The Darwin Awards are named in honor of Charles Darwin, father of evolution. The Darwin Awards, given to those "doing the most to improve the human gene pool by removing themselves from it usually in the most spectacular or humiliating manner. This award is usually bestowed posthumously.The Darwin Award for 2009 went two bank robbers in Belgium. On September 26 they blew themselves up while trying to crack open a cash machine. The Belgian pair used so much explosive to get their hands on the money that they destroyed the whole bank building.
When police arrived at the scene, they found one of them with severe head injuries, and rushed him to hospital where he died shortly after arrival. Investigators initially assumed that his accomplice had managed a getaway, but the second one's body was excavated from the debris twelve hours later. No one else was hurt in the blast.
In second place was Shawn Motero who was stuck in a traffic crawl in Florida when he needed to answer a call of nature. With no toilet handy, he got out of the car before jumping over a concrete wall to find a more secluded spot. Unfortunately, the 30-year-old had not realized he was on a bridge, and fell 65 feet to his death. Award organizers said it proved you should "look before you leak."
In third place was the first ever woman to be nominated for the award. Rosanne Tippett drove her moped into a flooded river, despite the warning signs. She was rescued by police, but died after jumping back into the river in an attempt to recover the two-wheeler.
To read more Darwin nominees and past winners, go here.
1 comment:
And as a friend of mine said on seeing a speeding, weaving driver with his kids unseat-belted in the back of the station wagon, "There's evolution at work."
- Beth
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