AUBURN — A Lewiston man who was struck by a stray bullet while playing disc golf in Turner two years ago is suing the man who was target shooting on the neighboring property, according to a lawsuit.

Cameron Hart said he and his friend were playing disc golf in Turner when a bullet struck him by his upper lip. Photo submitted by the Hart family

Cameron D. Hart filed a complaint in Androscoggin County Superior Court last month alleging negligence, assault and battery against Troy Jordan.

In the lawsuit, which also claims intentional infliction of emotional distress, Hart said he had been playing Frisbee golf at Steven’s Mountain View Disc Course on Pearl Road in Turner on Aug. 5, 2018, with friends.

Through his lawyer, Gary Goldberg of Portland, Hart said he and one of his friends heard gunshots that came from Jordan who was shooting a gun near the golf course.

As the shots began to sound like they were coming closer to them, Hart and his friend “began to yell loudly to stop shooting,” according to the complaint.

The shooting stopped temporarily, but “suddenly, defendant Jordan started shooting again, sending multiple bullets toward” Hart and his friend, the complaint said.

Hart “tried to avoid the gunfire, but he was shot in the face by a bullet from Jordan’s gun,” according to the complaint.

Hart, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder due to his wartime experience. When he was shot, “he immediately experienced flashbacks,” the complaint said.

He was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston by emergency medical workers where he underwent surgery to remove from his face the bullet that was fired by Jordan’s gun, the complaint said.

Because of Jordan’s “negligent, reckless and intentional actions,” Hart has “suffered personal injuries, past and future pain and mental anguish and has incurred and will in the future incur lost wages, lost earning capacity and medical expenses,” according to the complaint.

Hart is seeking “reasonable” damages, together with interest, costs plus punitive damages “to serve as a meaningful deterrent to the defendant from engaging in malicious conduct,” the complaint said.

Through his lawyer, Matthew K. Libby of Portland, Jordan answered Hart’s complaint, claiming Hart “or others” was more at fault for his injury than Jordan.

Jordan said Hart “has failed to mitigate his damages.”

The damages Hart is seeking “are the proximate result of pre-existing or subsequent conditions which bars or reduces those damages” under state law, according to Jordan’s answer.

Although Jordan agreed that the gunshots heard by Hart and his friend came from Jordan who was shooting a gun near the golf course, he denied Hart and his friend began to yell loudly to stop the shooting because Jordan didn’t have “sufficient information or knowledge to form a belief as as to the truth of the allegation.”

Jordan admitted that Hart “was hit in the face by a bullet fragment from his gun,” but denied that Hart tried to avoid the gunfire because Jordan didn’t have enough information or knowledge about that to determine whether it was true, according to his answer to Hart’s complaint.

In his answer, Jordan “denies that he was negligent, reckless and that he acted intentionally to cause harm” and doesn’t have the information or knowledge to form a belief about whether Hart suffered personal injuries nor mental anguish and other past and future claims about wages, earning capacity and medical expenses.

Jordan is seeking to have the complaint dismissed and for costs and fees to be awarded to him.

Maine State Police told WGME-TV after the incident that Jordan (while declining to name him at that time) had been was shooting at targets on his Pearl Road property and that a bullet likely ricocheted off another object.

They said Hart was several hundred feet away from where Jordan was shooting.