Man Injured by Army Shell Sues U.S. Government

A Costa Mesa man whose legs were blown off when a buried artillery shell exploded in an area used as an Army tank-training ground in World War II filed a $3-million lawsuit against the federal government Wednesday.

In July, 1984, Martin N. Frost, 45, was watching a sunset with a group of friends in the Lucerne Valley area of San Bernardino County. Some members of his camping group began target shooting with .22-caliber rifles. A bullet apparently hit a buried shell, which exploded and seriously injured Frost, who was sitting about 50 yards away, according to his attorney, Geoffrey S. Gray.

“It was a one-in-a-billion chance that he was hit,” Gray said. The desert area where Frost was injured, the Cougar Buttes area, is open to the public for camping, shooting and off-road vehicle use, he said. The area is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, according to Gray.

He said that Frost’s case was investigated by the U.S. Defense Department and later turned over to the BLM. On Dec. 10, 1985, Frost filed a claim with the government, which was rejected on April 18, 1986, according to the lawsuit.

Gray said that Frost, who works in the auto accessories business, was fitted with artificial legs and is learning to walk again.