2015 Darwin nominees

kk88rrc

Well-known member
Here are two candidates from just this week....


http://bigstory.ap.org/article/069f.../police-man-shoots-firework-top-his-head-dies

CALAIS, Maine (AP) — A 22-year-old man who was drinking and celebrating the Fourth of July tried to launch a firework off the top of his head, killing him instantly, authorities said Sunday.

Devon Staples and his friends had been drinking and setting off fireworks Saturday night in the backyard of a friend's home in eastern Maine, said Stephen McCausland, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety.

Staples, 22, of Calais, a small city on the Canadian border, placed a reloadable fireworks mortar tube on his head and told his friends he was going to light it, McCausland said. But his friends urged him to stop.

"Apparently, he thought that was a great idea," McCausland said. "His friends they thought dissuaded him from doing it, and the next thing they knew, he ignited the fireworks and he was killed instantly."

Staples's brother Cody told the Daily News of New York that he was a few feet away when his brother lit the firework and was the first to come to his side after it exploded.

"There was no rushing him to the hospital. There was no Devon left when I got there," said 25-year-old Cody Staples, who called it an accident.

"Devon was not the kind of person who would do something stupid. He was the kind of person who would pretend to do something stupid to make people laugh," he said.

Staples' death is the first fireworks fatality in Maine since the state legalized fireworks on Jan. 1, 2012, authorities said.
 

kk88rrc

Well-known member
http://m.nydailynews.com/news/natio...or-fatal-attack-texas-bayou-article-1.2281325

Man mocked alligator before fatal attack in Texas bayou

The man who was killed by an alligator in Texas had mocked the animal before jumping into gator-infested waters Friday, an official said.

Tommie Woodward, 28, ignored warning signs and dismissed employee's pleas against swimming at Bukart's Marina at about 2:30 a.m., officials said.

"He said, 'blank the alligators' and jumped into the water and almost immediately yelled for help," Orange County Justice of the Peace Rodney Price told KDFM, likely censoring himself for the camera.

Woodward had headed to the marina with an unidentified woman and went swimming, despite warnings about a 12-foot alligator in the bayou, marina owner Allen Burkart told the Houston Chronicle.

"They were begging with him not to do it," Bukart said.

Marina employee Michelle Wright cried as she told KDFM she had pleaded with him not to go in the water and then witnessed his death.

"Next thing I know this girl is screaming and an alligator's got him," Wright said. "I saw his body floating face down and then he's up there for a couple seconds and then he gets dragged back down and pulled off."

Woodward soon disappeared from view. His body was found two hours later.

He was the first person killed by an alligator in Texas since 1836, when a man was attacked while swimming across a bayou.

Heavy rain has displaced alligators in the area in the last 45 days, causing them to become more territorial, especially as they're in breeding season, authorities said.

Woodward had recently moved to Orange from St. Louis with his twin brother to work at a shipyard, said Wright, who was friends with him.

"I kept trying to figure out and calling his name and calling his name and he just, he was dead. And it's heartbreaking," Wright said.
 

Drillbit

Well-known member
Oct 12, 2005
5,943
1
Glasgow Ky
The firecracker guys mom is calling for a ban on fireworks. No word on if the gator-humper's family is calling for a ban on alligators.
 

rovercanus

Well-known member
Apr 24, 2004
9,651
246
The firecracker guys mom is calling for a ban on fireworks. No word on if the gator-humper's family is calling for a ban on alligators.

We should just legislate away stupidity. That would fix everything.
 

rovercanus

Well-known member
Apr 24, 2004
9,651
246
That's racist.

It's specie-ists. I want a reset.
It's sad and comical at the same time how people want the government to protect them from their own stupidity.
Mother doesn't want to admit that her son probably didn't have the best judgement when he perhaps had a bit too much alcohol so it must be the fireworks fault and it's the government that must protect us from them.
 

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
It's specie-ists. I want a reset.
It's sad and comical at the same time how people want the government to protect them from their own stupidity.
Mother doesn't want to admit that her son probably didn't have the best judgement when he perhaps had a bit too much alcohol so it must be the fireworks fault and it's the government that must protect us from them.

Nothing makes an idiot more happy than giving away power, and nothing makes a government more happy than taking it. Unfortunately, they rarely give it back.

Cheers,

Kennith
 

bri

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2004
6,183
153
US
I think blowing off your finger when you have a $60 mil contract on the table counts.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000500185/article/new-york-giants-pull-60m-offer-to-jason-pierrepaul

Nope, sorry no nomination. That is just stupid and what he deserves. Cj Wilson lost 2.

"The high-profile accidents come as the American Pyrotechnics Association, an industry group representing the fireworks industry, has been touting a decrease in fireworks injuries nationwide."
 

ChrismonDA

Well-known member
May 2, 2004
1,873
0
51
NC Johnston Co
The firecracker guys mom is calling for a ban on fireworks. No word on if the gator-humper's family is calling for a ban on alligators.

I saw that where the mother was calling for new laws, but you can't legislate ignorance or the rest of the country would not be able to leave the house.
 

rovercanus

Well-known member
Apr 24, 2004
9,651
246
Nope, sorry no nomination. That is just stupid and what he deserves. Cj Wilson lost 2.

"The high-profile accidents come as the American Pyrotechnics Association, an industry group representing the fireworks industry, has been touting a decrease in fireworks injuries nationwide."

Well, technically it wasn't an injury, it was a fatality.:D