Handyman Nailed with His Own Nail Gun
Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2004 2:48 pm
SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) - An Australian handyman admitted he was stupid to shoot himself in the head with a nail gun in a misguided prank that left him with a nail lodged in his brain.
Brad Shorten, a father of three from Victoria state, was enjoying a few beers with friends after working on his house when they began joking about industrial accidents.
Shorten, 33, picked up a nail gun that he thought was empty, pointed it at his head and pulled the trigger.
He later said he had turned off the gun's compressor and taken out its nail cartridge but did not realize there was still enough pressure in the gun to fire a nail.
"My mates and I were talking about construction site accidents and taking your eye out with a nail gun, and I foolishly put the gun to my head and pulled the trigger," Shorten told the Sunday Herald Sun newspaper.
"I did a very stupid thing," he said.
The bizarre mishap left him with a 1.25-inch nail counter-sunk through his skull just behind his temple.
Royal Melbourne Hospital neurosurgeons removed the nail in a delicate four-hour operation even though Shorten, who was expected to make a full recovery, had offered to take the nail out with a pair of pliers.
Brad Shorten, a father of three from Victoria state, was enjoying a few beers with friends after working on his house when they began joking about industrial accidents.
Shorten, 33, picked up a nail gun that he thought was empty, pointed it at his head and pulled the trigger.
He later said he had turned off the gun's compressor and taken out its nail cartridge but did not realize there was still enough pressure in the gun to fire a nail.
"My mates and I were talking about construction site accidents and taking your eye out with a nail gun, and I foolishly put the gun to my head and pulled the trigger," Shorten told the Sunday Herald Sun newspaper.
"I did a very stupid thing," he said.
The bizarre mishap left him with a 1.25-inch nail counter-sunk through his skull just behind his temple.
Royal Melbourne Hospital neurosurgeons removed the nail in a delicate four-hour operation even though Shorten, who was expected to make a full recovery, had offered to take the nail out with a pair of pliers.