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Cheney accidentally hurts fellow hunter
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-13 09:45
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and
wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the
fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.
Harry Whittington, a millionaire attorney from Austin, was in stable
condition in the intensive care unit of a Corpus Christi hospital on Sunday,
according to Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System.
Vice President Dick
Cheney, center, accepts a rifle from National Rifle Association President
Kayne Robinson, right, and NRA Vice President Wayne R. LaPierre, after
concluding his keynote address to the 133rd annuanl NRA convention in this
April 17, 2004 file photo in Pittsburgh. Cheney accidentally shot and
injured a man during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, his
spokeswoman said Sunday Feb. 12, 2006. [AP] | The
incident occurred Saturday at a ranch in south Texas where the vice president
and two companions were hunting quail. It was not reported publicly by the vice
president's office for nearly 24 hours, and then only after the incident was
reported locally by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
Katharine Armstrong, the ranch's owner, said Sunday that Cheney was using a
28-guage shotgun and that Whittington was about 30 yards away when he was hit in
the cheek, neck and chest.
Each of the hunters were wearing bright orange vests at the time, Armstrong
told reporters at the ranch about 60 miles southwest of Corpus Christi. She said
Whittington was "alert and doing fine."
Armstrong in an interview with The Associated Press said emergency personnel
traveling with Cheney tended to Whittington before an ambulance — routinely on
call because of the vice president's presence — took him to the hospital.
Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said the vice president met with
Whittington and his wife at the hospital on Sunday. Cheney "was pleased to see
that he's doing fine and in good spirits," she said.
Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and
another hunter got out of the vehicle to shoot at a covey of quail.
Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in the tall grass, while
Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and discovered a second
covey.
Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and
didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," Armstrong said.
"The vice president didn't see him," she continued. "The covey flushed and
the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god,
Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good."
Whittington has been a private practice attorney in Austin since 1950 and has
long been active in Texas Republican politics. He's been appointed to several
state boards, including when then-Gov. George W. Bush named him to the Texas
Funeral Service Commission.
McBride did not comment about why the vice president's office did not tell
reporters about the accident until the next day. She referred the question to
Armstrong, who could not be reached again Sunday evening.
Armstrong, owner of the Armstrong Ranch where the accident occurred, said
Whittington was bleeding and Cheney was very apologetic.
"It broke the skin," she said of the shotgun pellets. "It knocked him silly.
But he was fine. He was talking. His eyes were open. It didn't get in his eyes
or anything like that."
"Fortunately, the vice president has got a lot of medical people around him
and so they were right there and probably more cautious than we would have
been," she said. "The vice president has got an ambulance on call, so the
ambulance came."
Cheney is an avid hunter who makes annual hunting trips to South Dakota to
hunt pheasants. He also travels frequently to Arkansas to hunt ducks.
Armstrong said Cheney is a longtime friend who comes to the ranch to hunt
about once a year and is "a very safe sportsman." She said Whittington is a
regular, too, but she thought it was the first time the two men hunted together.
"This is something that happens from time to time. You now, I've been
peppered pretty well myself," said Armstrong.
The 50,000-acre Armstrong ranch has been in the influential south Texas
family since the turn of the last century. Katharine is the daughter of Tobin
Armstrong, a politically connected rancher who has been a guest at the White
House and spent 48 years as director of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle
Raisers Association. He died in October. Cheney was among the dignitaries who
attended his funeral. 
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