A bus driver in Ohio who claimed his pocket Bible saved him from the bullets of three gun-toting aggressors is now facing quizzing from police who say his story — while inspirational and stunning — doesn’t match what they’re finding as fact.
“This assault, as reported, is not true, not accurate,” said Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl at a recent news conference, The Associated Press reported.
Police aren’t going as far as saying the entire story was a fabrication, but they are saying that simulated firings show that a Bible wouldn’t have protected the victim from wounds.
The story started back in February, when Rickey Wagoner, 49, told police he was standing outside his city bus when three men came up and attacked him. He claimed two of their bullets hit an inch-thick book of Bible verses he was carrying in his pocket and that another bullet hit him in the leg. Mr. Wagoner then said he was able to grab the gun and fire at the men as they fled from the scene.
His story made national headlines — especially because of the Bible angle that seemed to suggest his saving was directly due to a higher power. But now police say his story can’t be true, and that the Bible couldn’t have saved him as he insisted, AP said.
Police also say DNA indicates that his wounds weren’t consistent with defensive injuries, AP said.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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