Darwin Acts
by Roger King
Table of Contents
Man Robs Bank during a truck test drive Cops are hunting a man who allegedly robbed money from a bank to buy a used truck while the salesman waited outside. ... The salesman didn't know it, but the man allegedly passed a note to a bank teller demanding cash. He got the cash and left the bank. ... he salesman had become suspicious, so as soon as the man left the truck to go into the gas station, he took the keys from the truck and called 911. The alleged robber realized what was going on and fled on foot. Link
Fleeing man jumps in lake but can't swim Deputies rescued a man wanted on multiple felony arrest warrants from nearly drowning after he tried fleeing from them on Tuesday. ... Agency reports show that sometime around 7:10 p.m., deputies located Agosto on his bicycle near Oak Ridge Road and Padgett Circle. When deputies attempted to arrest him, he ran from his bike and jumped into the lake. Link
Dynamite goes off in Car The Associated Press said, Around 2 a.m. on the morning of September 30, 1996, Paul and Bonnie Stiller were injured by an explosion in their car when the quarter-stick of dynamite Paul was holding went off in his hand. The couple's plan had been to light the stick and throw it from the car window, but alas, they lit the explosive before rolling down the window. Mrs. Stiller was treated then released, but Mr. Stiller was admitted to Newton Memorial Hospital with unspecified injuries. The police report said the couple had been drinking, and Mrs. Stiller was charged with driving under the influence. The Stillers were both charged with possession of explosives in a vehicle, and police said two more quarter-sticks of dynamite were found at the couple's home. Link
Man Chokes on Hot Dog He Stole Robert Puelo, 32, was apparently being disorderly in a St. Louis market. When the clerk threatened to call the police, Puelo grabbed a hot dog, shoved it into his mouth and walked out without paying. Police found him unconscious in front of the store. Paramedics removed the six-inch wiener from his throat where it had choked him to death. Link
Man loses face at party
A man at a West Virginia party
popped a blasting cap into his mouth and bit down, triggering an explosion that
blew off his lips, teeth, and tongue. Jerry Stromyer, 24, of Kincaid, bit the
blasting cap as a prank during the party late Tuesday night, said Cpl. M.D.
Payne. "Another man had it in an aquarium hooked to a battery and was trying to
explode it. It wouldn't go off and this guy said I'll show you how to set it
off." He put it into his mouth, bit down and it blew all his teeth out and his
lips and tongue off, Payne said. Stromyer was listed in guarded condition
Wednesday with extensive facial injuries, according to a spokesperson at
Charleston Area Medical Division. "I just can't imagine anyone doing something
like that," Payne said.
Link
William Tell Arrow in the Eye
Doctors at Portland University Hospital
said an Oregon man shot through the skull by a hunting arrow is lucky to be
alive and will be released soon from the hospital. Tony Roberts, 25, lost his
right eye last weekend during an initiation into a men's rafting club, Mountain
Men Anonymous (probably known now as Stupid Mountain Men Anonymous) in Grants
Pass, Oregon. A friend tried to shoot a beer can off his head, but the arrow
entered Robert's right eye. Doctors said that had the arrow gone 1 millimeter to
the left, a major blood vessel would have been cut and Roberts would have died
instantly. Neurosurgeon, Doctor Johnny Delashaw, at the University Hospital in
Portland said the arrow went through 8 to 10 inches of brain with the tip
protruding at the rear of his skull, yet somehow managed to miss all major blood
vessels. Delashaw also said that had Roberts tried to pull the arrow out on his
own he surely would have killed himself. Roberts admitted afterwards
that he and his friends had been drinking that afternoon. Said Roberts, "I feel
so dumb about this." No charges have been filed, but the Josephine County
district attorney's office said the initiation stunt is under investigation.
Link
Bungee Jumping Death A 22 year old, Glade Drive, Reston, VA, man was found dead after he tried to use octopus straps to bungee jump off a 70 foot railroad trestle. Fairfax County police said Eric Barcia, a fast food worker, taped a bunch of these straps together, wrapped one end around one foot, anchored the other end to the trestle at Lake Accotink Park, jumped and hit the pavement. Warren Carmichael, a police spokesman, said investigators think Barcia was alone because his car was found nearby. "The length of the cord that he assembled was greater than the distance between the trestle and the round" Carmichael said. Police say the apparent cause of death was "Major trauma." Link
Man crashes through window after testing its strength 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 fell into the courtyard of the Toronto Dominion Bank Tower early Friday evening as he was explaining the strength of the building's windows to visiting law students. Hoy previously had conducted demonstrations of window strength according to police reports. Peter Lauwers, 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. Link
Man Flies in lawn chair and balloons
The incredible flight of Larry Walters,
a 33-year-old Vietnam veteran and North Hollywood truck driver with no pilot or
balloon training, took place on July 2, 1982. Larry filled 45
weather balloons with helium and tethered them in four tiers to an
aluminum lawn chair he purchased at Sears for $110, loading his makeshift
aircraft (dubbed the "Inspiration I") with a large bottle of soda, milk jugs
full of water for ballast, a pellet gun, a portable CB radio, an altimeter, and
a
Donning a parachute, Larry climbed into his chair from the roof of his
girlfriend's home in San Pedro while two friends stood at the ready to untether
the craft. He took off a little earlier than expected, however, when his mooring
line was cut by the roof's sharp edges. As friends, neighbors, reporters and
cameramen looked on, Larry Walters rocketed into the sky above San Pedro. A few
minutes later Larry radioed the ground that he was sailing across Los Angeles
Harbor towards Long Beach.
Walters had planned to fly 300 miles into the Mojave Desert, but the balloons
took him up faster than expected and the wind didn't cooperate, and Walters
quickly found himself drifting 16,000 feet above Long Beach. (He later reported
that he was "so amazed by the view" that he "didn't even take one picture.") As
Larry and his lawn chair drifted into the approach path to Long Beach Municipal
Airport, perplexed pilots from two passing Delta and TWA airliners alerted air
traffic controllers about what appeared to be an unprotected man floating
through the sky in a chair.
Meanwhile, Larry, feeling cold and dizzy in the thin air three miles above the
ground, shot several of his balloons with the pellet gun to bring himself back
down to earth. He attempted to aim his descent at a large expanse of grass of a
north Long Beach country club, but Larry came up short and ended up entangling
his tethers in a set of high-voltage power lines in Long Beach about ten miles
from his liftoff site. The plastic tethers protected Walters from electrocution
as he dangled above the ground until firemen and utility crews could cut the
power to the lines (blacking out a portion of Long Beach for twenty minutes).
Larry managed to maneuver his chair over a wall, step out, and cut the chair
free. (He gave away the chair to some admiring neighborhood children, a decision
he later regretted when his impromptu flight brought him far more fame than he
had anticipated.)
Larry, who had just set a new altitude record for a flight with gas-filled
clustered balloons (although his record was not officially recognized because he
had not carried a proper altitude-recording device with him)
became an instant celebrity, but the Federal Aviation Administration was not
amused. Unable to revoke Walters' pilot's license because he didn't have one, an
FAA official announced that they would charge Walters "as soon as we figure out
which part [of the FAA code] he violated."
Link
Kite Boarder hurt in Tropical Strom Fay
Emergency officials have been warning
South Floridians to seek shelter during Tropical Storm Fay but a man in Fort
Lauderdale seeking some thrills on the rough surf didn't heed that warning and
ended up in the hospital after being hurt in an astonishing kite boarding
accident that was caught on camera. ... a
huge gust of wind from Fay blew down the beach and took the kite boarder by
surprise. The kite boarder was harnessed into his sail when the wind violently
picked him up and slammed him onto the sandy beach. Then, he was dragged across
the sand before being lifted up into the air again and blown across the street
where the wind slammed him into a building.
Link
Thailand's 'Scorpion Queen' Kanchana Kaetkaew, 38, poses with scorpions inside a glass room at the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum in Pattaya, January 24, 2009. Kanchana set a new 33 day record for the longest stay with 5,000 live adult scorpions from December 22, 2008 to January 24, 2009. Link