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Authorities say a man who claimed to have been the victim of a drive-by shooting in Montana confessed to shooting himself, The Associated Press reported.
Ray Dolin, 39, of West Virginia, told police he was walking along U.S. 2 near Glasgow when a pickup pulled over and the driver rolled down his window and shot him in the arm. Dolin, a freelance photographer, said he had been hitchhiking across the country working on a memoir titled "The Kindness of America" when the incident happened.
Valley County Sheriff Glen Meier told msnbc.com on Monday that Dolin flagged down another motorist and was taken to the hospital in Glasgow with non-life-threatening injuries.
Authorities arrested 52-year-old Christopher Danielson III, 52, of Washington state, and charged him with felony assault. They said he was under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time. The charges have since been dropped, the AP said.
No charges have been filed against Dolin. Valley County Undersheriff Vernon Buerkle said the case is still under investigation, the AP reported.
No one at the Valley County Sheriff's Office's was immediately available when reached for comment.
Raymond Dolin, who was hitchhiking across the United States while writing a memoir called "The Kindness of America," said he was shot by a motorist in northeastern Montana.
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Leave a Comment:
This is stupid beyond belief but thank goodness the truth was figured out before an innocent person went to jail for it
What's this? Last week when this story came out everyone on here was falling all over themselves to talk about how this was an example of the decline of civilization or how everyone should have a gun or nobody should have a gun, and the perp should be hung without trial or the guy must be crazy! Don't forget the hitchhiker is an absolute angel right, and it's obvious the attacker must have been some rural Washington meth-head redneck! GOES TO SHOW THE VALUE OF ASSUMPTIONS
And those you that were making up new titles for his book?? Great job everyone now lets get back to work.
Hey, the guy probably figures he'll have to compete with Casey Anthony or some other scumbag to get a book deal and figured his pages needed a little drama.
Knucklehead...
I was kind of looking forward to the book.
Hitchhiking is hard enough without shooting yourself.
Typical. Lots of these "walking across the country" types are actually in it for the money.
One notorious "walker" actually hitchhiked until he got outside a Route 66 town ... where he feigned hunger and fatigue. People bought him dinner and meals ... and then he hitched a ride to OKC, rinse, repeat.
The guy was getting close to the end of the road and needed to drum up publicity for his book. He needs to change the title to "Dumb@ss in America".
This is an embarrassment for the people of Montana, the majority of us would help a stranger in need and this guy has to go and make us look bad by claiming to get shot in a "drive by". Sorry but I cant think of the last time (if ever) we had a drive by anywhere (except billings, they might be an exception). People in our state are mostly kind loving and caring people
Good ! One less person in our over populated country ! Need more to do the same ! DO IT ! Your next!
YOU CHUMP !
I am not buying his book.
Cheney needs to take this douchebag hunting!
So this guy wasn't shot by some teabagging hillbilly romney-supporting racist like everyone on MSNBC said?
Can i just day say that if I was the dude that got arrested. i'd be showing this guy what a "Jersey Beatdown" is.
I @!$%#ing knew it! I @!$%#ing knew it! That's exactly what I wrote here when this "story" came out. I was like I bet this dumb@!$%# shot himself. Dumb @!$%#.
Society is a f-u-c-king freak show
I guess his trip wasn't eventful enough and the book would be boring? So, he made up a story and shot himself to get it? Whack job! Glad the truth came out! Poor guy being held was probably like, WHAT? Not a great thing to be put in jail for something you didn't do! Could be very serious!
Wow, immature goofy people in this world!
If you want to read about the kindness of America by an author who would never shoot himself take a look at THE SEEDS WE SOW, KINDNESS THAT FED A HUNGRY WORLD.
Amazon.com, barnes&noble.com, www.theseedswesow.com, etc.
He should have shot himself in the head, then we could have had one less moron in the US.
please put me on the jury. we can celebrate the verdict is read. beers on me!!
New title, "Fu--ed in the Head til Dead." You gotta wonder about someone trying to pull a stupid stunt like hitchhiking in the first place. I guess it was not as exciting as he imagined and tried to add some fake excitement like the reality shows do.
Knew it. People need to be more skeptical. The only time one of these whacked out stories panned out was the Australian girl with a "bomb" attached to her neck. The bomb was bogus but the guy actually assaulted her for real. All these other ones - Balloon Boy, the "murdered" Census Agent, the kidnapped Mom and daughter near Disney , Forrest Boy, and now this clown - all fake. If it sounds implausible it PROBABLY is and it would be wise to remain skeptical until proven to be real.
Someone would have shot him sooner or later. He was just too impatient.
Good one!
Whoever wrote this article needs to go back to grade school and write a proper story. Whoever the editor is needs to go to the nearest unemployment line with pink slip in hand and not be allowed to be a journalist again; but its MSN.....I have come to expect half-story hack jobs from them.
He needs to learn a little more gun control and aim center target next time. What a douche!
That's it? When you have a little more information, start over.