Bullet falls from wounded man's coat after failed robbery

An Ecuadoran who was approached for money yesterday in Upper Darby was shot for walking away from his attackers because he didn't understand English, police said.

The victim, 47, who was returning from his job as a dishwasher in the city, was able to hand police a piece of evidence before going to the hospital - the bullet that exited his body and fell out of his coat when he took it off, said Michael Chitwood, Upper Darby police superintendent.

The victim and another man had just gotten of a bus near Church Lane and Radbourne Road about 2 a.m. when they were approached by two men in ski masks who asked them for money, Chitwood said.

"They couldn't understand the guys, so they kept walking," Chitwood said. "When they did that, one of the two stickup men fired two shots."

One of the bullets hit the 47-year-old in his collarbone before it exited from the back of his right shoulder and lodged between his body and coat, police said.

"A couple inches any other way - up, down, left, right - he would have been dead," Chitwood said.

The attackers ran off with nothing, police said.

The other man was unhurt and both were able to walk home, where they called police and found the bullet.

The wounded man was taken to an area hospital, treated and released, Chitwood said. *