X-Actos don't open. And generally aren't used for opening packages. Sounds more like a Stanley "box cutter" https://www.wbmason.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ItemDesc=Stanley-Quick-Change-Utility-Knife-w-Retractable-Blade-Twine-Cutter-Gray&ItemID=BOS10499&uom=EA&OCID=SAB&CID=DEC0820_PDP_PCKG_SHOPPINGSHIPPACKFOCUS~SHIPPACKFOCUS_BPA_OTRT&msclkid=0f8cd8f747d413529dc3b8a9e1390d68&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shoppingShipPackFocus&utm_term=4588605621165206&utm_content=shipPackFocus
I remember hearing from my aunt about a accident where a little girl up the street was playing with a stick and it split somehow and drove into her wrist and straight up the arm, under the skin and everything. Total freak accident. I was like eight when I heard about that and I still remember it lol.
One of the first things a woodcarver learns is to always position his off hand behind the business end of a carving tool or chisel. One of the woodworking supply places in the US sells kevlar gloves specifically for people to wear on their off hand, if they're the kind of person who forgets. I think the dumbest thing I did was drill a hole right through the index finger of my right hand (I'm left-handed). I was drilling a 1/4" (6 mm) hole in a pipe when it slipped. I could have used one of those gloves then... No, wait. Maybe the dumbest thing was putting my thumb into the blade of a table saw, for reasons I won't go into. Or maybe it was the time I sliced the top of a finger off in a jointer. Now I generally eschew power tools in favor of hand tools, which for my wife and friends is a great relief.
Maybe an animal? I once had to get stitches in my hand because I was holding two guinea pigs and one went for the other and got my hand instead.... During stage crew for Peter Pan, I was screwing two sections of pirate ship railing together and the drill slipped and went straight into my thumb. Got a lovely x-shaped scar from that one. So perhaps some sort of carpentry incident?
Once saw a guy who had put down an angle grinder while the disk was still spinning so it kicked back up and sliced a vertical mouth from nose to chin. When he tried to talk he looked like the predator. He was lucky, just needed some stitches.
Some form poor gun safety would be ironic and, sadly, not particularly unlikely for a lot of LEOs. That, or have him get injured in a car accident where he didn't wear a seat-belt. Also surprisingly common.
not quite - it was one of these ... they're only supposed to be slid out one segment, but he slid it all the way out
Ah, yes. I used to have one like that. Invention of the devil -- I threw it away and went back to a Stanley-type box cutter. Safer, sturdier -- and it works. In any event -- the type you show isn't an X-Acto (well, it's not what one thinks of when hearing the word "X-Acto," although I suppose X-Acto may make something like that. This is an X-Acto:
There are some dumb ones here: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/smith-hamstring-beasant-jar-on-toe-top-10-bizarre-sporting-injuries-20110404-1cyq0.html I was brought there by the memory of the highly paid footballer who dropped a big jar of mayonnaise and rather than letting it smash, instinctively tried to break its fall with his bare foot. But this one was new to me, and it certainly contains a lot of irony: Northern Eagles forward Nathan Long slipped as he was getting out of his car to tell coach Peter Sharp X-rays had cleared him of a fractured eye socket, and tore a calf muscle.
Two dozen stitches is a lot, unless it's on a face where the stitches are usually placed very close together to minimize the scar. Another time more stitches are needed is over a joint and with a jagged wound. A lot of people get major lacerations walking through a sliding glass door that is very clean and the injured person doesn't realize the door is shut. I think that fits with both dumb and incurring a large laceration. You might be surprised at how often this happens. Tripping and falling into a window, mirror, or framed picture happens, though not quite as stupid. But there could be many foolish things leading up to tripping like not noticing something on the floor that shouldn't be there.
Oh, yeah. Done it at least 4 times I can remember. Didn't actually break through the glass, but I've popped out patio screen doors or bounced off the glass and landed on my ass before.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone! This is what I finally went with, it's set inside a rural clothes store (he's on vacation): It was an accident. It was such a dumb accident. In his years as a police observer, Blair had been kidnapped, shot, drugged, beaten, and drowned. This was his first time having a shoddily constructed shelf, complete with an ancient mannequin bust, fall on his head. That wasn't the worst part though, oh no. The worst part was when he caught himself, dazed and confused and already gushing blood from his brand new head wound, against the wall. The wall which was covered by a full-length mirror. A mirror which was now shattered, and covered in yet more blood. Just thinking about the number of stitches he was probably going to need sent him into the beginnings of a panic attack, which is probably why the EMT sedated him. He was high as a kite when they brought him into the ER, and somewhere along the way he'd lost his wallet. They declared him a John Doe and got to work.
That reads well—good job! You also know we refer to drowning whether the drowned person lived or died. That's a plus. Most people want to say, 'almost drowned' which is not technically correct unless the person never got to the drowned part.
I mean... Blair was clinically dead for a few minutes. The EMTs gave up on him until Jim intervened. He definitely *drowned*. '
It's all good. I remember the first time getting a hospital report on patients for the shift and hearing one patient's diagnosis was drowned. WHO definition of drowned
