I don't normally confer Doofus awards on people who kill themselves, or others, through their stupidity. However, this case is so monumentally stupid that the award almost confers itself!
Deputies say Yount and 32-year-old Dawn Bradley had entered a business southeast of Shelby around 5 a.m. on Easter morning. The company has a number of wrecked and disabled cars and customers can pay to remove salvageable parts.
Investigators say Yount had jacked up a vehicle and was trying to remove a catalytic converter when the jack slipped and the vehicle fell on him. He died at the scene.
There's more at the link.
Clearly, he'd never learned - until it was too late, anyway - that it's not safe to rely on a jack alone to hold up a vehicle. That's why they invented jack stands!
(I wonder . . . since he died on Easter Sunday morning, and was killed while removing a converter, would that count as a 'conversion' experience? In his case, it'd better have!)
Peter
"But officer...we wuz jes' lookin' fer Easter eggs!"
ReplyDeleteSigh, trusting a jack is like playing russian roulette...
ReplyDeleteHave a friend who parked his jeep in an airport long-term lot. A week later when he returned he started the jeep up and it sounded like an M1A2 Abrams reving up.
ReplyDeleteProblem: Catalytic converter missing, but no body found at the scene of the crime.
So the secret of a long life is go after the catalytic converters on "high road clearence" vehicles. That way you don't need a jack.
Theft of catalytic converters happens a lot in this area (San Jose).
ReplyDeleteJunk yards in CA can't sell them, and they are removed before the vehicle is put in the yard for parts. (I suspect the employees are pulling a fast scam, though. They cut teh exhuast pipes, not the converter stubs, so the exhaust system is worthless as a result.)
Also, most junkyards do not allow any jacks to be used, and remove the standard jacks so people aren't tempted.
I've resorted to using the engine hoist rigs they have, when I need more clearance under a vehicle. And I properly block them up, before going under. Actually, it's usually because I want what they originally set the blocks under.