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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Wounded Man Sues Over Shot In The Dark

A misdirected rifle bullet zipped through the woods last Thanksgiving and pierced Clay Folda’s right hip.

The shooting seriously injured Folda, who nearly bled to death in the woods, and left him hobbled.

The 37-year-old Coeur d’Alene hunter says in a lawsuit filed this week that Timothy Coder fired the shot in the dark. Folda is seeking an unspecified amount of money for damages, medical expenses, pain and suffering and property damages, according to the suit filed in 1st District Court.

“It makes no sense that anyone would shoot a rifle - shoot a firearm - without knowing exactly what they were shooting at,” Folda said Friday.

Bonner County prosecutors have charged Coder with aggravated battery for the shooting. They also are considering a second charge of negligent discharge of a firearm, injuring a person, prosecutor Phil Robinson said.

Coder was out of town Friday and could not be reached for comment. The Post Falls man told Bonner County sheriff’s deputies he thought he was aiming at a white-tailed deer when he squeezed the trigger on his .270-caliber rifle.

The two men were not hunting together and did not know each other. Folda said he was walking through a meadow trying to get into position before first light when he was shot near Kelso Lake, south of Sandpoint.

“I didn’t think I was going to live,” Folda said.

One of Folda’s hunting partners hiked back to where their vehicles were parked and used a cellular telephone to report the shooting. He then rammed Folda’s truck through a steel gate and drove it into the woods to take him out to meet an ambulance.

“If they would have had to carry me out, I would have bled to death,” Folda said. “I wouldn’t have made it.”

Authorities said the call for help reached dispatchers at 6:44 a.m. Sunrise was at 6:36.

Two friends hunting with Folda, all wearing hunter orange vests, told deputies the shot was fired shortly after 6 a.m., when it still was dark.

“Bottom line is it was pitch dark out, so he was shooting at movement,” said Folda.

Folda spent three weeks in the hospital following the shooting and has undergone nine surgeries. The bullet severed Folda’s sciatic nerve, making it a struggle to walk with a brace.

“You can’t call this an accident,” Folda said. “This is no accident. This is an act of ignorance.”

, DataTimes