A man has lived to tell his tale after being hit in the face by a falling bullet while he watched fireworks in Safety Harbor on Wednesday night.
Richard J. Smeraldo, 74, was watching the display with his wife and friends near the Safety Harbor Spa and Marina around 9:45 p.m. when he felt something hit him in the face. "The bullet came out of there," Smeraldo said as he pointed at his nose one day later.
Deputies said Smeraldo first thought he had been hit by a rock, but one of his friends found a bullet on the blanket next to her.
Smeraldo realized he had been hit by the bullet. "All of a sudden -- bam," he remembered. "I think at the moment, when it hit me so hard, I thought it was a boulder or rock or some sort, but it was a bullet."
The bullet hit a metal medallion Smeraldo was wearing on a chain around his neck, then bounced off his friend's back and landed on the blanket. "Pretty amazing," he said. "It's my lucky piece now."
Smeraldo was taken to Mease Countryside Hospital by ambulance. Investigators said they determined the bullet went through the bill of Smeraldo's cap and into the bridge of his nose, then out his right nostril and through part of his bottom lip and his lower chin. Smeraldo received stitches, then was released from the hospital.
Deputies searched the area just south of the Safety Harbor Marina. No arrests have been made. "It's insane," Smeraldo said. "Totally insane."
But he is alive and he feels lucky. "Four people in the hospital said you are one lucky son of a gun, you better go buy some lottery tickets."
So, he did. No word yet on Smeraldo's luck in the lottery.