The accident happened in 2017. I was carrying a Derringer .38 caliber in an open leather holster. No way to secure the weapon to keep it from falling out. I was in the restroom of my residence, and the weapon fell out of the holster and discharged by my boot and into my left foot side. A complete through-and-through. It made a 90-degree angle about midway and went upwards towards my talus and took out my talus. Busted it in half. That bone in my ankle which, of course, allows your foot to fully flex in an upward position, to the left and the right.
My fiancée was with me. She was in the living room. It was a single-wide trailer. When the bullet discharged, I felt the pain and I was in disbelief simply because of the fact that I figured, or thought that a Derringer .38-caliber over and under barrels, the hammer was supposed to be fully to the rear, and the only way that the weapon would be discharged was if you pulled the trigger.
It entered through my boot, like I said, into my foot and out. Being in shock and disbelief, I looked down because the weapon had fallen on the floor. It was a tile floor in the bathroom. I guess just the jarring of it hitting the floor caused it to discharge and, of course, looking down and seeing the weapon on the floor and blood squirting out of my boot, my reaction, of course, was -- well, my fiancée heard the firearm go off, and she responded with, “Are you okay?” And I said, “No. I just shot myself in the foot.”
Called 911. And that was it. I knew where the bullet was. It didn’t go anywhere else. It didn’t kill anything. Didn’t injure anybody. Didn’t put any holes in the trailer that I’m going to have to explain to my landlord, so I was good to go.
I was sitting on the edge of the bathtub, dizzy and lightheaded. I fell backwards into the bathtub. I had the ambulance show up. I had three sheriff’s deputies respond. They picked up the firearm from the floor because when she was on the phone to the 911 dispatcher, the dispatcher told her not to pick up the firearm, to leave it exactly where it was. They put me in the ambulance and transported me to the hospital. I’m not sure exactly how long I was in the triage room before the doctor came in and told me he was taking me into surgery to remove the bullet and that I was going to be under anesthesia.
My accident was just a ridiculous fluke that happened and wasn’t meant to happen. I realize that instead of the round going through my ankle, it could have gone upwards and could have hit me in the chest. It was a stupid thing to do. I’m never taking the firearm to the bathroom again. No open holsters and shit. There’s nothing to secure that thing inside the holster. That was the thing. You pull down your pants, you’re lucky if the damn thing doesn’t fall out and shoot you.
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