Metallica's Kirk Hammett Accidentally Knocked A Child Off The Stage During A Show In Australia

METALLICA guitarist KIRK HAMMETT accidentally KNOCKED a small child off the stage during a gig in Australia last week.

Kirk was kicking giant balloons off the stage during the last song, and didn't realize a small kid was standing behind one of them on some stairs near the edge of the stage.

When he kicked the balloon, it DRILLED the kid in the head and knocked him down the stairs.

(Amazingly, there's a pretty clear video of Kirk's inadvertent child-punting. The child is standing on the edge of the stage in the middle of the frame.)