Man Killed Performing "Jackass" Stunt

[matcom]

<snip>

WEST RUTLAND — A Shrewsbury teenager, who police said was trying to imitate a stunt from the MTV television show "Jackass," was killed Sunday evening when he jumped from the car he was driving.

Vermont State Police said Monday afternoon they are treating the death of Adam E. Page, 19, as an "apparent accident."

Page, his friend, Adam Cota, 18, and two other unnamed "area juveniles" were "executing a pre-planned 'stunt,' which they said was an attempt to be like the MTV show, 'Jackass,'" according to a police press release.

Police said during the stunt, Page was driving a 1995 Subaru Legacy station wagon around 6 p.m. Sunday.

Police said Page was driving about 30 mph south on Quarterline Road in West Rutland when he turned on the car's cruise control, opened the driver's side door, and intentionally jumped from the vehicle while it was still moving.

Page's body immediately struck the pavement, rolled and came to a rest in the road, police said. Cota, who police said had been filming the stunt while seated in the front passenger seat, then grabbed the steering wheel to gain control of the car, police said.

The other two unnamed juveniles were seated in the back of the vehicle, one of them also taping the stunt while hanging out the driver's side rear window, police said.

Police said Cota was immediately able to turn the vehicle around, and drive back to the spot where Page's body was in the road. Police said Page was "unresponsive" and the teenagers called for an ambulance.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050920/NEWS/509200385/1002

[LynneSin]

1. Got those genes cleaned out of the gene pool

Looks like a Darwin award nominee to me!

[BikeWriter]

2. Freak'n brilliant...

:sarcasm:

[DS1]

3. The Jackass guys have been trained how to fall without killing themselves

Of course, this article had an 80% chance of involving a Subaru, what with being in Vermont and stuff.

[bicentennial_baby]

5. ....

:rofl: too true! :hi:

[Scurrilous]

4. Another Darwin winner...

...awarded posthumously.

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. It's so hard to be sad about stuff like this

I feel bad for the parents and the family, though. Losing a 19 year old has to be awful.

But yet, what a fucking dumb thing to do.

I hate the show jackass, since it's so stupid, but it seems to be serving an essential social role in helping to eliminate the stupid.

[Spider Jerusalem]

7. Reminds me of the Bill Hicks bit...

about someone on acid jumping out of a window..."why do you look so sad, Bill?"

"We're missing a moron..."

[ghostsofgiants]

13. Or the bit about the kid who killed himself because of Judas Priest...

"I don't think we lost a cure for cancer here."

[StopTheMorans]

8. maybe i'm the only one, but fuck it, here goes

they're kids, kids do stupid shit; that doesn't necessarily mean you should piss on their graves when they do it. yes, i'm sure that when you were all 18, you never got really drunk and did things that were extremely dangerous to your health. do we have a little high-horse smilie here?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

14. I agree

I know that I, personally, did my fair share of stupid things in high school/college that very easily could have injured me or sent me to jail.

EVERYONE does stupid stuff sometimes -- especially when they're 19.

[ContraBass Black]

26. I most certainly did not.

:High Horse:

In seriousness, I never understood the appeal of Jackass and other such.

[redqueen]

16. I agree that some of the responses are in bad taste...

but honestly... jumping out of a moving car, with no training? When the show specifically states how dangerous it is?

Yeah, we all do stupid things... but THAT stupid? C'mon...

[Richardo]

19. Absolutely. Like all teenagers, I was immortal.

I'm lucky to be here.

That being said, I did not imitate an idiot TV show and have my idiot friends tape my idiot hijinx (most of which involved driving stinkass drunk).

[ChoralScholar]

9. This is a MORAL OUTRAGE

Shows like this MUST be taken off the AIR!!! They are causing the decay of society's morals!

SARCASM OFF

I think the story would be more effective if it said that the kid was 'attempting to BE a jackass'

WTF, do people not THINK anymore?!?!?

[Coventina]

10. Uh, so why do they call it an "accident" when he intentionally jumped from

the car?

I realize that he didn't intend to die, but he still performed a pre-planned jump from a moving car. Was there a safety device that malfunctioned? Then it could be an accident I guess.

[Deep13]

18. right

Accidents just happen. Jumping from a car that is covering half a mile every minute was not an accident.

[Coventina]

23. I have to say, I really DO feel bad for his family. They are going to

have some real issues to deal with emotionally in this case.

I suppose for their sake, it is good that it be ruled an accident.

A former co-worker of my father's jumped out of a moving car and it was ruled a suicide, and that was very upsetting for the family, on top of everything else.

[Richardo]

11. Yay!

Idiot won't be fathering any idiot children now.

[flvegan]

12. I feel sorry for his loved ones.

They lost a son or brother or grandson or best friend. A loss is still a loss no matter the incident.

Some of these responses are pretty sad.

[Mizmoon]

17. Agreed

I'm surprised to see that no one cares much that a human being is dead.

[Deep13]

20. I see your point, but...

...there is so much suffering in the world by people who have no choice, that it is hard to feel bad for a guy who kills himself doing something stupid. After awhile, empathy is just used up.

[MN ChimpH8R]

15. Culling the herd

Too stupid to live. No loss to humanity here.

[Ron Mexico]

21. I'm trying to care...there, I DO care...whoops, it passed.

There are limits to my compassion, and it just doesn't extend to dumb fucks like this.

[derby378]

22. Six simple words: "DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME"

Why can't they understand?? If they're so hell-bent on trying these stunts anyway, why can't they track down professional stuntpersons to help them with this kind of stuff so that nobody gets hurt??

[leftofthedial]

24. what stunts can we convince repukes to start trying en masse?

[Lilyhoney]

25. Amused to death.

O8)

[Shine]

27. Social Darwinism: Weeding out the dumb ones.

I'm sorry, but how lame is that?

His poor parents.... Rest in Peace.

~Shine