RO'd a match the other night. Pretty straight forward COF. Start behind baracade 20yds from T1-T3. Next baracade to the left about 15yds from T4-T6. Final baracade to the left about 12yds from T7-T10. Other than starting from the starting block, shooter could go anywhere outside of 10yds from the targets.
I was following behind the shooter to the second baracade(first mistake) and not staying on my toes (second mistake) because the COF was simple.
On the start buzzer, the shooter moves around the first baracade and runs up to the right side of the second. He goes to stop and his feet slip right out from under him like he had hit a patch of ice. He falls on his back and his head just misses the cement floor. When he started to fall, I watched him instead of keeping my eyes on the gun (third mistake). I remember seeing the muzzle while he was laying on the cement. I thought it was beyond verticle but not that far. I was concerned with the shooter. He never lost his two handed grip nor pressed the trigger. He sat up and shot T1-T3 before getting up and finishing the COF.
In talking with my score keeper afterwards, he said the gun was very close to covering me. I was about 8-10 feet behind him. If I was almost covered, the muzzle was way beyond verticle and I should have DQ'd him. Besides that, I could have easily been shot or just missed if his finger was on the trigger and he squeezed while falling down.
Lessons learned:
1) Follow off to one side or the other of the advancing shooter.
2) Expect safety issues with every shooter, IOW, be prepared to act.
3) Keep my eye on the gun. I always do that but when the unexpected happened, my eyes left the gun.
