Charles Darwin's Darwin Awards 
HOME
Darwin Awards
Honorable Mentions
Urban Legends
Personal Accounts
Slush Pile
Recent Slush
man eaten by crocodile
The Hurricane Between The Ears
DIY Chainsaw
kite surfing in a Tropical Storm
Person decapitated at Six Flags
Death by compactor
Man's Worst Friend
A new kind of hurt
Stop the train! My car!
Priest + ballons found
How to open a box of explosives
Morbid Curiosity: A Snapshot
Trucker killed by falling pipe
Dancing in the roof with energy
Incoming
Bench Pressing
Electric deja vu
Woman sits in I-10 and dies
Saw it coming
Don't eat nachos on a motorcyle
Wite-Out Drunk
A place not to tie shoestrings
"Sp-Arkansas"
Steamroller joyride gone bad
Smoking in bedrooms is bad enough
Man cuts himself in Two
Stupid Window Cleaner
Attempted Suicide by Cat
Sink or Swim
Sit, don't stand
Wasn't using it anyway...
Stickboy
"Dukes of Hazard"
Good and Gone
Two fires, one year
Man Emerges From Storm Drain
Trying to Jump The Gap
Digging a tunnel under the dunes
When Stealing, Remember: Safety Fir
Balcony Leap
Unplugged?
Off-duty officer wounded in prank
Red Head
Gas Siphoning goes terribly wrong
Copper thief melted to pole
Man Killed Trying To Steal Tires Of
Head Brick Break
Back seat lovers survive cliff plun
Fence post takes out student
look down!
Man torn apart by zoo bears
Don't Drill In The Rain
Climbing Failure
No chicken
Mousetrap Mangled Manhood
Phoning is the End of the Line
personal account
Electrizing measurement effort
Faulkner County man killed in accid
Homemade bazooka
Self-bris near-miss
Wrong outfit for canoeing
Women embarrassed after rescue
Dead man found in hot trunk
Say "Cheese!"
Man found dead head firstin sewer
Aligator removes wrong part
elevator
electric esauphogus
2 Men On Double Decker Bus
11,000 volt fatal shock for Leeds c
It apparently takes more than one..
Hospital Drunks
Man Suffers Burns In Gas Tank Explo
Ax that spider!
Electric shock "cooks" raider
The Microtome
Slow Learner
Brillant!!
Clothes Dryer Grill
How high is it?
Never assume . . .
Surfing a Tsunami
Man found dead in Calgary manhole
Exeter Bomber
Burned On A Utility Pole
IT'S NOT BULLETPROOF!!!
Electrocuted by train power line
How hard is your head?
It is really good beer
Heart Shocking
Copper theif dies in vault
Safety first
Don't hold your breath...
Inner tube blues
RVs in Prunetown
Man trying to steal copper wires ge
Burglar Pancake
Looking for "pleasure" in a hole
Surgeons Remove 16 Steel Washers Fr
Drain inspector
Flamming lips
Smoking bomb
Sheepdog in Tractor kills Farmer
How Not to Drain a Plant
R.I.P. BMW
Youth Killed as Club's Shaft Pierce
Cooked Crook
Timmy fell down the well..really
Hangar 18
Orca Avenger
Race to the Pole
Take a Picture, It'll last longer!
Genital warts
No helmet, no brain
Check for pets before breaking in
A Night On the Road
Dallas copper thief is done
Rock Climbing Incident
Near Miss
Mega hurts
Ooops you've been ULed
puts the "hot" in the icy hot
Exterminator? Not so Much.
Final descent, update
Older Slush 
 
~ Randomizer ~
Newsletter
Gift Shop
Rules  Search
Contact Darwin
Submit a Story
Philosophy Forum
Home

  

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!

Slow Learner

2008 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

A 34 year old southern man was sentenced to 18 months jail for trying to steal live copper power lines from the states central highlands. In sentencing the man in Hobarts supreme court the judge recounted that the man had first driven to the Liapootah power station in September last year where he broke into a compound and stole 100kg og copper wire worth $2000. Later that month he drove to the Wayatinah tip and came across a power pole posted with a sign warning "Danger - Live Wires Overhead, Do not Climb". Incedibly, the defendent formed the view that the power lines supported by the pole were not live, and climbed it after cutting through the barbed wire guard justice Evans said. However when the man reached for one of the overhead lines with wire cutters, he recieved a 22000 volt electric shock , the force of which threw him some distance from the pole. After being taken to hospital by ambulance with serious burns to his legs and arms, the man required multiple skin grafts and a three week hospital stay. He was also charged with various offences. But the day after he was duischarged from hospital, still swathed in bandages, he travelled to another power station, and, undeterred by his previous experience, again concluded the power lines were not live. He climbed the pole and cut through a large copper cable, which although live, did not shock him. However, the cutting of the cable instead triggered an emergency alarm, resulting in four of the five pipelines to the power station shutting down at a cost to Hydro Tasmania of $200000:00. The man was discovered at the scene by two Hydro employees but denied being the perpetrator until interviewed by police. He will be eligible for parole in 12 months.

Perhaps next time he may be successfull in cooking himself!!

P.S. It pains me greatly as a native Tasmanian to submit this true near miss, (as we constantly bear the brunt of various inbreeding jokes etc),but I feel this true story needs to be told to a wider audience.

Submitted on 06/28/2008

Submitted by: Phil Howell
Reference: Launceston Examiner (Tasmania) April 12 2008

Copyright © 2008 DarwinAwards.com

Great? 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Awful?
Love it! Hate it!
>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
Yet another dumb copper crook for Darwin's collection. Thanks, Phil.


Candi said:
Definitely Toss: Repeat
Sorry, but we have this one. Check out http://darwinawards.com/slush/200804/pending20080421-161338.html Sounds like this mook is well along to frying his remaining brain cells. Thanks, Phil!


Shadow said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
shes collecting em


The Darwin Awards Gift Shop

$16 Smoking Crater T-Shirt / Black
Heavy 100% cotton, black Hanes Beefy-T with an inadvisable cigarette break on the front... a smoking crater on the back! Click on the image for a full view. Based on true stories. Errata: TNT will not explode in the presence of a lit cigarette. The man was actually sitting on a crate of gelignite.
Buy the Smoking Crater T-Shirt

 

Slush Pile
Slush Pile Rejects


Advanced Search

HomeRulesFAQsAwardsSlushSite Map
DarwinAward | HonorableMention | PersonalAccount | UrbanLegend