Mets fan sues team after he says he was nearly blinded by a T-shirt cannon

A New York Mets fan said he's suing the team he loves after injuring his eye and being knocked unconscious from a T-shirt cannon during a June game. 

Alex Swanson, a 54-year-old from Long Island, was attending the June 5 game vs. the San Francisco Giants with his three sons. He told the New York Daily News he filed the lawsuit because of the retina damage that nearly left him blind. A CAT scan the next day revealed he suffered a concussion and severe eye trauma. 

"It could have killed me. It's a hazard," Swanson told New York Daily News, adding that the Mets employee who shot the T-shirt out of the cannon "scampered away" afterwards. 

Swanson's attorney, Dustin Levine, told Fox News the employee shot the T-shirt out of the cannon from "point blank range" and claims the retina injury will likely affect Swanson "for the rest of his life." 

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Levine said: “The cannon was operated and maintained in a grossly negligent fashion and caused Mr. Swanson to be hit by a projectile that is estimated to be traveling at half the speed of a bullet fired from a 9mm pistol."

Swanson filed the lawsuit Sept. 27 in Queens Supreme Court, according to The Daily News. The Mets offered free tickets, but Swanson said he was most concerned with the safety issues. 

"It bothers me because it could have hit a little kid," Swanson said. "I don’t know why they use them anymore.”

Messages made by Paste BN Sports to the Mets organization were not immediately returned.