Man jumps on subway tracks to retrieve ipod. Guess what happened...

[Libertas1776]

Guess what happened :sarcasm:

Man Killed by Subway Train While Trying to Retrieve MP3 Player
http://gothamist.com/2009/12/15/man_killed_by_subway_train_while_tr.php


In the midst of an "agitated" cell phone call, a man drops his ipod on the tracks. He proceeds to jump onto the tracks to retrieve it and comes face to face with the speeding B train.
Honestly, I could crack some joke, like "and the nomination for the Darwin Award goes to" but considering the aftermath and the clean up (*shivers*), it just makes me sad. It makes me sad that somebody would put their life at risk just to retrieve an mp3 player, or for that matter cell phone or any other "desperately" needed device.

And who knows, the mp3 player is probably just fine (probably could have got an MTA worker to retrieve it) As for the owner, well you already know. :eyes:

[liberal N proud]

1. Nomination for the Darwin Awards

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. That award comes too late...

I mean, the guy died.

:shrug:

[aquart]

7. Can't be nominated till you're dead.

It's in the rules.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

12. Technically you only have to remove yourself from the gene pool.

There a couple ways to do this... :scared:

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

14. self delete

[jmowreader]

39. He's dead.

He's in the running.

[tandot]

13. Well, he removed himself from the gene pool:

http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/

The Darwin Awards salute the improvement of
the human genome by honoring those who
accidentally remove themselves from it...

.................

Horrible way to go and even worse for the bystanders who had to watch that.

[KamaAina]

26. Not to mention the thousands who were presumably stranded in the station

and all along the line, possibly for hours.

Of course, most of them probably pulled out their iPods...

[NV Whino]

25. That is the point

He has removed himself from the gene pool.

[MadHound]

3. Sounds to me like this person was waaay too wrapped up in their phone call

And when he dropped his iPod, he just automatically jumped after it without thinking or looking because he was too busy talking on his phone. This sort of incident just shows how badly people become wrapped up in a phone call and the world around them fades into the background.

Can you imagine being the person on the other end of that phone call? Wow.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

16. The species needs a tech reboot in regards to these nifty gizmo's.

[surrealAmerican]

37. That's exactly what it sounds like.

So many of the people I see when I'm outside are not attending to the world around them. They're on the phone, or texting, or listening to their headphones.

[kirby]

4. He voided his warranty? n/t

[rug]

5. The ultimate music mashup.

[JuniperLea]

6. Cell phones kill!

I see near-miss accidents every single day during my 42 mile round trip commute to Downtown Los Angeles... this is no exaggeration... and I always check to see who was on the phone... I'm right nearly every time. I've seen weaving and crossing of lines... I've honked motioned to "put the fucking phone down and drive you asshole" more times than I can count. If ever one of these asswipes hits me, my first words to the authorities will be "check their fucking cell phone/CrackBerry and you will know the exact time of the accident!"

Funny how we all survived all those years without cell phones.

[WilliamPitt]

8. He fixes the cable?

(Big Lebowski reference)

[MilesColtrane]

9. The tunes weren't the only things ripped.

ouch

[goldcanyonaz]

10. Were the able to save the IPOD?

:hide:

[Brickbat]

11. Gah, that poor driver.

[Libertas1776]

19. Indeed,

that's with whom my sole sympathies lie with.

[Brickbat]

21. Mine too.

Mr. Brickbat is an engineer, and we know there's a car crash or a jumper in his future someday.

[TheCowsCameHome]

24. It happens in the blink of an eye.

I've been there, done that...........not pleasant for the crew.

[Brickbat]

30. I'm sorry you've had to deal with that.

It's a helluva job. :patriot:

[TheCowsCameHome]

36. The one thing that helps get you through it

is knowing you did all you possibly could to avoid it.

That's not magic by any means, but it does help.

Hope your hubby never has to deal with a situation, though.:hi:

[Brickbat]

43. Thank you.

He's soft-hearted enough that it wrecked his day several weeks ago when he thought he had hit a dog, and I kept telling him that same thing -- what were you going to do, steer away from it? :)

[drdtroit]

15. I feel sorriest for the engineer who will forever be haunted by this!

I dropped a $200 pair of glasses over the edge one day, looked down at them and thought, "Damn, there's another errand I have to run today!"

[NYCGirl]

17. And here's the really sad part:

http://gothamist.com/2009/12/16/man_killed_by_subway_train_yesterda.php

This is the man who was fatally run over by a southbound B train at the Central Park West and 110th St. station; his name was Shem Herman and he was the father of a 2-year-old son, Dylan. The 33-year-old Washington Heights man had jumped down onto the subway tracks to recover his iPod when he was killed by the oncoming train. Yesterday reporters tracked down his distraught wife and mother, so keep reading if you're not sad enough today.

According to wife Claribel Espinosa, he was very attached to his iPod. "He loved music," a "sobbing" Espinosa told the Daily News. "When his MP3 fell, he went to get it. That's how much he loved music... He just wasn't fast enough to get out." Herman was a freelance music writer who was also enrolled at Bronx Community College.

A lifelong Manhattan resident, his grandparents escaped the Nazis in Austria during World War II. His mother told the News, "He's very young and kind of adventurous, so maybe he thought he could pull the iPod out of the tracks."

Pic at link

[Starbucks Anarchist]

22. I love music too, but I wouldn't jump on the tracks for an iPod.

[seabeyond]

46. wow, i thought distracted. but purposeful with hope of making it....

yuk.

[Monk06]

18. "The cell phone customer you are calling is not available. Please hang up and try your call again."

[valerief]

20. Well, he wasn't totally useless. At least he took public transportation. nt

[TheCowsCameHome]

23. Will they waive the early termination charge?

After all, he signed a contract.

[Blasphemer]

27. Jeez

When I was a kid, a homeless guy who seemed to be inebriated fell onto the tracks. Another guy on the platform warned him not to touch the third rail and he was able to help him back up. Fortunately, there was no train in sight. Just seeing him fall onto the tracks filled me with panic. Why in the world someone who risk their life for something as trivial as an mp3 player is beyond me.

[Libertas1776]

28. Many moons ago,

my father jumped onto the subway tracks to retrieve the homework of a crying child. He was new to the country and didn't really see the harm in it. Fortunately, there was no train coming. Of course, afterward, a cop gave him the business about doing such a stupid thing. Sure, the kid got his homework back, but was that really worth the risk? Of course not, especially considering a dead him would have equaled me never existing.

Moral of the story: Don't jump on the goddamn tracks.

[Liberal_in_LA]

29. OMG... he should have bought a new mp3

[marshall]

31. I wonder what the argument was about that engrossed him so much

Health care reform? Climate change? One hopes he at least died talking about something important.

[Blue_Tires]

40. El Tigre!

[calico1]

32. But what about the ipod? n/t

[HopeHoops]

33. What an iMoron. Have they found a home for the orphaned iPod?

[rollingrock]

34. He could have at least waited until the train passed

I wonder if it wasn't deliberate suicide?

its hard to believe anyone could be that stupid on purpose.

[Ghost in the Machine]

35. He conducted... poorly?

:hi:

[Odin2005]

38. iDumb

[Blue_Tires]

41. comments from the link:

<1> | Aimee
If I ever dropped a personal belonging onto the tracks, I'd just forget about it. What's more important - your life or your mp3 player?

Reply | December 15, 2009 8:42 AM < report this > Kojak replied to comment from Aimee
Don't ask ipodophiles that question Aimee.

Reply | December 15, 2009 8:58 AM < report this > NannyState replied to comment from Kojak
Yeah, just keep telling those idiots how incredibly cool they look with that shit around their necks.

Reply | December 15, 2009 8:59 AM < report this > <5> | goodcow
Horatio: Sounds like he just barely... caught the train... *sunglasses* YEAH.

Reply | December 15, 2009 9:02 AM < report this > <6> | hbszanto
sounds like he couldn't get that track out of his mind

Reply | December 15, 2009 1:38 PM < report this > <10> | hotstepper
it's 30 cents of plastic people. no matter how many upsk!rt shots you've got saved on there, it just ain't worth losing your head over.

Reply | December 15, 2009 9:50 AM < report this > <11> | Ralph
So, was the mp3 player damaged?

Reply | December 15, 2009 9:55 AM < report this > <13> | JenChungsBra
Was he still talking on the phone when the train hit him? That must have been interesting to hear from the other end.

Reply | December 15, 2009 10:01 AM < report this > <14> | S.D.
Wow, that's interesting: Where are the "Just Jump Down and Get It" crowd? Must still be early.

In any case, my condolences to the family.

Reply | December 15, 2009 10:03 AM < report this > <15> | suepart
yo, those were some killer beats for shizzo

Reply | December 15, 2009 10:03 AM < report this > <16> | Karl Rotstan
Darwin Award of the Week!

[TexasObserver]

42. It's the "feel good" story of the week.

Guy who can't live without his ipod finds out he really can't live with it.

[saltpoint]

44. If he had Emmylou Harris, Joni Mitchell, and the Dire Straits on that iPod

I totally excuse his desperate plunge to retrieve it.

[seabeyond]

45. and the split second he thought, shit.... iphone not worth it. mind was elsewhere

probably didnt even register possible train coming.

so sad, so sad

and no.... i have no desire for joke or anything else. just a huge ass ooooops.

wow