A Minnesota sheriff's commander is recovering after being shot by a hunter who apparently mistook him for a wild turkey.In his 28 years with the Washington County, Minn., Sheriff's Office, Jerry Cusick had never been shot. So when he was struck by a shotgun blast fired by a hunter who apparently mistook him for a wild turkey, he was understandably shocked.
"I would liken it to somebody hitting you upside the head with a baseball bat, and you didn't expect it was coming," Cusick told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
"It spun me around, knocked my hat off," the 53-year-old sheriff's commander said. "I ducked down and saw blood was streaming down. I screamed, 'You shot me! You shot me!'"
Cusick recounted the incident on Wednesday after his release from the hospital, where he was treated for a shotgun blast to the face.
He said he was scouting for wild turkeys on Tuesday morning on private land in St. Croix County, Wis., east of St. Paul, Minn., and was walking back to his vehicle when he was shot by another turkey hunter from about 30 yards away.
"A lot of things are going through your mind. You are thinking, are you going to live or are you going to die?" Cusick told WCCO-TV.
The shooter arrived but seemed disoriented, so Cusick decided to seek help himself rather than wait, he told the Star Tribune.
With blood streaming down his face, Cusick drove to a nearby farmhouse, where the residents called an ambulance.
About 50 shotgun pellets from the 3-inch shell penetrated Cusick's face, chest and arms. He lost a front tooth and will require surgery for a pellet lodged behind an eye.
BAGGING A TURKEY
The man who shot Cusick, identified by authorities as Anthony Cardarelli, 27, of White Bear Lake, Minn., was an experienced hunter, said Dave Hausman, a warden supervisor with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in Baldwin.
"He saw movement and mistook (Cusick) for a possible turkey. With brush and things in the way he didn't have a clear view," Hausman told MSN News.
No charges have been filed, though the St. Croix County Sheriff's Office is investigating the incident.
Hausman said the shooter, who had a valid hunting license, apparently violated a cardinal rule of hunting safety: Positively identify your target and what's beyond it before pulling the trigger.
Cusick, whose job duties include teaching firearm safety classes, said he plans to return to work as quickly as possible.
"I guarantee you it won't be long before I'm back 100 percent," he told the Star Tribune.
He said the accident won't keep him from trying to bag a wild turkey this spring.
"I'm going," Cusick told the Pioneer-Press.