2020 Pending Review
Adding detail
In relation to the submission on https://darwinawards.com/slush/new/pending20201027-160151.html (tightrope walker with grenade), there´s this interesting detail in the last paragraph of the source article (https://www.osaogoncalo.com.br/seguranca-publica/63942/homem-brinca-com-objeto-de-madeira-cai-e-granada-que-estava-em-seu-bolso-explode-em-niteroi):
"During searches on the police system, it was found that the man had not any pending arrest warrant, but had been arrested 5 times before for theft, Maria da Penha Law and murder".
The Maria da Penha law is a special law to punish domestic violence.
It´s not clear from the text if he was accused of murder but let go because of lack of evidence, or if he was convicted and let go because of the countless ways the brazilian judicial system is lenient on anyone who can pay a lawyer.
This article from another news site says it was _only_ three thefts, but adds another detail: he was commemorating the victory of his soccer team (Flamengo, the most popular soccer team and Brasil). It also mentions that the very act of carrying around an explosive artifact (like, say, a grenade) is a crime.
https://www.metropoles.com/brasil/granada-explode-em-bolso-de-torcedor-do-flamengo-no-rio-veja
I could not find any follow up news, despite having happened almost an year ago.
This _rather incomplete_ article is about another case where a guy dropped a grenade inside his Kombi and died (it mentions the case above):
https://www.metropoles.com/brasil/granada-explode-e-mata-homem-no-complexo-do-alemao
A Kombi is a van based on the old Volksvagen Beetle, out of production for decades. They are very resilient, and still are the cargo vehicle of choice for fruit sellers and some other very small businesses.
On the last years, articles on organized crime on Rio de Janeiro e neighboring cities often mentions "use of granades against the police" or "granades being found with the criminal" (Niteroi, the city on the first case, is right beside Rio, and the second article is on the Complexo do Alemão, a slum famously under control of drug traffic).
So between the police and the people who personally know the first guy, there´s probably very little sympathy for these guys.
Umm, sorry I guess this got a little messy, but I hope it can help on the eventual write up about these cases.
Submitted on 12/07/2020
Submitted by:
Anonymous
Reference:
https://www.metropoles.com/brasil/granada-explode-e-mata-homem-no-complexo-do-alemao