Man linked/arrested to death from 'falling bullet'

[moshquerade]

Man Arrested In New Year's 'Falling Bullet' Death
Bullet Traveled 1 Mile Before Piercing Man's Heart

POSTED: 5:51 pm EST January 14, 2005
UPDATED: 10:28 pm EST January 15, 2005

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Orange County sheriff's deputies have arrested a 24-year-old man Friday who allegedly fired a bullet into the sky on New Year's Eve that later fell to earth and pierced a man's heart, according to Local 6 News.

Henry McDaniel, 75, was walking in a neighborhood near Orlando just before midnight when he collapsed in the street, witnesses and sheriff's officials said. He had been at a party celebrating the New Year with friends and had decided to visit another house.

Before he collapsed, McDaniel told friends who were standing with him near the street: "Boys, something hit me. Something hit me."

Doctors at Orlando Regional Medical Center later discovered the bullet, which struck his heart.

Officials blamed the death on a common but illegal practice by New Year's Eve revelers to shoot into the air and began an investigation.

On New Year's Eve, an Orlando police officer responded to the 1000 block of Plymouth Avenue after reports of gunshots.

The Orlando police officer reportedly confiscated a gun from Richardo Roach, 24, (pictured, left) and then contacted the Orange County Sheriff's Office after hearing about McDaniel's death. Roach reportedly admitted to firing the gun into the air, Local 6 News reported.

The weapon was examined forensically by the Sheriff's Office and then by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It was determined that the confiscated weapon fired the round that killed McDaniel.

The bullet traveled more than one mile before it came down and hit McDaniel, Local 6 News reported.

Roach was interviewed by officers and later arrested. He has been charged with manslaughter.

http://www.local6.com/news/4084756/detail.html

 

[Red]

What luck!

 

[jadinolf]

They will never learn.

 

[Hammer]

when i see people in the middle east firing into the air, i always think about this.

 

[jlee]

I remember reading about the death when it had happened..I was a little surprised to see that they actually found the guy.

 

[edro]

Wow... I didn't think a bullet had that much forcing falling back down. I thought Myth Busters debunked that using coins? Does the bullet have a certain set velocity rate when it is falling?

 

[mobobuff]

I'd be interested to see a computer simulated graph of the projectile path.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: Red
What luck!

Suicidal much?

 

[SludgeFactory]

Pretty amazing that they caught him that night.

This same sh!t happens in New Orleans with regularity, somebody gets hit with a stray bullet every New Year's.

Originally posted by: Hammer
when i see people in the middle east firing into the air, i always think about this.

me too, what goes up must come down

 

[Cristatus]

I always wondered what happened to bullets fired in the air.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: edro13
Wow... I didn't think a bullet had that much forcing falling back down. I thought Myth Busters debunked that using coins? Does the bullet have a certain set velocity rate when it is falling?

A bullet will have the same speed going up as it does coming down. SO if it travels at 100mph out of the gun that is 5 feet off the ground, it will also be travling at 100mph when it comes down at around the same level it left off at, 5 feet. Now of course it may change depending on angle, wind speed, and other factors. But none the less, a bullet goes up, it must come down.

 

[glugglug]

If done properly, firing a bullet into the air is completely safe. That is, you have to fire it close to straight up -- it will stay up longer and the air resistance will have more time to slow it down before it falls.

This guy fired it much closer to horizontal, which is how the bullet traveled over a mile horizontally on it's way up & down, which means less rise and fall time since the vertical component of the path is so much smaller, and less time for it to slow down.

Edit: well, not completely safe, but a bullet fired vertically will come back down slow enough to just cause minor injuries, like getting hit by a rock, not fatalities.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: logic1485
I always wondered what happened to bullets fired in the air.

wonder no more

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: edro13
Wow... I didn't think a bullet had that much forcing falling back down. I thought Myth Busters debunked that using coins? Does the bullet have a certain set velocity rate when it is falling?

A bullet will have the same speed going up as it does coming down. SO if it travels at 100mph out of the gun that is 5 feet off the ground, it will also be travling at 100mph when it comes down at around the same level it left off at, 5 feet. Now of course it may change depending on angle, wind speed, and other factors. But none the less, a bullet goes up, it must come down.

I'm skeptical about this... what happened to 9.8m/s^2... that wouldn't apply going both ways... only 1... coming back down.

 

[GasX]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: edro13
Wow... I didn't think a bullet had that much forcing falling back down. I thought Myth Busters debunked that using coins? Does the bullet have a certain set velocity rate when it is falling?

A bullet will have the same speed going up as it does coming down. SO if it travels at 100mph out of the gun that is 5 feet off the ground, it will also be travling at 100mph when it comes down at around the same level it left off at, 5 feet. Now of course it may change depending on angle, wind speed, and other factors. But none the less, a bullet goes up, it must come down.

Proof that a little knowledge of something complicated rarely leads one to an understanding of the topic

 

[classy]

When you do that you should use shotgun shells, the pellets scatter and for the most part are harmless. Thats a shame, hopefully he won't get a big sentence, maybe a few months in the county jail, thats a shame.

 

[mobobuff]

Originally posted by: Mwilding

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: edro13
Wow... I didn't think a bullet had that much forcing falling back down. I thought Myth Busters debunked that using coins? Does the bullet have a certain set velocity rate when it is falling?

A bullet will have the same speed going up as it does coming down. SO if it travels at 100mph out of the gun that is 5 feet off the ground, it will also be travling at 100mph when it comes down at around the same level it left off at, 5 feet. Now of course it may change depending on angle, wind speed, and other factors. But none the less, a bullet goes up, it must come down.

Proof that a little knowledge of something complicated rarely leads one to an understanding of the topic

:thumbsup:

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: Mwilding

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: edro13
Wow... I didn't think a bullet had that much forcing falling back down. I thought Myth Busters debunked that using coins? Does the bullet have a certain set velocity rate when it is falling?

A bullet will have the same speed going up as it does coming down. SO if it travels at 100mph out of the gun that is 5 feet off the ground, it will also be travling at 100mph when it comes down at around the same level it left off at, 5 feet. Now of course it may change depending on angle, wind speed, and other factors. But none the less, a bullet goes up, it must come down.

Proof that a little knowledge of something complicated rarely leads one to an understanding of the topic

Here is a article written about it.

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a950414b.html

Just backs up what I was getting into, if in a vacuum then it will be the same speed, BUT because of resistance of the air, its terminal velocity, it will be slower, but still enough to probable hurt and/or kill ya.

 

[naruto1988]

wow. just wow. i always thought this would happen someday.

 

[irwincur]

This kind of activity is usually linked to quite a few deaths every year. Not a significant number, but enough to raise alarm in some urban areas. I saw a show on this, and they claimed that around 200 people are shot this way every year, about 20 or so die.

 

[Kelemvor]

They did a CSI episode about this too.

That's why it's illegal to shoot firearms within city limits....

 

[rh71]

now it has hit me how my dad's tire had a bullet hole in it from driving on the freeway...

 

[SludgeFactory]

Originally posted by: edro13
Wow... I didn't think a bullet had that much forcing falling back down. I thought Myth Busters debunked that using coins? Does the bullet have a certain set velocity rate when it is falling?

well I know it's been debated here before, and IIRC there was a military study done on it that showed if the bullet is fired vertically then it's not that dangerous. (rh71 linked that very thread!)

Basically if shot straight up, the impulse from the explosion of gunpowder creates an initial velocity much higher than whatever drag-limited terminal velocity the bullet achieves on the way back down. As you fire in a more horizontal direction, you would bleed off less of that inital velocity before you hit an object on the ground and have more penetrating energy.

The problem with drunken gun-firing bastards on New Year's is that they're not carefully calculating the trajectory of their bullets and more likely firing at ~45 degrees and into somebody's house down the block.

 

[tyler811]

Originally posted by: logic1485
I always wondered what happened to bullets fired in the air.

they come back down

 

[daveshel]

I guess Richardo never read Deadeye Dick.