EDMOND —
Sometimes a news story comes over the wire that causes you to say, “Now wait just a minute.” Sometimes, when the official police statement is, “We see no need for further investigation,” a mental alert goes off saying: Warning, there could be a cover up here. These are precisely my reactions to a story covered by Reuters news service this week.
Here’s the background. Last Saturday, 35-year-old Gregory Lanier showed up at a Florida hospital with a gunshot wound to his left leg. Since law enforcement is bound to investigate reports involving gunshots, officers were dispatched to look into it. According to Mr. Lanier, he was shot while driving his truck on a highway near Sebring, Fla. He informed the officers that this was not a random drive-by shooting committed by an unknown assailant. He insisted there was no need to look for a suspect as he knew who shot him. He assured the officers there was no crime. It was clearly an accident. It was his dog. That’s right. His dog shot him.
He insisted there was no foul play as he (and presumably the dog) both thought the gun was unloaded. No doubt you could have knocked them both over with a proverbial feather when the thing went off. So how, you may ask, exactly did the dog accidentally discharge this allegedly unloaded weapon? This is precisely the question the investigators asked.
Well, it’s like this. There was this .380 Beretta semi-automatic — presumably unloaded like I said — just sitting on the passenger floor board. The dog, described in the report as “the black and tan English bulldog,” for his unspecified motive, kicked the weapon causing it to discharge. The bullet traveled over or under Lanier’s right leg producing a hole in his left.
As you can see, there are aspects of the story that might cause a police investigator to be — skeptical. First, regarding the weapon’s caliber. According to some reports, Lanier first claimed it was a .380. The firearm found in his truck was a 9 mm. This appears to be an inconsistency, but let’s put that aside. There remains the question of the safety. My Berettas all have safeties. I’m assuming this one did as well. If “someone” left the safety “off,” we’re dealing with another level of recklessness in addition to the “I didn’t think it was loaded” gaff.
If it was “on,” that means the bulldog had to release it and then “accidentally” kick the firearm. The situation is starting to get complicated.
At this point, we have to entertain one of three possibilities. First, the dog didn’t shoot Lanier at all. We might be dealing with a self-inflicted wound — deliberate or accidental. Surely not. Surely Lanier wouldn’t blame an innocent dog for his own foolishness. Surely he’d be adult enough to say, “It’s not the dog’s fault. I accidentally shot my own self.” So, I think we can eliminate a self-inflicted gunshot wound — don’t you?
Maybe it wasn’t the dog at all. Maybe it was someone else. Lanier might be trying to frame the dog in order to protect the real shooter. Maybe some other person (or pet) had or thought they had a good reason to plug Mr. Lanier and, for reasons of his own, Lanier doesn’t want the real shooter to face the consequences. It’s better, according to this theory, to let the dog take the rap than turn the real culprit over to the law. After all, it’s Lanier’s word against the bulldog’s. Possible. But what kind of jerk would let a dog, man’s best friend, take the fall for something he didn’t do?
Finally, it’s possible this was no accident. Maybe the dog meant to plug him. I had occasion to discuss this “accident” with a retired Florida policeman. He wasn’t buying it.
“Let’s face it Hink, there are some breeds that are more likely to pull the trigger than others. If it was a cat in that truck, I’d say it was an open and shut case of attempted murder. But since it was a bulldog, I have doubts. Firearms are just not a bulldog’s weapon of choice. Or, in official police terms, it’s not his modus operandi.”
I read my police friend the official department statement: “We didn’t spend a lot of time investigating it. There doesn’t appear to be any criminal act involved. You don’t have to be licensed in Florida to carry a handgun.” My friend smiled and winked. “That’s right. Let’s hope Mr. Lanier learned his lesson. The dog may have intended this to be only a warning shot.” I’m Hink and I’ll see ya.
MIKE HINKLE is an Edmond resident and retired attorney.
Opinion
Dog shoots man story smells fishy
- Opinion
-
-
Seeing yourself as the world sees you
Ever try seeing yourself as others see you, or your piece of the world as others see your piece of the world?
You know, if you could get others to see you, or if you could get other parts of the world to see your part of it?
Narcissism and inferiority, both, can trap us in front of a mirror, admiring or lamenting, pleased or not pleased by the vision we presumably offer others.
Yet, what’s happened over the last three days, since yet another deadly tornado rolled through Moore, offers an entirely different perspective.
Through strength or weakness, we may take an interest in how we project. But when the “Today Show” is broadcast from the rubble and the network evening news has placed its anchor amidst the carnage; and when the news channels descend upon the destruction and every newspaper in the country is playing your and your neighbors’ plight bigger than its own hometown news, it turns surreal. -
ROCK DOC: Japanese find a new source of natural gas
The name “natural gas” might be a puzzle. After all, how could there be such a thing as unnatural gas? The reason we call natural gas what we do has to do with history. There was a day that people made burnable gas by heating coal. The gases that came off the coal were piped around cities where they did things like light street lamps and even power cook stoves in homes.
Coal gas had its down side. For one thing, it often contained carbon monoxide. And it took energy to make the gas, so it never could be truly cheap. -
Witnesses missing; Behenna case could be heard at Supreme Court
The film “Breaker Morant” was nominated for an Oscar for the best screenplay in 1980. It told the story of Harry “Breaker” Morant, an Australian who served in the British Army and was court-martialed for alleged war crimes during the Boer War in Southern Africa in the early years of the last century.
That conflict pitted the British Army against the descendants of the Dutch settlers who had migrated to what is now South Africa in the 17th and 18th centuries. The majority of them were farmers and in their language of Afrikaans were known as “Boers.” -
Don’t leave Oklahoma!
May is graduation season. As I have done every year as lieutenant governor, I have given multiple commencement speeches. Advice flows freely during this time and it usually runs the gamut. What to do, what not to do, how to do ‘x’, be sure not to do ‘y.’ Too often commencement speakers speak in big generalities. So general, the message is frequently lost or forgotten.
-
Last-minute funding proposals not in state’s best interest
All indications point to this being the last week of this year’s legislative session. The Legislature will go home a week early. This is good news for Oklahomans as not only will there be cost savings but all Oklahomans should breathe a sigh of relief when the Legislature stops making new laws a week ahead of schedule.
As usual, the Legislature will take a number of important votes during the last week. Some will be forced due to attempts to introduce and pass far-reaching, new policies that should have been introduced much earlier in the year. -
BY THE NUMBERS: Oklahoma still needs to invest in its economy
After six months of stagnation, the Oklahoma economy finally appears to be expanding again albeit still weakly. Unfortunately, our leaders aren’t making the investments we need to give our economic prospects a boost.
Last week the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services reported that in April state General Revenue fund collections were 5.2 percent above the estimate and 14.7 percent higher than last year’s collections. Under normal circumstances, such a report would indicate that the Oklahoma economy was very strong. But this isn’t a normal circumstance, and April isn’t a normal month. -
Americans deserve the truth on Benghazi
Lately, the media has been consumed by the controversies surrounding the White House. Among these controversies is the horrific terrorist attack on the United States’ diplomatic compound in Benghazi that took place Sept. 11, 2012. As more people come forward with additional information regarding the attack on the consulate, many Americans, including myself, are still asking for the truth.
The Obama Administration and the State Department have been less than forthcoming with key information on Benghazi and recent information points toward a major cover-up. -
Seizure of AP phone records insult to independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
-
HEY HINK: Some people just are not cut out for command
Recent headlines cause me to remember an incident that occurred on an army base some years ago. Warning here: I’m taking some liberties with names and details, but the basic outline of events is accurate.
A certain company commander, let’s call him Captain Duntz, had command of a motor pool on a large army base in the continental U.S. -
We’ve become our own worst enemies
The past couple months have been marked by a seeming unprecedented number of man-made tragedies, as distinct from those caused by violent outbursts of the natural world, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis.
You don’t want to dwell too long on the negative, but we do have to take notice of horrific human events and we owe it to ourselves to respond to them in some way. We don’t always agree on those responses, however, and that usually exacerbates the problem. - More Opinion Headlines
-
Seeing yourself as the world sees you
