Hitchhiking photographer, Ray Dolin, shot himself, apparently in order to drum up publicity for his new book.
It was a beautiful story, it really was. Professional photographer, Ray Dolin, was hitchhiking through Montana, when a random stranger in a pickup truck shot him in the arm. The best part? Dolin was hitchhiking as research for his memoir, entitled The Kindness of America. 52-year-old, Lloyd Danielson, was arrested and charged with felony assault, while Dolin got to sit back in a local hospital, enjoying the free publicity and public sympathy his brush with ironic mortality brought him.
Now it turns out that the story wasn’t so ironic after all. On Friday, Dolin admitted that he’d shot himself in the arm and made the rest of the tale up. He didn’t give a reason for the whole sorry mess, but locals officials believe it was a “desperate act of self-promotion.”
The charges against Danielson have been dropped, though he’s still potentially on the hook for driving under the influence. The authorities are considering whether or not to charge Dolin over the incident.
“I had the worst feeling he was telling me the absolute truth,” said Sheriff, Glen Meier, describing his interview with Danielson. “I kept telling him that we are seekers of the truth and we are going to work very hard to find out the truth of this incident.
“It was a great moment when I sent someone up to the jail to tell him he had nothing to do with it.”
I feel used.
Source: Toronto Sun
