Sheriff’s Deputy Injured on Firing Range Sues Frangible Ammunition Firm

The firm that provided the ammunition that is supposed to disintegrate upon impact was sued by McHenry County Sheriff’s Deputy Eric Woods in Federal Court on January 25, 2011.

McHenry County Blog obtained the purchase orders through a Freedom of Information Act request and published an article on April 30, 2010.

International Cartridge Corporation of Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania was the supplier.

In his suit, being represented by Rockford attorney Kevin P. Justen, Woods asks for more that $75,000, apparently a needed threshold for gaining Federal jurisdiction, for what happened on the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department’s Shooting Range on March 15th.

The brief points out that ICC’s bullet “fragments of the frangible bullet rebounded and ricocheted into” Woods as a result of a “manufacturing defect…theĀ  bullets did not disintegrate on impact.”

There was not adequate warning of this “hazard,” the suit says.

An International Cartridge Corporation video promotes no ricocheting. More visuals at the original article linked above.

The “defects that rendered the frangible bullets unreasonably dangerous to its intended users were the proximate cause of the personal injuries and damages sustained by” Woods.

And what was he impact of the injury on Woods?

“Woods

  • sustained severe and permanent bodily injuries,
  • resulting in the Plaintiff incurring medical bills and expenses in endeavoring to treat and cure his injuries,
  • has caused him great pain and suffering, and will cause him in the future great pain and suffering, and
  • he has lost great gains that would have otherwise been made and acquired and will in the future lose gains he would have made and acquired and he has and continues to be impaired from going about his daily affairs,

all to his damage.”

The nature of the injuries are described as

  • personal,
  • pecuniary and
  • permanent

You can read the original filing here.


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