Bright Idea of the Day: New Hampshire teen fires a flare gun into his own car on Interstate 93, near

[SPESSMEHREN]

[release]A driver waved a flare gun at another vehicle on Interstate 93 on Monday before the gun ultimately went off in his own car, narrowly missing a juvenile passenger, according to the state police.

Nicholas Richer, 18, of Manchester pointed the flare gun out his window during a road rage incident that began about 5:43 p.m. at the Hooksett toll plaza and ended in Bow, according to a release.

Sgt. Charles Johnston of the state police said the incident is still under investigation, but it appears Richer cut off another driver while illegally changing lanes at the plaza.

Johnston said the two drivers began yelling and gesturing at each other while traveling at a close proximity northbound on I-93. Several minutes into the incident, Richer pointed the flare gun out the window, Johnston said.

But after Richer waved it around, the gun went off in his own car, with the flare "ricocheting off the windshield," according to Johnston.

"It's unclear whether he attempted to fire the weapon outside his vehicle with the round . . . going off a few seconds late after it went inside the car or if he inadvertently pulled the trigger," Johnston said.

Richer was found concealing the flare gun in a bush by a state trooper who approached him at a Bow gas station about 6:05 p.m., according to the police. The windshield of his car was smashed from the blast, and the front passenger seat, where a 16-year-old juvenile was traveling during the incident, was significantly burned, according to Johnston.

Richer was charged with felonies of reckless conduct and criminal threatening. He was released on a $7,500 personal recognizance bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in Concord's district court at 8:30 a.m. June 4.[/release]

[url=http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/325684/police-flare-gun-fired-inside-car]Source: The Concord Monitor[/url]

[Ninja Duck]

Who would bail an idiot like this for $7,500?

I hope the passenger is alright, for me a small second degree burn on my hand is painful, I can't imagine anything greater.

[Codemaster85]

Too bad he used the gun up, he could have used it to get help.

[AceOfDivine]

[QUOTE=codemaster85;35734030]Too bad he used the gun up, he could have used it to get help.[/QUOTE]
I doubt shooting a flare would get him help. Flares are usually used to signal someone who is more or less aware of your situation, aka if you're lost or are located in some unusual place. In a populated place it could be taken for a firework or someone messing around.

[Ryll]

He threatened someone with a flare gun?

He's been playing too much TF2/FC2

[Grenadiac]

[QUOTE=Ericson666;35734143]He threatened someone with a flare gun?

He's been playing too much TF2/FC2[/QUOTE]

A flare gun would work in most situations a regular gun would as far as self defense/threatening goes, you can feel the heat off of a magnesium flare from 20 feet away (so you can imagine how hot they are) and they can blind you permanently.

[editline]27th April 2012[/editline]

Not to mention set everything on fire

[Valdor]

The other driver probably was laughing his ass off after seeing the dumbass fire off a flare in his car.

[AceOfDivine]

[QUOTE=Ericson666;35734143]He threatened someone with a flare gun?

He's been playing too much TF2/FC2[/QUOTE]
A flare to the face can be quite bad, they're hot as fuck.

[Articsledder]

Hah, I think I saw the aftermath the other day. While we were heading south we saw 2 cars pulled over on the northbound side with 3-4 police cars. We figured it was just someone who got pulled over and they found something like drugs in their car.