A South Dakota man has been arrested and charged with a bevy of crimes following a bizarre and unfortunate firearms accident. The man shot himself in the penis with a brand-new gun–and then, when police officers at the hospital asked for an explanation, the South Dakota man told them that “a black guy” was responsible.
South Dakota man Donald Anthony Watson is also a convicted felon, which means he is prohibited by law from owning firearms. Nonetheless, Watson was admitted to the emergency room at 1:30 in the morning of September 6th, needing treatment for an acute “gunshot wound to his penis.”
Before surgery (but hopefully after some mild sedation), police officers interrogated Watson, and got the first of the three different stories he told about his condition. The 43-year-old South Dakota man first said he had been shot in the penis by “a black guy [who] tried to rob” him as he took out the trash.
Officers went to Watson’s apartment to check out his story, and, immediately, noticed inconsistencies. There was no evidence of a shooting out by the dumpster. And a neighbor told the police that he heard screams–of tremendous pain, presumably–coming from Watson’s apartment at about 1 AM.
Intrigued, the officers got a search warrant for Watson’s apartment. They found bullet fragments and an empty shell casing…but no gun. So they returned to the hospital to interrogate Watson as he was heading into surgery. He admitted he shot himself, but claimed that the penis shot happened “while he was looking at a gun he was trying to buy.”
Following surgery, officers interviewed the South Dakota man one more time. Watson told them he had been examining the gun and that it discharged when he put it in his pocket. He refused to tell them who the owner of the gun was or where the gun was now. As such, Watson was placed under arrest on the following charges: false report of a crime to law enforcement; false report of information to law enforcement; possession of a firearm by a convicted felon; and possession of a firearm by a drug offender.
As news of Watson’s arrest went viral, the hashtag #SouthDakotaNotFlorida began trending on Twitter.
(Photo credits: South Dakota man one, two, three via Flickr)
