2003 Personal Accounts

The Darwin Awards salutes the spirit portrayed in the following personal accounts, submitted by loyal (and sometimes reluctant) readers.

Gas Spill 2003 Personal Account (1993, Pennsylvania) I will be the first to admit that this only qualifies as an Honorable Mention -- but how many people get the *prosecution* to request a mental competency hearing? In Pittsburgh, my roommate's coworker was gassing up her car. The automatic shutoff didn't engage, so when the tank was full, a little gas overflowed. When she realized this, she declared that she wasn't paying for gas on the ground -- she would only pay for what was in her car. The attendant stated that she had to pay for all the gas she had pumped. She reiterated that not all of it went into her car. She then said, "Watch, I'll prove it." Prove it she did. She threw her *lit* cigarette on the ground where the gas spilled. The puddle ignited! Fortunately, they were able to put out the fire before anything worse happened. She was arrested for inciting a catastrophe. While listening to the testimony at her preliminary hearing, the prosecutor stated, "That's crazy. That's insane!" The defense attorney -- either spotting a good line of defense, or agreeing with the prosecutor -- asked, "Are you going to request a psychiatric evaluation?" To which the prosecutor replied, "You damn betcha." DarwinAwards.com © 1994 - 2008 Submitted by: swnsl Awful? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Great? Hate it! Love it!

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