Van seat belt, bra strap stop bullet

TAMPA, Fla., May 17 (UPI) -- A Florida woman in a minivan was spared a bullet wound to the chest when the slug failed to penetrate her seatbelt and bra strap.

Robin Key was riding in the passenger seat of the van her husband was driving in Tampa Sunday evening when they stopped for a red light.

Key told the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times the couple heard an explosion and she suddenly had glass splinters on her lips. She realized there was a bullet hole in the windshield and felt a searing pain in her shoulder, she said.

Then she found the .38-caliber bullet on her leg.

Sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said simple physics explained her good fortune.

First, the thick glass of the windshield slowed the bullet. Then, the seat belt's tough material slowed it further and the thick bra strap took the remaining energy out of the slug, he said.

Witnesses were able to help deputies locate the vehicle the bullet was fired from, and two men face charges of aggravated battery and shooting into an occupied vehicle.