Germany, 06/08/05

Julia Palmer-Stoll, 21, one of Germanys up-and-coming actresses, paid for her love for animals with her life. On the late evening of Thursday, the 8th of June 2005, the starlet who was on her way home, coming from her horses stable, stopped her car on a major road seeing a hedgehog sitting on the road. Leaving her car with the headlights on full beam, she left her car and kneeled down by the hedgehog on the opposite direction of the quite frequented road to get it out of harms way. According to the local police officer Thomas Rauscher the young woman wore dark clothes on that night, making herself bearly visible. In addition to that, the cars headlights were blinding the oncoming traffic, leaving the 41 year old driver who was driving down the declivous street with no chance of catching sight of the pretty actress kneeling there on the street by the animal. She was fully hit by the oncoming car. "The driver is under heavy shock and couldn't tell very much about the course of events" the police officer explained. The "Marienhof"-performer was draggled 30 meters until the compact finally came to a halt. The driver didn't notice that he hit a person until he left his car. He had to set it back first before he was able to provide first-aid for the blood-covered victim, the police spokesman reported. The accident happened only a few hundred meters from the Dachau hospital and police station. "The local rescuers were immediatly on the scene" Rauscher said, "but everybody was aware that because of the severe head injuries the young woman had barely a chance to survive." - "She loved animals above all things, would have done everything for them" her father said. Her mother, the actress Alisa Palmer (the german dubbing voice of Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz, spent the night waking at the intensive care unit where her daughter died later on. The colleagues at the ARD-show "Marienhof" were particularly aghast, where Palmer-Stoll played the hospital nurse Simone. After the accident a bypasser took care of the uninjured hedgehog and saved it from the roads traffic.

Sources (German newspapers): Heidenheimer Zeitung - http://www.hz-online.de/index.php?mode=full&cat=15&minDate=&begin=0&id=124021 Stern - http://www.stern.de/unterhaltung/film/541554.html?nv=ct_mt Frankfurter Rundschau - http://www.fr-aktuell.de/ressorts/kultur_und_medien/boulevard/?cnt=687378 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - http://www.faz.net/s/Rub501F42F1AA064C4CB17DF1C38AC00196/Doc~E5A9C1B99C61A45AB9A87296B19E24DB7~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html

Submitted on 06/11/2005

Submitted by: Nils Wennemann
Reference: Heidenheimer Zeitung 06/10/05

Copyright © 2005 DarwinAwards.com

Daniel said:
Definitely Toss: Not Amusing
Darwin is never amused when rescuers are hurt.

Kelly said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
Much better write up than the original.

Jack said:
Definitely Toss: Other
While I agree that this submission has more information, I still agree with Daniel. Whether someone is killed trying to rescue another human or an animal, the principle is the same - compassion.

Charles said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes

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