Skip to main content

Darwin Award

Spit contest ends with deadly fall: "OTTAWA -- A Carleton University engineering student participating in a spitting contest with friends plunged 11 floors off a downtown highrise to his death late Saturday night. Ameer 'AJ' Jinah was celebrating his 20th birthday in his apartment with about a dozen friends when the accident happened about 11 p.m.

Police said it appears Jinah took a running start to try to spit farther than his two friends when he unintentionally vaulted himself over the balcony railing.

'It was purely accidental,' said Ottawa police Sgt. Joe Simpson. 'Momentum carried him beyond.'

Police said alcohol was being consumed at the party.

'STARTED SCREAMING'

Apartment building security guard Jason Armstrong who was working Saturday night said he heard a thud and immediately knew something was wrong.

'Two ladies came in and started screaming for me to call 911,' said Armstrong, adding a group of about eight of Jinah's friends rushed to his side.

Armstrong, who had known Jinah for about eight months, said he was surprised to learn the circumstances surrounding his death.

'He was one of the smartest, most polite guys I ever met in my life,' he said. 'I think he was one of the classiest guys. He had a maturity beyond his age.'"

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New York Post Online Edition

news : "December 29, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - Startling new Army statistics show that strife-torn Baghdad - considered the most dangerous city in the world - now has a lower murder rate than New York. The newest numbers, released by the Army's 1st Infantry Division, reveal that over the past three months, murders and other crimes in Baghdad are decreasing dramatically and that in the month of October, there were fewer murders per capita there than the Big Apple, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. The Bush administration and outside experts are touting these new figures as a sign that, eight months after the fall of Saddam Hussein, major progress is starting to be made in the oft-criticized effort by the United States and coalition partners to restore order and rebuild Iraq. 'If these numbers are accurate, they show that the systems we put in place four months ago to develop a police force based on the principles of a free and democratic society are starting to ...
Forum: The fish that threatened national security : "At La Guardia we proceeded to security and the X-ray inspection point run by the Transportation Security Administration. I have learned by now that, post-9/11, a traveler is better off safe than sorry when proceeding through security. I wasn't prepared, however, for the TSA to stop me right at the entrance, proclaiming that no small pets, including fish, were permitted through security. I had, however, just received the blessing of the ticket agents at US Airways and pre-assured MJ's travels with Pittsburgh International Airport security weeks before our travel date. I tried to explain this to the screener who stood between me and the gates, but she would have none of it. I was led back to the US Airways ticket counter, stocking-footed and alone, where the agents reasserted that they did not see a problem for me to have a fish on board, properly packaged in plastic fish bag and secured with a rubber band as MJ was....