# Boy stabbed by stingray barb in N.C.



## yerbyray (May 18, 2010)

Boy stabbed by stingray barb in N.C.
The Associated Press
Posted: Sunday, Aug. 15, 2010

BALTIMORE A 10-year-old Maryland boy survived being stabbed in the abdomen by a stingray barb in North Carolina's Outer Banks.

Candace Tokar of Thurmont, Md., says her family was watching a fisherman remove a ray's barbed stinger earlier this month when the barb snapped off and flew through the air and stabbed her son, Quentin. The barb that hit Quentin's liver was removed the next day and he spent four days at a hospital before returning home.

But he was later admitted to Frederick Memorial Hospital and Johns Hopkins Children's Center after an infection from bacteria on the sea creature's body spread.

The Tokars are keeping the 4-inch stingray barb in a medical jar, but they plan to encase it in something permanent.

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/20...tabbed-by-stingray-barb-in.html#ixzz0wlW9vmyE


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## NTKG (Aug 16, 2003)

yerbyray said:


> barb snapped off and flew through the air and stabbed her son, Quentin.




lotta bs in this story... first off wth were they doing cutting off barbs? second how hard was this thing flying to actually penetrate skin, fat, muscle, liver. I wonder how this really happened, but its got dumdum written all over it.


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## 1obxnut (Mar 26, 2002)

NTKG said:


> lotta bs in this story... first off wth were they doing cutting off barbs? second how hard was this thing flying to actually penetrate skin, fat, muscle, liver. I wonder how this really happened, but its got dumdum written all over it.


I would have to agree with you on this one..I think he was messing with it..


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## SaltSlinger (Aug 14, 2006)

yerbyray said:


> ...when the barb snapped off and flew through the air and stabbed her son, Quentin...


I'm not buying that for one minute - somebody isn't telling what "really" happened...agreed with those above, kid was picking the thing up screwing with it and got whacked.


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

Sounds strange to me.


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## G-Hype (Jul 8, 2010)

I heard about this on the news but the article reads strange. Plus it the fiherman was cutting off the barb and it just flew off why wouldnt they be trying to sue him for neglgence. Maybe they are going to get their 15 minutes of fame in another way.


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## USEF THE MAG (Jul 7, 2006)

story is being aired on headline news.....


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## topwater1pro (Oct 7, 2009)

Maybe there going for urban legend status ... or the dumb ass kid needed something good for show and tell when schooll starts


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## fishloser (Jul 18, 2002)

sounds like somebody put the barb in a crossbow or speargun.


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## SurFeesher (May 5, 2010)

Jusy like I saw a bunch of kids messing with jellyfish last week near Oregon Inlet until they picked up one with stinging tentacles and threw it on the back of another kid. Probably will tell people jelly threw the tentacle at the kid itself.


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## Smally (Jan 16, 2009)

At the very best, this kid was standing too close while a big ray was on the planks & the tail got away from the fisherman & the kid was nailed. If I had kids w/ me & someone I didn't know had a ray on the beach or pier I would make sure the kids were not in striking distance. Too many people on the piers that don't know what they're doing. Last time I was there I had some old fella telling me "what are ya scared of, that's a skate, it's not a stingray" when I know darn well what a stingray is & what a skate is. Later on he caught a small ray & trying to prove his point he handled it very carelessly while throwing it back. Part of me wishes that this story ended with him being nailed by the thing, but I guess it's good that he didn't. But if he keeps catching them, he will.


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## G-Hype (Jul 8, 2010)

Smally said:


> At the very best, this kid was standing too close while a big ray was on the planks & the tail got away from the fisherman & the kid was nailed. If I had kids w/ me & someone I didn't know had a ray on the beach or pier I would make sure the kids were not in striking distance. Too many people on the piers that don't know what they're doing. Last time I was there I had some old fella telling me "what are ya scared of, that's a skate, it's not a stingray" when I know darn well what a stingray is & what a skate is. Later on he caught a small ray & trying to prove his point he handled it very carelessly while throwing it back. Part of me wishes that this story ended with him being nailed by the thing, but I guess it's good that he didn't. But if he keeps catching them, he will.


I rmemebr being a kid 11 or 12 on the Va Beach pier with my dad and some guy landed a small shark (about 3 feet loong). he was hitting the thing in the head but not really hard enought to affect it. the shark stopped moving for a few seconds and the guy reached down to grab it (by the head/mouth!!). The shark snapped and sliced his forearm open. Then some other guy grabbed the shark by the tail and in a windmill motion smashed his head on the pier. I can still hear my dad saying, "That's what happens when you don't know what your'e doing".


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## 2000Chevys104x4 (Jun 15, 2009)

hahaha^^^ 
nah there is definitely something fishy about that story.. 
two kids swordfighting with it is my guess


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## Smittroc (May 1, 2009)

yeah that does sound kinda "fishy" lol


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

Keith,the manager of Avon Pier was telling me the story... I said,if stringrays start ejecting barbs like that,I will have to stop fishin,or wear armor... 

We all figured the man taking out the barb with a pair of plyers,youngen was standing too close and when barb was jerked out,the guys hand came back and stuck the kid... jmo


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## HStew (Jan 8, 2009)

I can think of many ways for this to have happened.The way the parents and their kid tell it, could not possibly be what happened , sorry!!!!!


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## NTKG (Aug 16, 2003)

G-Hype said:


> "That's what happens when you don't know what your'e doing".


funniest thing i've read in a long time.... your dad sounds just like mine


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## Buffalo96 (Dec 23, 2006)

What the heck was that guy taking the barb off for in the first place? De-barbing one ray on the entire Atlantic seaboard hardly seems worth the risk. 

Sounds like a whole lot of stupid all the way around.


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

Watch out guys, cause if you cut a barb off a ray (and don't get me started on that) it flies through the air and hits someone in the liver. Right.


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## twidpa (Apr 13, 2009)

I have been following this thread. Common sense says the original report is BS. Would the motivation to report this BS be (1) draw attention to animals alledgedly being abused at the hands of humans? (2) to invent a story to hide a stupid move that got you stung by a ray? (3) to just get your story in the paper?
T


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## c0ch3s3 (Jul 10, 2009)

ever used a pair of pliers to cut, say, a nail or something. and when you cut through, ever had the end that you are cutting off, fly across the garage? i have. im sure most of you have seen it happen as well.

not trying to argue wether this story is true or BS, just offering another point of view.

also, i dont agree with him cutting the barb off at all, unless he was planning on keeping it.


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## rthensley (May 7, 2007)

The kid and his parents were on the Today Show this morning. Neither parent saw what happened. They only knew something happened when they heard the boy scream.


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## Smally (Jan 16, 2009)

c0ch3s3 said:


> ever used a pair of pliers to cut, say, a nail or something. and when you cut through, ever had the end that you are cutting off, fly across the garage? i have. im sure most of you have seen it happen as well.
> 
> not trying to argue wether this story is true or BS, just offering another point of view.
> 
> also, i dont agree with him cutting the barb off at all, unless he was planning on keeping it.


Yes I have seen a nail shoot off when cutting it, enough to fly several feet at best, certainly not with enough force to penetrate skin much less an internal organ.

I have had a 2" nail pierce my liver in fact. A guy I worked with hung a nailgun on its trigger & I backed into the tip of the gun. the nail was just barely into my liver & that was with me taking it from a pneumatic nailgun at point blank range with @ least 90 PSI. Somehow I doubt stingrays are ejecting barbs @ 90 PSI, or the much greater force that would be needed for the barb to "fly threw the air" and still hit him perfectly straight & penetrate threw the liver. 

I can only imagine 2 ways this could have happened. The guy yanked the barb & stabbed the boy with it, or the tail got away and lashed around & stuck the boy. Either way the boy was too close. That's not to say it isn't a tragedy or it's his fault. But the boys parents should have been around to make sure he wasn't that close, or even the fisherman w/ the stingray or anyone else should have warned him to keep a safe distance. It's sad that it happened but the story as described in the initial post is simply false.


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