Man v. Toilet: Utah Man Shoots Toilet and Injures Both Himself and Nearby Woman at Carl’s Jr. Restaurant

Utah police have a novel case on their hands after a man shot a toilet at the Carl’s Jr. restaurant in Centerville, Utah. The man was in the men’s room and was pulling up his pants when his concealed handgun discharged — shooting the toilet, wounding himself, and sending a woman in a nearby Ladies Room to the hospital.

The man entering the Men’s Room packing a .40-caliber Kahr P40 handgun with a valid concealed weapon. When he pulled his pants up, the gun fell to the ground and discharged — wounding the man with shrapnel and scaring a woman nearby. The woman was taken to the hospital with chest pains.

In a negligence case, the woman could certainly show negligent conduct, but would then have to show that the negligent act was the legal or proximate cause of the injury. Under a more restrictive Wagon Mound jurisdiction, the change of harm from a bullet to noise would make it a novel case. In most jurisdictions, such an injury to the woman would be treated as foreseeable harm.

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