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Darwin Awards
2008 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
Vote to tell me what *you* think!

woman + cellphone + train = splat

2008 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

Darwin says, "Thanks for the submission."
A 19-year-old woman whose cellphone dropped onto the tracks in a Queens subway station was killed yesterday when she climbed down from the platform to retrieve the phone and was crushed by an oncoming train.

The police said Lina Villegas of Elmhurst, Queens, was struck by a Manhattan-bound V train in the Grand Avenue-Newtown Station in Elmhurst. She was declared dead on the scene shortly after she was struck about 2 p.m.

She said the accident at the Grand Avenue station was the first case the transit agency knew of where someone was injured retrieving a cellphone on the tracks.

Submitted on 03/16/2008

Submitted by: marc
Reference: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950CE7DC123AF932A25751C0A9629C8B63

Copyright © 2008 DarwinAwards.com

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Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
Risking climbing down onto a subway track just to receive a cell phone is pretty stupid as far as I'm concerned. I don't know about you, but I take all those warning signs and recorded messages about the third rail, etc. pretty seriously. Thanks, Marc!


James said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
I took the "V" train last week. They are somewhat infrequent in the afternoon. She must have dropped her phone right before the train came. It is certainly possible (though NOT recommended) for someone to jump from the platform to the tracks to retrieve something. Getting from the tracks back up to the platform isn't as easy (one has to have the strength to pull oneself up). There is also sufficient crawl space under the platform to protect a person from being hit by a train in the event one is on the tracks when a train enters the station (FYI the third rail is always against the far wall opposite the platform in stations for that very reason). Of course, the victim obviously wasn't considering any of these things, and cell phones seem to be more valuable than gold to some teenagers. Full DA! Thanks, Marc!


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