As they say, “Don’t Try This At Home!”
A young Edmonton man who grievously wounded his friend while testing a supposedly “stab-proof” vest was sentenced to six months in jail Tuesday.
Court heard that Justin Harder, 18, was bragging to his friend Calvin Wesley Clackson, 21 about a “stab-proof” vest he’d just acquired as they hung out in an apartment suite at 106th Avenue and 116th Street, Crown prosecutor Mark Huyser-Wierenga told court.
Harder was so confident in the vest that night in October 2012 that he believed it would deflect any attack with a knife. Harder eagerly invited his friend to stab him in the chest to prove the vest worked.
“Mr. Clackson foolishly obliged him,” Huyser-Wierenga said.
According to the agreed statement of facts, Clackson stabbed at his friend with a folding knife. The blade tore through the vest and plunged into Harder’s chest near his heart.
When Clackson withdrew the blade and saw “blood spurting all over the place,” he fled the apartment.
Harder was seriously injured and only survived because of emergency surgery that night, court heard.
He’s lucky to be alive! Still, this incident is NOT a “Gun Death”.
H/T Unc
Where’s the Bad Justice tag on this one Weer’d?
I don’t see a crime here at all. I see a couple of doofus’ screwing around and one getting hurt (which is what usually happens). If the truth is what was reported in the story, all they were doing was basically testing a piece of safety equipment, and found that it was faulty. Or, more likely, they were mistaken about what the equipment was even for in the first place. Every so often you hear about someone getting stabbed pretty bad because of the mistaken belief that a “bullet proof” vest would also stop a knife (nope).
Stupid? Yes! Malice? I just don’t see it.
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While I agree with you, also note the stabber “only” got six months for “criminal negligence causing bodily harm” (and the article says that after credit for time served, he’s got about two months left). Based on the sentence, it’s probably some variety of misdemeanor.
Beats the hell out of a felony rap for attempted murder or even involuntary manslaughter.