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Should I have posted this under True Tales of Self Defense! :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
Runaway hog shot on school property
State won't prosecute neighborhood butcher
PostedSaturday, February 2, 2008
GREENWOOD -- A rifle-toting butcher, his son and grandson chased an escaped hog into a Mennonite schoolyard this week.
There is no punch line.
The, uh, chase started when the 300-pound hog broke through a rotted pen at Tommy Tucker's butcher shop and made its dash for freedom Wednesday -- a dash that took it onto the grounds of the Greenwood Mennonite School.
When Tucker realized the hog had bolted, he knew he had to act quickly.
"The first thing you think about is, go get it and kill it," said Tucker, 61. "I was thinking about the safety of the kids."
So Tucker grabbed a .22-caliber rifle and he, his son and grandson jumped into a pickup truck and drove after the future bacon.
Down the road, children at the Mennonite school were outside on the playground.
But when teachers saw the 300-pounder approaching, they hustled the students inside.
Soon, the Tuckers were on the scene and they herded the hog away from the school into a field and shot it once. Then they took it across the road into another field and killed it.
What the three men didn't realize was the field in which they fired the first shot belonged to the school -- leading to a state police investigation of firing a weapon in a school zone.
On Friday, Tucker got good news: The state won't prosecute.
The remorseful butcher said the next time he has to deal with something like that, he'll leave the gun behind.
"If I had to do it over again, I'd not have done it," Tucker said. "I was thinking that the hog's going to root the ground up, it's liable to run into one of the kids."
Even a domesticated hog, such as the one that almost got away, can be dangerous running loose in an unfamiliar place, he said.
Sheldon Swartzentruber, school board president for the 220-student school east of Greenwood, said there was never any danger to students from either the hog or the shooting.
Tucker said the shot his son, Jimmy, fired near the school didn't go through the hog, and he was aiming away from the building.
Delaware State Police Cpl. Wes Barnett said neither the school nor Tucker reported the incident. Police were alerted by a local television station.
Swartzentruber said the school didn't contact police because no one was hurt. He said Tucker is a longtime friend of the school, volunteering as an auctioneer at fundraisers.
"It was just one of those impulse things that just kind of happened," Swartzentruber said.
Barnett said the Attorney General's Office declined Friday to prosecute the case. Tucker said Friday afternoon that he hadn't been contacted, but was relieved to hear the news.
"I'm not a criminal," said Tucker, who has run a butcher shop with his wife off and on since 1975. He also farms on 600 acres nearby.
Swartzentruber said the incident isn't likely to repeat itself.
"I do understand the concern about a firearm on school property," he said. "It was kind of a unique situation that sort of got blown out of proportion."
As for the hog, it ended up in the same place it was headed before the escape.
The meat is now sitting in Tucker's freezer, waiting for its owner to pick it up.
Should I have posted this under True Tales of Self Defense! :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
Runaway hog shot on school property
State won't prosecute neighborhood butcher
PostedSaturday, February 2, 2008
GREENWOOD -- A rifle-toting butcher, his son and grandson chased an escaped hog into a Mennonite schoolyard this week.
There is no punch line.
The, uh, chase started when the 300-pound hog broke through a rotted pen at Tommy Tucker's butcher shop and made its dash for freedom Wednesday -- a dash that took it onto the grounds of the Greenwood Mennonite School.
When Tucker realized the hog had bolted, he knew he had to act quickly.
"The first thing you think about is, go get it and kill it," said Tucker, 61. "I was thinking about the safety of the kids."
So Tucker grabbed a .22-caliber rifle and he, his son and grandson jumped into a pickup truck and drove after the future bacon.
Down the road, children at the Mennonite school were outside on the playground.
But when teachers saw the 300-pounder approaching, they hustled the students inside.
Soon, the Tuckers were on the scene and they herded the hog away from the school into a field and shot it once. Then they took it across the road into another field and killed it.
What the three men didn't realize was the field in which they fired the first shot belonged to the school -- leading to a state police investigation of firing a weapon in a school zone.
On Friday, Tucker got good news: The state won't prosecute.
The remorseful butcher said the next time he has to deal with something like that, he'll leave the gun behind.
"If I had to do it over again, I'd not have done it," Tucker said. "I was thinking that the hog's going to root the ground up, it's liable to run into one of the kids."
Even a domesticated hog, such as the one that almost got away, can be dangerous running loose in an unfamiliar place, he said.
Sheldon Swartzentruber, school board president for the 220-student school east of Greenwood, said there was never any danger to students from either the hog or the shooting.
Tucker said the shot his son, Jimmy, fired near the school didn't go through the hog, and he was aiming away from the building.
Delaware State Police Cpl. Wes Barnett said neither the school nor Tucker reported the incident. Police were alerted by a local television station.
Swartzentruber said the school didn't contact police because no one was hurt. He said Tucker is a longtime friend of the school, volunteering as an auctioneer at fundraisers.
"It was just one of those impulse things that just kind of happened," Swartzentruber said.
Barnett said the Attorney General's Office declined Friday to prosecute the case. Tucker said Friday afternoon that he hadn't been contacted, but was relieved to hear the news.
"I'm not a criminal," said Tucker, who has run a butcher shop with his wife off and on since 1975. He also farms on 600 acres nearby.
Swartzentruber said the incident isn't likely to repeat itself.
"I do understand the concern about a firearm on school property," he said. "It was kind of a unique situation that sort of got blown out of proportion."
As for the hog, it ended up in the same place it was headed before the escape.
The meat is now sitting in Tucker's freezer, waiting for its owner to pick it up.
