July 22, 2004

IF ONLY THEY COULD SWERVE:

Train Taunter Hit by Locomotive (Fox News, July 22, 2004)

An angry, wheelchair-bound Wisconsin man who enjoys flipping off freight trains may have to cut back on his hobby — one of the trains hit him.

Leland Laird, 54, was at his customary position, middle finger proudly aloft, next to the train tracks in Appleton at about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday evening, reports the Appleton Post-Crescent.

That's when a Canadian National engine's gas tank clipped Laird's wheelchair, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 22, 2004 1:54 PM
Comments

Don't tug on Superman's cape, Don't piss into the wind . . .

Posted by: Robert Schwartz at July 22, 2004 2:15 PM

Don't worry, one of Edwards big contributors will find some way to blame CN for preventing this guy from getting too close to the loco. (And if they had, he's have found a different contributor to sue claming his "free speech"rights" were being violated. When it's all over, this guy is going to come out ahead.

It's like back in the 1980s (or was it the Gulf war?) when "peace activists" tried to stop an ammo laiden train from leaving port facilities in Calif's Bay Area. One of them got his legs amputated when they discovered that trains are subject to inertia when stopping. (The guy survived and went on to become an even bigger pest, and I'm glad I've excised his name from my memory.)

Posted by: Raoul Ortega at July 22, 2004 2:28 PM

Mr. Ortega:
I tried to find that guy's name on the net with no luck. But a Google search for "ammunition+train+amputated" pulls up some really interesting results.

Posted by: Governor Breck at July 22, 2004 2:50 PM

Governor;

You mean this guy?

Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at July 22, 2004 4:10 PM

Raoul, I remember that one. Looking back on it now, he was the Rachael Corrie of his generation.

Posted by: John at July 22, 2004 5:33 PM

Does one have to actually expire to qualify for a Darwin award? If not this guy has to be a contender.

Posted by: MB at July 22, 2004 11:11 PM

"Does one have to actually expire to qualify for a Darwin award?"

I should think that making all further reproduction biologically impossible is a sine qua non.

Posted by: Robert Schwartz at July 23, 2004 1:04 AM

I think to qualify for a Darwin the old geezer might just have to sue the railroad company.

Posted by: Barry Meislin at July 23, 2004 10:20 AM
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