July 24, 2010
Guilty Plea In Shooting Of Hunter
A Colliers man was sentenced to community service Tuesday for accidentally shooting another man while hunting in May.
David Eugene Nale, 67, pleaded guilty to negligent shooting before Brooke County Magistrate Michael Allman. Following the plea, Allman sentenced Nale to 20 days in jail, then suspended the sentence in lieu of 160 hours of community service. According to the criminal complaint filed in magistrate court, Nale was turkey hunting at about 8 a.m. May 15 when the incident occurred.
The shooting took place on the grounds of the Colliers Sportsman Club off Putney Ridge Road.
The document alleges Nale “did carelessly and negligently shoot” 35-year-old John McKinney of Follansbee, “causing serious bodily injury.”
Nale told investigators he saw movement in the brush in front of him and fired a shot from his scoped, .17-caliber rifle. The round hit McKinney “in the back of the neck and lodged in the left side of his neck.”
Nale reportedly dialed 911 from his cell phone, and McKinney was subsequently airlifted to United Presbyterian Medical Center in Pittsburgh, where he was treated and eventually released.
Steve Himmelrick, Brooke County’s conservation officer from the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, investigated the incident.