Now, having found the website of the reporting paper, I find more mistakes, not only my own mistaken assumptions.

First, this story blames the death on gusty winds and called this a bizarre accident. I find nothing accidental about tying yourself behind a moving vehicle with a parachute. I must mention here that the vehicle in question was a tractor. The first thing that comes to mind when a tractor is mentioned, is NOT it's top speed. Also, to address the gusty winds being blamed for this accident, I must mention that one of the parties involved is a meteorologist. If anyone were going to anticipate wind conditions, you would think this guy would.

Now that I've noted the most glaring mistakes that I believe will qualify this for a Darwin Award, I will quote the story from the paper, so all can see the details and see if you agree.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Gusty winds were blamed for a bizarre accident that killed the son of a local TV weatherman who was parasailing behind a tractor, a family friend said Monday.

The tragedy happened about 12:15 p.m. Sunday at the Robinson residence of Don Greene, a meteorologist for local television station KXXV. He and his son, 24-year-old James Greene, of Austin, were enjoying the day together when they decided the weather was right to go parasailing.

Normally, parasailing is done over water with a boat pulling someone hitched to a parachute-like canopy. The idea is for the rider to fly into the air, assisted by the parachute.

But there is also a form of the sport known as terrestrial parasailing in which the rider is pulled over land by a motor vehicle. In the case of Greene and his son, they used a farm tractor, family friend Rob Sellers said.

The way it is supposed to work, Sellers said, is that someone drives the tractor until the rider is picked up by the wind. Tethered to the vehicle by a rope, the rider then flies until the tractor stops.

But on Sunday, as Don Greene was driving the tractor with his son in back, the wind proved so strong it picked the tractor up off the ground, Sellers said. That caused the rope holding James Greene to break and he went free-flying into the air, he said.

Initially, Greene hit the ground, Sellers said. But then the wind picked up his parasail again, and he was thrown over a fence and into a tree about 500 feet away. The impact injured him severely, Sellers said, noting that Greene landed in the branches of the tree and had to be removed.

A family member called 9-1-1 as soon as the accident happened, Sellers said. Within about a minute, a fire truck was at Greene's house on East Rocket Road. The Robinson Volunteer Fire Department happened to be putting out a grass fire a couple of houses down and was able to respond immediately.

Once Greene's injuries were assessed, he was loaded into a helicopter for transport to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, Sellers said. He died shortly thereafter.

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Apparently this is an accepted form of entertainment in Texas, and possibly other areas, however I just don't see the logic in tying yourself to a tractor, with rope that was obviously not up to the task, and taking off in winds that could be strong enough to pick up said tractor, in an area of stationary objects that you could hit (ie, fence and trees). I think Lt. Tracy O'Connor of the Robinson Police Dept said it best, "It was just an unfortunate accident," O'Connor said. "I've never heard of anyone parasailing behind a tractor, but it's not against the law." Isn't it a shame that stupid behavior isn't against the law?

Submitted on 02/09/2006

Submitted by: Kalani Berry
Reference: Waco Tribune Herald/2-7-06

Copyright © 2006 DarwinAwards.com

James said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
We've received numerous submissions on this story, but this is by far the best write-up of the lot and there IS new information which I will pass on to Darwin. Of course there is still the tricky matter of lack of self-selection, but I will let darwin sort that out! Thanks for the excellent write-up, Kalani!

Jack said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
IMO, the write-up makes this the best of the submissions we've gotten so far. Thanks, Kalani!

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