Cell Phones Kill! Wrongful Death Suit Around the Corner For Drowning in Sewer? Update 10-30-08

6-8-07 For statistic lovers who want to regulate cell phones as if they were handguns, this story provides some ammunition. (It may also be an example of the type of powerful ATTRACTION that our guests from the Mystery Forum hope to generate in their quest of women.) The A.P. has reported in Sheboygan, Wis. that a 41-year old man drowned in a sewer on Wednesday trying to retrieve his cell phone. The 300 pound man's head and shoulders became wedged underwater in the storm drain in front of his home. The man was kneeling over the sewer. He had pulled the iron gate off trying to get his cell phone. Neighbor, Chris Van Erem said he then saw the man's feet sticking up out of the grate. (Can you imagine a 3o0 lb man squeezing into this drain? Not even Tony Soprano could intentionally stuff a body in such a small space.) Van Erem ran over and tried to pull him out but was not successful. A child called 911 as Van Erem tried to free the man. It ultimately took six firefighters to free the body from the sewer. David Leffin, Sheboygan County Coroner, ruled the death as accidental. The cell phone was later found at the bottom of the sewer. (Should the cell phone manufacturer or the cell phone provider be liable for wrongful death in a court of law? Or is it the city's fault for not providing cell phone resistant grates?)

For a some what serious article on the dangers of cell phones follow the link: CELL

While not a 300 pounder, Paris Hilton finds herself in a tight spot too! Ms. Hilton's recent release from jail may not last. After she was sent home under house arrest on Thursday because of a "medical condition," the judge ordered her back into court to decide if she should go back to jail. Some times it sucks to be infamous...

Update 10-30-08: a passenger on a French high speed TGV train, apparently dropped his phone into the toilet. When he tried to get it back, the bowl's suction system latched onto his arm and left him unable to free it. Emergency services cut the toilet free of the train, delaying the other passengers for two hours, and removed the man on a stretcher with the toilet still stuck to his arm. A Lebanese student got stuck in his bathroom in 2005. A passenger on a Grand Central Station train suffered the same fate in 2003. Not everyone takes cell phone hazards seriously: killer cell phones. [Source: BBC via Textually.org]