A young guy told his girlfriend that he was stepping out to get a pack of smokes...this much was true. What he neglected to tell her was that he had no money for cigarettes. To solve both of these problems in one fell swoop he came up with an ingenious plan to burglarize a local convenience store. He reasoned that the main obstacle between him and the loot was the store's burglar alarm and as such he would bypass it by removing the source of its power. He climbed the power pole across the street from the store and was in the process of sawing or cutting through the cable that ran to the store...at which point the full force of 600 volts of mains electricity (with probably 200 amps behind it) promptly grilled him to near perfection. Ironically, what he didn't realize was that the alarm worked on the principle of voltage drop, so even if he had managed to disconnect it without killing himself, the police would have been alerted to the break-in. The police did arrive in due course to investigate the alarm caused by the short circuit (caused in turn by his char broiled corpse) but were initially mystified as to the cause. Eventually, someone pointed out the still smokin' blackened lump fused to the wires across the street and the mystery was solved. My personal moral of this story?...smokin' kills. {* I just became acquainted with your award yesterday and felt obliged to submit a story representing the Eastern Provinces of Canada. I feel this story proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Maritimers (particularly our criminals) are on a par with the world community in eligibility for your prestigious award)

Submitted on 09/05/2005

Submitted by: Simon Shaw
Reference: chronicle herald halifaxNS 04

Copyright © 2005 DarwinAwards.com

Kelly said:
Neutral: Other
ok, this is definately a new twist on the stupid criminal gets himself killed story. If you can find a link to a verifiable news source please submit it.

Jack said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
Most of the electrocution stories we get are about people trying to steal live electrical wires. This is different enough to keep. Thanks.

Tracy said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
This is a dumb criminal... but sawing/cutting the power line is a new class of stupidity. If we can get a verifiable link, it's a DA!

James said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
I found a link to what I do believe is the story in question (http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2004/07/18/547274.htm), but it is now archived. Be that as it may, it would seem this DID happen, and if so, it is certainly a cut above the usual crop of "dumb criminal" stories. 600 volts? That's what powers the NYC Subway System. I wish there were more details, ie WHAT he used to try and cut through the wire. Whatever the case, this fellow certainly went the extra "mile for a Camel"!

Greg said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
I can verify this is a genuine story. It was reported by Broadcast News, a newswire for Canadian broadcast companies and occurred on the night of the 16th/morning of the 17th July 2004. The only slight difference is he actually cut a hole in the roof of the store and was attempting to cut high voltage cables inside, not up a telegraph pole as suggested. Close enough for me though! What a moron!

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