A Finnish man was found pinned under said platform; police said he had been there for several days. Police could not identify the man at first, but then an Estonian man came forth and stated that the deceased was his coworker. The Estonian said that he and the dumb crook had been working together in the mall when our nominee disappeared. Later, police uncovered the whole story.

The man had attempted to steal the electric motor that was moving the hydraulic platform. (Comment--why would he steal that? An electric motor of that nature is big and bulky, and he probably wouldn't have gotten away with it anyway...but then again, our nominees are never the brightest bulbs on the porch). However, like almost all Darwin Award winners, he did not know what he was doing and lacked common sense. He unscrewed the wrong bolts, and the hydraulic platform crushed him like a bug on the way down.

The police commented: “He sure was no professional criminal”.

Note: This story appeared on dumbcrooks.com (http://www.dumbcrooks.com/he-sure-was-no-professional-criminal/), but I couldn't find any news sources for it. Even so, I think it's too Darwinian to pass up.

Submitted on 12/19/2013

Submitted by: Perfectly Anonymous
Reference: Story on dumbcrooks.com--Friday, July 9th, 2010 at 12:56 pm

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Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
We've had stories of people cutting down supporting beams and other such things without realizing that the law of gravity would ultimately take over. I don't think we've ever had one involving a hydraulic lift though. Thanks!

Candi said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
Oh my... it should be basic logic that removing the motor from a *lift* would bring it down!

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