Wednesday, March 3, 2010

A Bad Surprise



The Clarion Content has always wondered how much of the Darwin Awards are made up. Are they apocryphal? Urban legend? Loyal readers know that we recognize that the realm of truth has as much breadth as the tales of fiction. Yet we always struggle with credulity when reading the Darwin Awards. Yesterday, however, we ran across an item in the Detroit Free Press that is probably an early candidate for the 2010 winners.

Here is the story. A 50 year-old Washington state man was apparently not very seriously hurt after his car collided with a power pole Friday. He called a relative to help pull his vehicle from a ditch. As it turned out, unfortunately, while he was waiting he had to pee. When family members arrived they found him dead, electrocuted. He apparently urinated into the roadside ditch, but did not see the live wire from the downed pole. The urine stream probably served as the conductor that allowed the electricity to reach his body. Zap.

Ouch! To say, what a way to go, hardly seems sufficient!

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