Dropped a barbell on his neck?
Not impossible.
Not impossible, but highly unlikely. You bench press over your chest, so if you couldn’t maintain the weight it would drop on your chest at which point you would attempt to roll it towards your stomach. If you dropped it while unracking/racking it, again unlikely, it could hit your throat but would most likely hit your face first.
Every lifter who is serious enough to use free weights knows that without a spotter you do not use collars. Ever. When in trouble you tilt the bar and the weights slide off that side, flipping the bar over to the other side and protecting you.
He would have to be a colossal moron to lift with no spotter while using collars and using so much weight that he has no control once it’s off the rack. Of course...he did work for the UN.