoking Gun



(Thanks for the source correction, rodeodance.)

[rodeodance]

1. this is the Park and Wildlife report--we do NOT have the 'police

report"--what we have at smoking gun is a press release-not official Report.

[Dunvegan]

4. Thank you for catching that...

...rodeodance. Correcting.

[TomInTib]

10. Remember Armstrong is on the TP&W board of directors...

Still, the guy got the shit shot out of him.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

2. As a former hunter . . .

. . . I'd guess that instead of 30 yrds . . . we're talking 25-50 feet.

What you show there is a very tight pattern.

The ole guy is lucky to still have his vision.

But, of course, they may be lying about THAT as well.

Thanks for the post.

[AGKISTRODON]

3. Can't tell

We don't know how many shot hit.

[PsN2Wind]

6. The drawing, if accurate,

shows a minimal disperal of the shot pattern so we do know how many hit.........fucking near all of them.

[Zynx]

31. Looks about a foot across.

That's going to translate into something a lot closer than thirty yards. I'd say around 20-30 feet at most.

[TomInTib]

5. He was bent at the waist, maybe on his way to an upright stance

off to Cheney's right side. Right hand down and left arm at a 90 holding his shotgun (shot string trailing toward sternum).

If behind the shooter, he was facing at a 90 to the line between shooter/victim.

If directly to shooter's right, they were both facing the same direction.

I sincerely believe the distance was 30-40 feet.

And I think Whitttington is hurt pretty bad.

[Mind_your_head]

7. What bothers me about this Hunting Accident/Incident Report.....

The report states that:

shotgun wound to right side of face, neck and chest

The full frontal drawing on the report shows the wounds on the left side of the victim. The side view drawing shows the wounds on the right side (as stated in the report).

So whaddya make of that????

-------------

This is the most glaring thing I see in the report, but I notice a few other odd things in the report as well.

MYH

[Dunvegan]

11. I have a spinal problem I've had operations for lately...

...and whenever I come in, they hand me the same 4-sided body drawing and ask me to place marks where the pain is at that time.

I always sit a moment and orient myself as to what is depicted as left vs. right as I face the paper I'm making the report on (it's important since I have a lot of right-side involvement to get that right.)

If the person filling out the form was bad at visual recognition, or was hurried, or was confused for any reason, it would easily account for flipping the sides in error while moving from filling in one sketch to the next.

[Mind_your_head]

17. Perhaps, but if I was filling out something as important as this....

I would stop and think for a moment and not make a 'stupid' mistake. (Heck, I stopped for a moment to orient myself to make sure I wasn't posting foolishly)!

Also, I would think that an experienced officer would be filling out the report....They've (unfortunately) filled a lot of these things out. I don't know why an experienced officer would make a mistake like that, when they would know how 'especially important' it was to 'get it right'.

[Silverhair]

26. Remember, even on important stuff, PEOPLE STILL SCREW UP

Don't make the mistake of thinking that "Everything is deliberate" and "Nobody on their side makes ordinary mistakes." If you try to read meaning into everything, you will go mad.

There will likely be much more information in the next few days. We can wait before leaping on some Conspiracy Theory bandwagon.

[brentspeak]

15. Good pick up

[threadkillaz]

25. I saw this too. Its wrong.

They screwed up the coloring of the Frontal. Its colored on the left.

[IndianaGreen]

8. He was shot from a lot closer than the 30 yards they claimed

There is no much spread there!

[Dunvegan]

9. Thanks...I know we don't know anything for sure regarding this sketch...

...but, considering the lies/mis-direction/spin et. al. and the tight lid the Administration tries to keep on it's mistakes and wrong-doings, we may not know a the majority of the truth until it's in a history book.

Just a small attempt to "vector" towards what may (or may not) be hidden at present.

As the pollsters like to say: "Not a scientific survey."

[Ready4Change]

12. How do quail fly?

Do they fly close to the ground? Up and away?

If Whittington was bent over, picking up a bird, is it likely a quail fly off low enough for a bent over man to be in the line of the shot? Would that be normal?

[CrazyOrangeCat]

13. No, it would not be normal.

Quail fly up and away. FAST!

Way faster than these old guys could react to. Which is why, mean and twisted as it is, they have these poor, tame animals for them to shoot.

:mad:

[Dunvegan]

16. Can anyone confirm what I've heard: Tame released quail tend to..

...run away from noise, and stay close to the ground.

True or false? Anyone know?

[Ready4Change]

19. If true, that might explain it.

Anyone know?

[CrazyOrangeCat]

20. I don't know.

[jobycom]

22. My hunter boss who hunts in that area

says there aren't any real quail down there right now, that these were something else. He gave a name, I forget what it was, but I think he meant they were domesticated quail. He says he doesn't like to hunt them because when they flush they only fly about three to four feet off the ground, so there is too much risk of hitting a dog. From someone's description above, Whittington may have been crouching a little, which would put him at about the height these birds fly. Wish I could recall the word he used, sorry.

[lovuian]

23. Heres a ??? Why didn't the dog pick up the quail???

Instead of Withington...I don't buy the going behind and picking up the bird story... The injury isn't just superficial and yes Withington is lucky he isn't blind...

[Silverhair]

28. The dogs are pointers, NOT retrievers.

They are trained to find the quail by smell, and go to point. They don't retrieve.

[jobycom]

29. I wonder that, too. I don't know if all bird dogs retrieve, or if there

are times they wouldn't.

WHo knows what the real story is? I was just explaining why the birds would be flying close to the ground.

I talked to two hunters today--my boss, and a CPA I used to work with. Both are staunch Republicans. Neither buys Cheney's claims in this. They aren't really saying it didn't happen as Cheney says, but both believe Cheney had the full burden to make sure his shot was safe, and he failed at that. Both are very upset with Cheney over this. They haven't said it exactly, but you can tell they are disappointed that he's not standing up to take responsibility. It's undermined the respect they used to have for him as a person.

[TrogL]

30. WHAT dog?

There's been no reports of dogs that I've seen.

AFAIK these were basically tame, captive birds that were released - basically a "turkey shoot".

[txindy]

35. He's lucky about more than that.

He's lucky the weather was unusually cold that day (with bitterly cold, gusting winds from the north) and he was bundled up in a thick jacket, at the very least. The birdshot would've done much more damage to him (as he was reportedly hit in the shoulder and chest, too) had he been out in lighter clothing.

[Ready4Change]

18. In that case...

Why was Cheney shooting so low? With a shotgun at ones shoulder one would need to aim just a tad downwards for the shot to hit a man who is bent over to pick up a bird. Even with the shotgun held at the waist the barrel would be parallel to the ground. (And who shoots at birds like that?)

Why, when hunting quail, was Cheney shooting downwards, rather than up where the birds should be?

[CrazyOrangeCat]

21. Maybe tame birds just run along the ground looking for cover . . .

. . . doesn't sound too sporting does it?

'Course what do I expect from jerks that blow up women and children for absolutely no reason.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

24. No, it doesn't sound too sporting...

...sounds exactly like Cheney, though.

[Dunvegan]

14. Here's what I can find about hunting quail, so far...

I'll update it as I find links, as long as this post allows editing.

1. That Quail Place Forum: Hunting Gamebirds subforum
http://www.thatquailplace.com/smf/index.php?board=5.0

[Silverhair]

27. They fly different, depending on the individual quail.

Some will fly high, some low and level. All fly fast. After a short flight of about 50 to 100 meters, a quail will land and hide. Usually you come on them in a covey of about a dozen birds, and when the covey flushes they explode into the air, each on on a different path. You try to get one or two, then hunt the singles.

I have often seen quail fly low, and have seen them go high too.

[Ready4Change]

34. Thanks for the info Everyone.

I had in my mind a piture of birds popping out of cover up to about 10 feet then flying off. Sounds like quail may take different routes, some flying low enough that a crouched man might still be in the line of fire.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

32. You can't assign too much precision to this kind of sketch. Seriously.

Photos etc. would be much more precise in terms of the location of injury.

What looks like injury to the left back could be just on the side of the arm etc.

I mean, it's just a scribble for heaven's sake.

[Dunvegan]

33. So very true. I'm just thinking we're not very likely to get much...

...in the way of a photograph. Not very soon, anyway.

So, in a vacuum, one looks at what exists.

It's possible the game warden did a passible job of documenting.

Problem is that a many times what The Smoking Gun gets is via fax.

Shame, that.