Since the earliest days of our existance, Man has had an interest in things which flash, burn, or do anything out of the ordinary. Fortunately, most of the human race is smart enough to know what the difference between 'harmless fun' and 'super dangerous beyond all recognition'. However, this is the story of the latter.

An older teenager a year shy of becoming a twenty year old, which we will call Daniel, got his hands on some industrial bullet blanks through his friends.

Big mistake.

He decided that, to observe the bang from the blanks, he decided to plug in the bullet blanks into a socket, then hitting it with a hammer. The resulting impact detonated the blank, breaking the socket the blank was being held, and propelling a metal piece of shrapanel into his chest. He died, collapsing into his friend's arms, wishing that he took a moment to think about the fact that hammer + bullet in any situation = boom.

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A teenager from Cradley Heath died when a piece of metal pierced his chest as he played with bullet blanks, an inquest heard.Daniel Price, aged 19, of The Terrace, Cradley Heath, died after he called out for help and collapsed into the arms of one of his friends.

The tragedy happened in Meadow Walk after Daniel went there with friends to let off metal “bullets” by striking them into a socket with a hammer.

The inquest heard that when Mr Price hit the metal with a hammer, part of the socket had broken and a fragment had flown out, pierced his chest and entered his lung.

Friend Brett Matthews said he and Mr Price had gone to Meadow Walk with the bullets which a group of friends had brought round to his house earlier that day.

He said they had been letting them off in the back garden but decided to go to the alleyway with another friend, Daniel Tomkins, after being concerned about causing a disturbance.

The inquest heard that Mr Price had crouched down and hit the bullet - of the type used in industrial nailguns - with the hammer, causing a bang and a flash.

Mr Matthews said Mr Price had called out to him for help before collapsing into his arms.

Sandwell coroner Robin Balmain said a group of Daniel’s friends had taken the strips of metal from a portable office. “Daniel died as a result of playing with what can best be described as bullets used the construction industry,” he added.

Mr Balmain recorded a verdict of accidental death.

This entry was made on Thursday, August 24th, 2006 at 11:10 am and is filed under News.

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Submitted on 06/18/2007

Submitted by: James
Reference: http://www.expressandstar.co.uk/2006/08/24/teen-died-in-bullet-game/

Copyright © 2007 DarwinAwards.com

Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
Thanks for the additional information, James!

James said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
I haven't seen THIS one yet! This fellow wasn't even trying to salvage casings, he just wanted to see sparks! Alas, another young life cut short...! Plenty stupid enough for full DA consideration! Thanks, James!