The Atlanta Hawks thought they'd found a safe alternative to launching high-velocity T-shirts out of cannons wielded by cheerleaders or mascots: Softly drop the souvenirs by parachute from the rafters of State Farm Arena.

What could go wrong? 

Grabby fans, apparently. Or one grabby fan, anyway. 

A complaint filed in Fulton County State Court this week said plaintiff David Ehrhardt was attending a game in February and had reached out to snag one of the parachuting pullovers drifting his way when an unknown man "aggressively reached for the T-shirt."

The man either struck Ehrhrdt's hand with his own or snatched the shirt so that "something caught" on his left hand, leaving him with a fractured pinky finger.

Ehrhardt's complaint seeks unspecified damages for negligence claims against the Hawks, State Farm Arena (known until last year as Philips Arena) and the T-shirt craving John Doe co-defendant. 

Attorney Darl Champion Jr. said he can see how the circumstances of his client's injury might seem trivial, but the impact has been serious.

"Its a bad injury; he's had to have surgery," said Champion, who filed the suit with Champion Firm colleague Andre Tennille III.

According to Champion and the complaint, Ehrhardt, 55, was at a Hawks v. Lakers game with his son when the parachutes started dropping.

Ehrhardt reached for one coming toward him "when somebody reaches over and destroys his hand," said Champion. "His finger was sideways."

"The other guy certainly knew he was hurt," said Champion. "After he injured my guy, he takes the T-shirt and gives it to my guy's son, who's sitting beside him."

Ehrhardt sought treatment at a first-aid booth in the arena, Champion said, but the pain was so great that he left the game and went to the emergency room at North Fulton Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a displaced fracture.  

"I understand that, at first blush, it seems like, 'Hey, it's just a T-shirt drop, what's wrong with that?'" said Champion. "But they do this to generate excitement, and they know there are going to be people tussling around trying to get them, so they know this kind of thing can happen."

Injuries are not unheard of. In Texas, a woman filed a $1 million lawsuit against the Houston Astros earlier this year for injuries she suffered trying to catch a wearable souvenir fired from a handheld launcher.

Champion said he hopes that information turned over during discovery will reveal who John Doe is, "because he's the one who did it." 

Champion said he has asked the Hawks to release the incident report or surveillance footage, "but they haven't been very helpful so far."

A spokesman for the Hawks said there would be no comment on the pending litigation.