Wounded man, wounded pride
Posted by Staten Island Advance June 30, 2007 1:25AM
Categories: Crime


Talk about adding insult to injury. A West Brighton man waiting for the Staten Island
Ferry faces criminal weapons charges -- after he accidentally shot himself -- in the groin.

Duwayne Baugh, 30, of Dubois Avenue, was sitting among several commuters in
the Whitehall Ferry Terminal in Manhattan shortly after noon on June 22, when the loaded 9 mm semiautomatic gun tucked in the waistband of his pants accidentally went off.

With a bullet lodged in his testicle, Baugh managed to get up and tell a security
guard that he'd shot himself and needed help, according to a spokesman for the Man
hattan district attorney's office.

As the security guard walked him to the terminal's police room, a cop who had
heard the shot met them halfway and took the loaded gun from Baugh's waistband, the
spokesman said.

Baugh was arrested on the spot and charged with second-degree criminal posses|
sion of a weapon and second-degree reckless endangerment. He was taken to Bellevue
Hospital where doctors surgically removed his testicle.

Baugh was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court and later released on $20,000
cash bail. He is scheduled to appear in state Supreme Court, Manhattan, on Aug. 1.

--- Contributed by Jeff Harrell