Purdue Extension Service

Vanderburgh County, Indiana

 

 

Tree vs. Man

2004 Darwin Award Nominee
Confirmed True by Darwin

(21 December 2004, Georgia) All Reggie wanted to do was fell a tree behind his girlfriend's house. It was the kind of good deed that might be expected of the 47-year-old associate pastor, who also helped out with his church's youth group. Instead, events spiraled out of his control when he chose a new and ill-advised method of separating the tree from the ground.

Reggie borrowed his father's pickup truck, apparently in the belief that he could yank out the bottom, and inertia would cause the top to fall away from the truck. He tied the truck to the tree and floored the accelerator. Miracle of miracles, his plan actually worked -- the tree was uprooted! But the uncooperative tree did not follow the second part of the plan. Top followed the bottom, and it toppled onto the truck, crushing the cab and trapping Reggie.

At this point, he was not unconscious. The still-running engine eventually overheated, starting a grass fire, which ignited the truck's gas tank, turning the truck into a fireball. Police said Reggie was probably dead before the truck caught fire.

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The Darwin Awards: We salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who remove themselves from it in really stupid ways.  Of necessity, this honor is generally bestowed posthumously

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