Today's award goes to an over-enthusiastic and under-trained policeman in Pakistan.
A hand grenade exploded inside courtroom in Karachi’s Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) after a judge asked a police constable if he knew how grenades worked.
The constable, instead of explaining his expertise in weapons and grenade handling to the judge, opted to demonstrate practically by promptly pulling out the pin from the grenade.
This resulted in a loud explosion, injuring five including the judge, the constable and a court clerk.
. . .
It is safe to say that now the whole court knows how grenades work, including the curious judge.
According to authorities, the constable who apparently knows how grenades work will be punished severely after he recovers from his injuries.
There's more at the link.
Sounds like a triumph of optimism and enthusiasm over (in)experience! A tip o' the hat to reader M. J. for sending me the link.
Peter
Yeah, generally grenades don't take much explanation. After you've seen one work, the experience sticks with you.
ReplyDeleteI always hated the damned things. The best part of a grenade was the box it came in. Great little cylinder storage box, awesome for storing toilet paper.
A bullet might have your name on it, but a grenade is addressed "To whom it may concern..."
ReplyDeleteA retired air force guy I met was telling me of his time in Korea, when he was some sort of fac or liaison with the Infantry. Apparently he was in a fortified position, and the CO told him to uncrate a bunch of grenades and take them out of the storage containers. Figuring this was just some routine task , he methodically took took each one out of it's container and set it down, not noticing the CO's increasingly agitated peering out through the observation slit. Finally he turned around and said, "can't you get those damned things ready any faster? They are almost here!" At that point his effort's went from theoretical to practical in a flash. I guess they used them all.
ReplyDeleteOBVIOUSLY, his instructor forget to mention an important principle:
ReplyDelete"Once you remove the pin, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend."
Ed'n