A couple of brain trusts plummet to their deaths; one horn-dog licks the toad; yet another way I don’t want to die; and several send-offs are just plain bizarre and unfortunate.

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Man dies after fall during game at Turner Field (FOOL!)

By CHARLES ODUM
AP Sports Writer

ATLANTA (AP) — Alcohol was a factor in the death of a 25-year-old man who fell down a stairwell at Turner Field during the game between the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets on Wednesday night.

Justin Hayes of Cumming, Ga., suffered head injuries and was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital.

The investigation is “pointing toward drinking. Alcohol was a factor,” Atlanta police spokesman Ronald Campbell said Thursday.

Hayes’ parents said Justin Hayes had “a couple of beers.”

“According to his friends, he had a couple of beers like most people at a game,” said John and Cindy Hayes in a statement released Thursday. “They were leaving and having fun, and he did what he does at home — tried to slide down the railing. Unfortunately, he just slipped over.”

Campbell said Hayes fell about 150 feet from the club level to the landing on the field level during the eighth inning. Braves spokesman Brad Hainje said Thursday the fall was about 50 to 60 feet.

“This was a tragic, horrible accident,” Hayes’ parents said. “Justin was a very strong Christian person, from a strong Christian family, who had never been in any trouble. He really cared about people and went out of his way to help anyone who needed it. We realize most parents will say that about their child, but that was honestly how he was.”

Mark Guilbeau, the senior investigator with the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office, said an autopsy will be performed.
The Braves issued a statement Thursday expressing sympathy for Hayes’ family.

“The Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Police Department are investigating the tragic accident that resulted in the death of a 25-year old male fan at last night’s game,” the statement said. “Our sincerest and heartfelt condolences go out to his family.”

Braves spokeswoman Beth Marshall said the team had no additional comment pending the investigation.

Turner Field, built for the 1996 Olympics, has been the Braves’ home stadium since 1997. The Braves said it’s the first non-medical fatality at the stadium.

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Man dies in spitting contest plunge (JACKASS!)
Article from: Reuters
May 14, 2008 07:58am

A SWISS man died when he fell from a hotel balcony during a spitting match with a friend, a Swiss newspaper has reported.

The daily Blick said the 29-year-old man took a run-up from inside the room so he could spit further, but lost his balance and plummeted 6.4m to the street below.
He died in hospital.
The man had suggested the contest when he and two friends returned from a disco to their hotel in Cadempino in Switzerland’s Italian-speaking Ticino canton in the early hours.
One of the men went to sleep, but the two others decided to see who could spit furthest from the balcony of their room.
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NYC issues warning after aphrodisiac kills man (MORON!)
By DAVID B. CARUSO
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials are warning New Yorkers to stay away from an illegal aphrodisiac made from toad venom after the product apparently killed a man.
The city’s poison control center issued the warning Friday after receiving a hospital report that a 35-year-old man who ingested the hard, brown substance died earlier this month.
The product is sold under names including Piedra, Love Stone, Jamaican Stone, Black Stone and Chinese Rock at sex shops and neighborhood stores. It is banned by the Food and Drug Administration.
City health officials said the victim, whose identity was not released, was admitted to the hospital complaining of chest and abdominal pain. He died two days later.
Health officials said the hardened resin, made with venom from toads of the Bufo genus, contains chemicals that can disrupt heart rhythms.
The aphrodisiac was supposed to have been applied to the skin, not eaten, but authorities said even that use can be harmful.
“There is no definitely safe way to use it,” said Dr. Robert Hoffman, director of the city’s poison control center. “Don’t buy it. Don’t sell it. If you have it, don’t use it. Throw it out.”
The same type of product killed a 40-year-old man in Brooklyn in 2002 and at least four New Yorkers in the early 1990s. A 17-year-old boy also fell seriously ill, but survived following hours of aggressive treatment.
Following that outbreak, city investigators went looking for the poison and found it was being sold sporadically in grocery stores, smoke shops and from street vendors.
Inspectors have been on the lookout for the stuff ever since, but identifying it isn’t always easy. It is sometimes sold in packaging labeled only in foreign languages.
It isn’t clear how available the aphrodisiac is elsewhere in the U.S., although some similar products have been seized from suspected drug traffickers in other East Coast cities, authorities said.
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Worker crushed by bin filled with rubble (OUCH!)
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — A metal bin filled with rubble shifted and crushed a worker to death at an Orange County industrial site.
The 49-year-old worker, whose name is being withheld, was standing near the bin at Anaheim’s CTI Telecom when the load shifted and tipped on him on Thursday.
A co-worker found the man face-down and unconscious with his lower torso crushed. Sgt. Tim Schmidt says the man was dead with paramedics and police arrived.
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating.
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Man accused in S.F. hit-and-run spree pleads insanity (DUH!)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A man accused in a 2006 hit-and-run spree that killed one and injured 18 others has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Thirty-one-year-old Omeed Aziz Popal is accused of 35 felony counts that include attempted murder and assault charges stemming from the incident in which people were run down in at least 11 spots around the city.
Popal also is scheduled to stand trial separately for murder in the death of a 54-year-old man in Fremont that preceded the San Francisco rampage.
Popal’s attorney suggests that Popal never intended to kill anyone. They say he has a documented history of severe psychiatric disorder and command hallucinations.
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NorCal teen killed on prom date while brother hurt in crash (TOO MUCH TRAGEDY FOR ONE FAMILY!)
CHESTER, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California mother is dealing with a double tragedy after her daughter was killed during a weekend prom date and her son was severely injured in a car crash.
Jennifer Carrigan and Steven Furtado were found dead May 11 by Carrigan’s mother at a house in Chester, about 150 miles north of Sacramento. Both were 18.
When told of his sister’s death, 20-year-old Billy Carrigan headed home from Berkeley. Shortly before 7 p.m. May 11, just before he reached Chester, Billy Carrigan crashed his Toyota Tacoma pickup truck into a stand of pine trees along Highway 36.
A spokeswoman at Enloe Medical Center in Chico said he was in critical condition as of May 12.
It was not immediately clear how Jennifer Carrigan, a senior at Chester High School, and her prom date died, although authorities had made an arrest in the case.
The Glenn County Sheriff’s Department said Furtado had traveled from Willows, where he was a high school senior, to Chester to take Carrigan to her senior prom.
Deputies arrested 18-year-old Reyes Carillo in the deaths of the two teens, said Plumas County Sheriff’s Patrol Commander Gerry Hendrick. He said Carillo previously dated Jennifer Carrigan.