Woman nabbed driving corpse across country

[joeunderdog]

BERLIN (Reuters) - A 53-year-old German woman who was driving her dead mother across country to save on mortuary transportation costs was fined by police for disturbing a dead person's peace.

"You're not allowed to transport dead people in your private car," said Ralf Schomisch, police spokesman in Koblenz, where the car was found after a tip-off from a mortuary.

"The corpse was on the back seat without a seat belt, which in this case didn't really matter. But it was covered up with clothing. It is a misdemeanor."

snip
The woman had already driven 450 km (280 miles) after picking up the body from a mortuary in the northern city of Bremerhaven. She wanted to bury her mother, who died of natural causes aged 90, in her hometown Daun.

http://reuters.excite.com/article/20060424/2006-04-24T184832Z_01_L24592052_RTRIDST_0_ODD-GERMANY-CORPSE-DC.html

I know it's expensive, but...:wtf:

[Ecumenist]

1. Oh my God...

I believe in saving money as much as the next person BUT THIS IS JUST CRAZY...

[MichiganVote]

2. Best weirdo story I've read all month!

[rurallib]

3. 'disurbing a dead person's peace'???

Now THERE is a law the repugs could love!

[MazeRat7]

5. LOL... I know.. its not like she went and dug her up and carted her off...

[MazeRat7]

4. I hope she at least rolled down the windows.... (n/t)

[WarNoMore]

7. that hit my funny bone after a tough spell. n/t

[MazeRat7]

20. Perhaps I've seen too many Cohen brothers films.... (n/t)

[MSgt213]

6. Aren't you allowed to confront your accuser? How will you be able to ask

if you actually disturbed the peace of a dead person?

[Joanne98]

8. See where the attack on the middle class leads......

[Warpy]

9. How stupid can funeral laws get?

Here in NM, there are a lot of reservations. When family members die in hospital, the families pick the body up, wrap it in a quilt or blanket, and transport it back to the rez in a van or pickup truck so they can have their own burial ceremony that doesn't involve embalming and overpriced coffins.

My parents' ashes were sent to me UPS. I couldn't take them on the plane due to reams of stupid and intrusive paperwork from DHS.

I'll be disposing of them informally.

[uppityperson]

11. cemetary wouldn't let us bury my parent's ashes,had to leave them

had to leave them in a container on a piece of astroturf. Manager said they would come bury them when we left. We wanted to do it, do the final closure but they wouldn't let us. I think we were not raised properly enough, but it was very weird, walking away leaving container of ashes on that astroturf.

[Monk06]

19. I'll be disposing of them informally. That's what I did with my mother>>>>

I wanted to spead her ashes on the site of a national
monument. Instead of asking and being refused I just
went ahead and did it.

Now I can visit her in a nice setting and no one is
the wiser.

Tip don't use an urn. The plain cardboard box is better.

[uppityperson]

10. I don't see anything wrong with transporting dead people

I mean, they need to get cleared with the coroner, perhaps wrapped in something for sanitary reasons, but I don't see a problem in being able to actively participate in disposing of a family member. Used to have viewings on kitchen tables and buried by hand in the past. sounds ok to me.

[LaurenG]

12. I just deleted a post saying the same thing

I wish my relatives could just put me on a bonfire and party on at my death.

[SoCalDem]

13. There have even been Irish wakes in bars..The coffin was open

and people tossed back a few in honor of the dearly departed..

The funeral and the nursing home lobbies have made "end of life" a lot more stressful and expensive than it has to be..

Years ago in Indiana, my friend confronted this. Her mother wanted to be cremated, and yet the law required embalming, a cemetery lot and a casket.. She was appalled at the cost..What should have been a transfer ride to the cremation facility from the hospital, tunred into a 3 day ordeal involving a funeral home and the high pressure to "do right by Mom".. They ended up spending more money than they had to just comply with the deceased mother's final wishes.. They wanted to scatter the ashes, but they were required to bury them..

[Sal Minella]

18. I've read of Irish wakes where the suspected corpse was propped

up in a chair at the head of the table with whiskey in front of him.

The idea was, if an Irishman could sit all night in front of a glass of whisky and not drink it, that proved he was indeed dead, and it was indeed time to bury him.

Maybe that's where the word "wake" comes from -- if you can't wake him up, you bury him.

[xmas74]

14. My family still buries by hand, if they wish.

We have a private cemetery, family-only, in Northern WI. The past few years we've interred after cremation (too expensive to fly them in) but in 1999 I remember a service in which family dug the grave and interred them themselves w/ no help and no vault.

[Jazz2006]

22. Agreed, uppityperson.

I was just writing a post to the same effect.

I don't understand why this is an offence. I mean, it's not as though she was spiriting the corpse away to cover up anything. She picked it up from a mortuary, where, presumably, they had done all that they had to do already.

[enlightenment]

15. What part was disturbing her peace?

Covering her with clothes, not putting on her seatbelt, or making her ride in the back?

Sounds like the mortuary was tee'd off that they couldn't squeeze more money out of the daughter.

[JVS]

16. "tip-off from a mortuary" I could have guessed that, it's like Lenin said

You just look at who stands to benefit and like.... you know

[rodeodance]

17. I do hope someone gives assistance to this woman.

[0007]

21. Should've put her in a big suit case and then took the Bus.

[uppityperson]

23. might be hard to get her unfolded at the end of the journey though