[Mb-civic] Cheney Hunting Companion Is Released From Hospital - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Cheney Hunting Companion Is Released From Hospital

By John Pomfret
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 18, 2006; A06

CORPUS CHRISTI, Tex., Feb. 17 -- The Texas lawyer shot by Vice President 
Cheney during a hunting trip was discharged from a hospital Friday, and 
he described his ordeal as "a cloud of misfortune and sadness that is 
not easy to explain," saying he was sorry for all the vice president and 
his family had to go through.

With his face shrouded in bruises and scars on his eyelid and neck, 
Harry Whittington stood outside the Corpus Christi hospital where he 
spent the past six days and told reporters in a hoarse but clear voice 
that "accidents do and will happen."

"We all assume certain risks in what we do, in what activities we 
pursue," Whittington, 78, said in his first public statement since 
Cheney sprayed him in the face, neck and chest with birdshot last 
Saturday during a hunting trip at a ranch owned by the Armstrong family, 
prominent figures in Texas Republican politics.

Cheney, meanwhile, told the Wyoming legislature Friday that he had had a 
long week. "Thankfully, Harry Whittington is on the mend and doing 
well," Cheney said. Lawmakers in Cheney's home state gave him a standing 
ovation and 36 seconds of applause.

The Bush administration has been criticized because of Cheney's failure 
to publicly disclose Saturday's accident until the next day. Cheney 
waited for four days to comment, then told Fox News in an interview 
Wednesday that he took full responsibility for the shooting. "I'm the 
guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend," Cheney said, calling the 
incident "one of the worst days of my life." On Thursday, President Bush 
said Cheney handled the situation "just fine."

Whittington's release came a day after the Kenedy County Sheriff's 
Department declared the shooting an accident that did not warrant 
charges. The report generally corroborated the account Cheney gave Fox 
News and the account that was first provided by Katharine Armstrong, who 
hosted the hunt and saw the shooting. All parties involved have insisted 
that people were not drinking on the shoot, although Cheney has 
acknowledged having a beer at lunch, about four hours before Whittington 
was wounded.

David Blanchard, chief of emergency care at the Christus Spohn Memorial 
Hospital, said Whittington, a prominent Texas Republican, was being 
released because of "his excellent health," but added that Whittington 
would not answer questions because "he is not 100 percent." Blanchard 
said the Austin lawyer was lucky to have survived the shooting.

Cheney has said he was standing 30 yards from Whittington when he fired. 
But hunters and firearms experts questioned whether birdshot from a 
28-gauge shotgun, known as a "gentleman's gun" because the ammunition is 
expensive and the firearm is light, could have passed through 
Whittington's clothes and entered his thoracic cavity at such a distance.

Jim Wilson, the retired sheriff of Crockett County in West Texas and the 
handguns editor at Shooting Times, said that he doubted Whittington was 
that far from Cheney.

"At 30 yards that shot pattern is going to have spread quite a bit," he 
said. "You could put a person's eye out, but hitting a person's body, 
the shot won't penetrate very far."

Nonetheless, Wilson, like other hunters in Texas, said persistent 
questions about the accident reflected an ignorance of how 
investigations are conducted in Texas. Some have questioned why Kenedy 
County Sheriff Ramon Salinas III waited until the morning after the 
shooting to interview Cheney and witnesses.

"I would have done the same thing as long as I felt warning bells hadn't 
gone off," Wilson said. "I wouldn't necessarily have run right out 
there. The local sheriff probably knew the ranchers well. That's just 
rural law enforcement."

Charles E. Soechting, the chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, said 
that despite his party affiliation he is sympathetic to Cheney and his 
victim. Part of the problem, he said, is that many people do not 
understand that getting peppered with birdshot is fairly common among 
upland bird hunters.

"Hunting accidents like this happen on a fairly regular basis," he said. 
"A month ago, I was shot in the head quail hunting. I got three pellets, 
and every one of them hurt good."

And who shot Soechting? "A high-ranking law enforcement officer."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/17/AR2006021701888.html
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