One of the two men injured when they flew off a pickup on a large piece of plywood has died.

Julio Mendez, 26, of Irving died Monday evening at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s Web site. No cause of death was listed.

Mr. Mendez and the second man were headed to a construction site in the 10000 block of Wagley-Robertson Road in Fort Worth about noon Monday. They were sitting on a piece of plywood in the back of the pickup when the plywood flew off the pickup with them on it.

A second man, a 23-year-old, remained in critical condition at Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital, Fort Worth police Lt. Dean Sullivan said Tuesday.

No criminal charges were anticipated, he said.

Submitted on 04/24/2007

Submitted by: Russell Adams
Reference: Dallas Morning News, 04/24/2007

Copyright © 2007 DarwinAwards.com

Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
I don't know about you, but if I was sitting in the back of a pickup truck I'd want to be sure I was seated securely and not sitting on top of anything that could slide around, especially if the rear gate is down as I'm guessing was the case here. Thanks for sending this in, Russell!

James said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
While I am not as enthusiastic as Bruce about this one (probably because the usual hack reporting leaves a lot to the imagination and a MUCH better write-up will be needed), I do agree that it should be considered. Plywood is deceptively slippery, and it wouldn't take much to see these two airborne! As no criminal charges are anticipated, my guess is that the driver was proceeding along safely (though what part he played in the decision not to secure the plywood is unknown). Thanks, Russell!

Chip said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
I am with James on this one. Not really enough detail to determine if sufficient stupidity was involved. I did a web search and could not turn up additional information. Russell, if you can dig up more information and perhaps provide a more humorous story to go with this, this story has a lot of potential to be a true blue Darwin Award winner.

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