Man Hit By Broken Metal From Cannon During War Reenactment In Norwood
NORWOOD (CBS) - Since his office is right on the route, Dr. Fred Rondinelli always tries to catch at least part of the Norwood 4th of July Parade.
And this year, there was a even World War II battle reenactment right across the street. Problem was, the so-called "rolling reenactment" got a little too real.
"When the tanks came around the corner, the guns started to go off," explained Rondinelli, who was watching everything alongside his seven-year-old son. "You had this gun go off, this gun go off. And then all of a sudden [a reenactor] runs over to the police officer and says, 'We need an ambulance, now!'"
It turns out, an antique cannon that was loaded with a blank somehow malfunctioned, sending a piece of broken metal flying into the leg of one of the reenactors, a 46-year-old Norfolk man. He was part of a group of history buffs pretending to be Germans.
WBZ-TV's Jim Armstrong reports.
"People didn't know what was going on initially," said Rondinelli. "They thought it was all part of the reenactment."
Even many of the reenactors were confused, according to Chris Pittman who was among them. Pittman has participated in reenactments like this for about a decade, and has used this particular cannon before.
"We've done this literally hundreds if not thousands of times without any problems," he said. "It was absolutely a fluke, a freak accident that we couldn't have foreseen."
Erroneous initial news reports suggested the reenactors had used live ammunition in their show, something they say is impossible. The parade committee that organized the event made sure that no live weapons would be used.
"They actually weld the weapons," said Norwood assistant Town Manager and parade committee member Bernie Cooper. "They couldn't insert a live round, even if somebody found a 75-year-old round. These are all blank charges."
"Clearly it's an episode that no parade organizer, nobody ever wants to see happen. Nobody wants to see anybody hurt," he said.
As for the man who was injured, he's expected to make a full recovery.
"He's going to be fine," Pittman said. "It was a gory injury but from what I understand, it wasn't as bad as it initially looked - and he's going to be OK."
