On the day Mr Teece appeared to decide to terminate his existence, he was changing the blades on a crusher box on Mr Briggs-Price's premises. [For the few paragraphs, being a local, what I write was heard on the grape-vine rather than actually reported.] Mr Teece was struggling to losen the fixings for the blades. He must have decided he needed to reposition the blades themselves a little to get at them better. Now most people at this point would get out of the crusher box, switch it on, operate the blades to their new position, switch off the machine again and continue.

Not Mr Teece. Not only had he failed to make sure the machine was off and isolated while he worked within its lethal teeth - he actually used the remote control for the crusher while standing in the gigantic jaws, to attempt to adjust their position. When the blades failed stop on command it was already too late for our hero. The box was closing, with him inside it, and the emergency stop on the remote control hadn't worked for some 4 days and was awaiting repair. (This last bit, I'll concede, is unlucky however bear in mind the situation was entirely of his own creation, thus I find it difficult to sympathise!) The inevitable happened and he was chopped almost entirely in half.

Mr Briggs-Price was later charged with "failing to ensure the safety of employees" and pleaded guilty. Probably because of the broken emergency stop button. That said, there's not much you can do to protect a man who believes it is safe to stand in a car crusher and switch it on.

Supporting articles: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/nottinghamshire/4425933.stm

http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2005/e05052.htm

Submitted on 04/20/2005

Submitted by: Anonymous
Reference: BBC and Court record, Jan 2004

Copyright © 2005 DarwinAwards.com

Daniel said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
What I like about this one is that he was the operator of the machine, and should have known the stop button didn't work.

Kelly said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
Sounds like a cousin of the people that fall into industrial wood chippers when unjamming them while they are running.

Jack said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
I agree. A classic case of Darwin grade stupidity.

The Darwin Awards Gift Shop

The Darwin Awards Condom Keep yourself out of the gene pool! A condom in a matchbook, useful for emergency contraception, bachelor parties, frat parties, and important rites of passage. LOADED inside and out with funny quotes and stories. Everyone loves this item! Friends don't let friends reproduce! $13 for Pack of 4