OAKLAND TWP — A Butler County jury chose to award no money to a man who claimed he was accidentally shot by a teenaged neighbor.

Michael McCloskey of Chicora Road had alleged that on April 26, 2008, he was in the woods near his home searching for his father’s dog when a bullet grazed his right hand.

McCloskey had alleged that he was scraped as then 12-year-old Robert “Bobby” Coyle, Jr. and his stepfather Keith Young were target shooting on property owned by Young’s father.

Although Coyle was a hunter who already had harvested a deer, he’d never before shot the weapon in question: a Glock 9 mm pistol.

McCloskey alleged the wound was superficial, but weeks later he had surgery to implant two screws into a ligament torn in his hand that he alleged was caused by the gunshot wound.

McCloskey sued Coyle, who is now 18 years old; Young and Leo Young, owner of the 117 Slater Lane property.

McCloskey had asked for $6,750 in lost wages, $5,700 in medical bills and an unspecified amount for pain and suffering.

But in a three-day jury trial concluding Wednesday, attorneys for the defendants successfully argued that McCloskey couldn’t even prove he was shot let alone that the August ligament surgery was a result of the allegations from April.

McCloskey, who contacted state police, suffered only a superficial injury to his hand that attorneys argued was unproven to be caused by the boy’s gun. There was no bullet wound, bullet or physical proof, they said.

Both sides of the case presented to the jury doctors who supported their opinions.

Finally, attorney Jim Buldas, who represented Coyle and Keith Young, argued that a torn thumb ligament causes severe pain. Yet, McCloskey returned to his job assembling military vehicles at Ibis Tek for weeks before seeking surgery.

The trial was held before Butler County Judge S. Michael Yeager.