Posted on 01/10/2008 1:53:48 PM PST by DancesWithCats
Thursday, January 10, 2008 Cigarette Cigarette proved fatal
A drunken man died after setting fire to himself in a fruitless bid to prove white spirit was not flammable, an inquest heard.
Michael Toye doused himself with the fluid during an argument with friend Paul Deacon before putting a cigarette lighter to his trousers.
Mr Deacon said he extinguished the ensuing flames but was asked not to call for help by Mr Toye, who said: 'I'm all right, I just want a fag and a beer.' They were drinking at Mr Toye's flat on April 12 last year at the time of the dispute.
The 43-year-old applied the white spirit – a derivative of paraffin – while sitting in an armchair and his chest, arms and thighs were soon engulfed by flames.
Mr Deacon threw basins of water over him and wrapped him in a blanket after he refused medical help, the inquest heard. An ambulance took him to a burns unit at Salisbury District Hospital the next morning, but he died six days later from pneummonia caused by his injuries.
A verdict of death by misadventure was recorded by mid-Hampshire coroner Grahame Short.
Toye, from Hedge End, near Southampton, had not understood the consequences of his actions, said Mr Short. 'It was an act of possible bravado,' he added.
And just how is this an act of possible bravado!? Sounds to me like an act of utter stupidity!
... sounds painful. At the very least, you’d think he’d want a couple aspirin along with that beer.
Sounds like it should be written on the magazine cover.
Darwin Award candidate.
Call the guy Robin: “Holy spirits, Batman! The rumors are true: I want a fag!”
Not only that, when he set himself on fire, he proved he was a flamer.
A very useful term, IMO.
Darwin Awards for 2007:
I like #10 the best!!! Yes, it's that magical time of year again when the Darwin Awards are bestowed, honoring the least evolved among us. Here is the glorious winner:
1. When his 38-caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach, California, would-be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked.
And now, the honorable mentions:
2. The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat-cutting machine and, after a little shopping around, submitted claim to his insurance company. The company expecting negligence sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine and he also lost a finger. The chef's claim was approved.
3. A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.
4. After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn't discovered for 3 days.
5. An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how he received the injuries, the lad told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.
6. A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer...$15.
7 Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided that he'd just throw a cinder block through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinder block bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on videotape.
8. As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, 'Yes, officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse from.'
9. The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti, Michigan n at 5 A.M., flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast. The man, frustrated, walked away.
(*A 5-STAR STUPIDITY AWARD WINNER)
10. When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline and plugged his siphon hose into the motor home s sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges saying that it was the best laugh he'd ever had.
In the interest of bettering mankind, please share these with your friends and family, unless of course one of these individuals by chance is a distant relative or long-lost friend. In that case, be glad they are distant and hope they remain lost.
Mr Deacon said he extinguished the ensuing flames but was asked not to call for help by Mr Toye, who said: "I'm all right, I just want a fag and a beer."Ann Coulter's behind this. ;')
...and as he lit it, he said, “hijack this, f-!”
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