Alcohol and a Stop Sign 
2003 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
I heard about this story on the news a few days ago and thought it might make a Darwin award. The man in the story got really drunk one night and his buddies thought it might be funny to tie him to a stop sign using saran wrap. Hey- only in North Carolina, right? Someone found him the next morning. I believe he died of alcohol poisoning or dehydration. Here is the online article from the newspaper. The website address is at the end of the article. I hope you can use it.
egan Dudley
Goldsboro News-Argus
Online Edition
Serving Goldsboro and Wayne County since 1885.
Online since 1997, updated every weekday.
Sheriff: Alcohol caused bound man's death
By Staff Writer JACK STEPHENS
A 39-year-old man whose body was found wrapped in plastic and bound to a stop sign died of alcohol poisoning, the Wayne County Sheriff's Department said today.
No charges have been filed, but the death remains under investigation, officials said.
A medical examination of the body of Tony Wayne Smith of 270 Mince Hill Road showed that he had ingested more than five times the legal limit of alcohol, Sheriff's Capt. Jerry Best said.
According to the state Medical Examiner's Office, Smith registered a little more than .40 percent blood-alcohol content. A level of .08 percent is considered impaired under North Carolina law.
An autopsy of Smith's body on June 24 showed no signs that he was murdered, Best said. Medical examiners reported that the death was "accidental."
Smith was found at about 9 a.m. June 23 by a motorist on N.C. 111. He was bound to a stop sign at Mince Hill Road.
An investigation by two sheriff's detectives, Sgt. Shawn Harris and Ray Brogden, developed information that Smith had been to a party with seven other people on June 22 and became intoxicated, Best said.
Smith was taken to the intersection and then the tied in plastic wrap to the stop sign at about 4 a.m., Best said. The plastic was wrapped around his lower body with his hands left free, the captain said.
"If he had recovered from the alcohol poisoning," Best said, "he could have unwrapped himself."
The detectives' information has been turned over to the District Attorney's Office. Best said District Attorney Branny Vickory, who came to the intersection last week when the body was found, will make a final determination if any criminal act occurred and if charges will be filed.
"This was an unusual death," Sheriff Carey Winders said today. "Our detectives did a good job in investigating it."
"We had a lot of calls on this case," Best said. "As sinister as it sounds that someone would wrap someone else up at a stop sign, the fact is, Mr. Smith would have survived if he had not drunk so much alcohol voluntarily."
Updated on Monday, July 1, 2002 12:28:47 PM.
Story found on july 1, 2002 at: http://www.newsargus.com/index.html
Submitted on 07/01/2002
Submitted by:
egan Dudley
Reference:
Goldsboro News online 7/1/02
Copyright © 2002 DarwinAwards.com
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