The Suspect Had a Bow and Arrow. The Victim, Just His Phone

Aussie man's device saves him during attack in New South Wales
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 14, 2019 9:35 AM CDT
The Suspect Had a Bow and Arrow. The Victim, Just His Phone
Yikes.   (Getty Images/chingting huang)

Ways you can use your cellphone to keep safe: Set up a list of "in case of emergency" contacts, turn on the "locate my phone" feature so you can be tracked down if you ever go missing, hold your device up like a shield if someone ever goes after you with a bow and arrow. That last scenario may seem like the most unlikely, but it's what happened to an Australian man who was attacked by someone he knew on Wednesday. The BBC reports the 43-year-old was outside of his home in Nimbin, New South Wales, when the 39-year-old suspect is said to have approached him, bow and arrow in hand. The victim had raised his phone up to eye level to start to document the confrontation when the suspect allegedly shot an arrow directly at him.

Instead of burrowing into the victim's face, the arrow lodged itself in his phone, coming through on the other side (you can see a pic from NSW police here). The man suffered just minor injuries on his chin when the phone slammed into it; he didn't require medical attention. The suspect was arrested and charged with property damage and assault. He was granted bail and will next be seen in court in mid-April, per Time. If you're scanning the headlines to see what brand the lifesaving phone was, you're out of luck: Police haven't said, notes CNN. (Here's another miraculous phone story.)

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