- Jun 21, 2007
- 8,432
- 42
spell> And once again, it's time for the Darwin Award Nominees. The Darwins
> are awarded every year to the persons who died in the most stupid
> manner, thereby removing themselves from the gene pool.
>
>
> This years nominees are:
>
> Nominee No. 1: [San Jose Mercury News]:
>
> An unidentified man, using a shotgun like a club to break a former
> girlfriends windshield, accidentally shot himself to death when the
> gun discharged, blowing a hole in his gut.
>
>
> Nominee No. 2: [Kalamazoo Gazette]:
>
> James Burns, 34, (a mechanic) of Alamo, MI, was killed in March as he
> was trying to repair what police describe as a "farm-type truck."
> Burns got a friend to drive the truck on a highway while Burns hung
> underneath so that he could ascertain the source of a troubling noise.
> Burns clothes caught on something, however, and the other
> man found Burns "wrapped in the drive shaft".
>
>
> Nominee No. 3: [Hickory Daily Record]:
>
> Ken Charles Barger, 47, accidentally shot himself to death in December
> in Newton, NC. Awakening to the sound of a ringing telephone beside
> his bed, he reached for the phone but grabbed instead a Smith & Wesson
> 38 Special, which discharged when he drew it to his ear.
>
> Nominee No. 4: [UPI, Toronto]:
>
> Police said a lawyer demonstrating the safety of windows in a downtown
> Toronto skyscraper crashed through a pane with his shoulder and
> plunged 24 floors to his death. A police spokesman said Garry Hoy, 39,
> fell into the courtyard of the TorontoDominionBankTower early
> Friday evening as he was explaining the strength of the buildings
> windows to visiting law students. Hoy previously has conducted
> demonstrations of window strength according to police reports. Peter
> Lawson, managing partner of the firm Holden Day Wilson, told the
> Toronto Sun newspaper that Hoy was "one of the best and brightest"
> members of the 200-man association.
>
> Nominee No. 5: [The News of the Weird]:
>
> Michael Anderson Godwin made News of the Weird posthumously. He had
> spent several years awaiting South Carolinas electric chair on a
> murder conviction before having his sentence reduced to life in
> prison. While sitting on a metal toilet in his cell attempting to fix
> his small TV set, he bit into a wire and was electrocuted.
>
>
> Nominee No. 6: [The Indianapolis Star]:
>
> A cigarette lighter may have triggered a fatal explosion in Dunkirk,
> IN. A JayCounty man, using a cigarette lighter to check the barrel of
> a muzzle loader, was killed Monday night when the weapon discharged in
> his face, sheriffs investigators said. Gregory David Pryor, 19, died
> in his parents rural Dunkirk home at about 11:30 PM. Investigators
> said Pryor was cleaning a 54-caliber muzzle-loader that had not been
> firing properly. He was using the lighter to look into the barrel when
> the gunpowder ignited.
>
>
> Nominee No. 7: [Reuters, Mississauga, Ontario]:
>
> A man cleaning a bird feeder on the balcony of his condominium
> apartment in this Toronto suburb slipped and fell 23 stories to his
> death. Stefan Macko, 55, was standing on a wheelchair when the
> accident occurred, said Inspector Darcy Honer of the Peel Regional
> Police. "It appears that the chair moved, and he went over the
> balcony," Honer said.
> are awarded every year to the persons who died in the most stupid
> manner, thereby removing themselves from the gene pool.
>
>
> This years nominees are:
>
> Nominee No. 1: [San Jose Mercury News]:
>
> An unidentified man, using a shotgun like a club to break a former
> girlfriends windshield, accidentally shot himself to death when the
> gun discharged, blowing a hole in his gut.
>
>
> Nominee No. 2: [Kalamazoo Gazette]:
>
> James Burns, 34, (a mechanic) of Alamo, MI, was killed in March as he
> was trying to repair what police describe as a "farm-type truck."
> Burns got a friend to drive the truck on a highway while Burns hung
> underneath so that he could ascertain the source of a troubling noise.
> Burns clothes caught on something, however, and the other
> man found Burns "wrapped in the drive shaft".
>
>
> Nominee No. 3: [Hickory Daily Record]:
>
> Ken Charles Barger, 47, accidentally shot himself to death in December
> in Newton, NC. Awakening to the sound of a ringing telephone beside
> his bed, he reached for the phone but grabbed instead a Smith & Wesson
> 38 Special, which discharged when he drew it to his ear.
>
> Nominee No. 4: [UPI, Toronto]:
>
> Police said a lawyer demonstrating the safety of windows in a downtown
> Toronto skyscraper crashed through a pane with his shoulder and
> plunged 24 floors to his death. A police spokesman said Garry Hoy, 39,
> fell into the courtyard of the TorontoDominionBankTower early
> Friday evening as he was explaining the strength of the buildings
> windows to visiting law students. Hoy previously has conducted
> demonstrations of window strength according to police reports. Peter
> Lawson, managing partner of the firm Holden Day Wilson, told the
> Toronto Sun newspaper that Hoy was "one of the best and brightest"
> members of the 200-man association.
>
> Nominee No. 5: [The News of the Weird]:
>
> Michael Anderson Godwin made News of the Weird posthumously. He had
> spent several years awaiting South Carolinas electric chair on a
> murder conviction before having his sentence reduced to life in
> prison. While sitting on a metal toilet in his cell attempting to fix
> his small TV set, he bit into a wire and was electrocuted.
>
>
> Nominee No. 6: [The Indianapolis Star]:
>
> A cigarette lighter may have triggered a fatal explosion in Dunkirk,
> IN. A JayCounty man, using a cigarette lighter to check the barrel of
> a muzzle loader, was killed Monday night when the weapon discharged in
> his face, sheriffs investigators said. Gregory David Pryor, 19, died
> in his parents rural Dunkirk home at about 11:30 PM. Investigators
> said Pryor was cleaning a 54-caliber muzzle-loader that had not been
> firing properly. He was using the lighter to look into the barrel when
> the gunpowder ignited.
>
>
> Nominee No. 7: [Reuters, Mississauga, Ontario]:
>
> A man cleaning a bird feeder on the balcony of his condominium
> apartment in this Toronto suburb slipped and fell 23 stories to his
> death. Stefan Macko, 55, was standing on a wheelchair when the
> accident occurred, said Inspector Darcy Honer of the Peel Regional
> Police. "It appears that the chair moved, and he went over the
> balcony," Honer said.
