Segway owner dies after falling off river cliff

[Duer 157099]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/09/27/international/i055911D10.DTL

All police found at the bottom of a cliff was a man's body in a frigid river and a Segway, the two-wheeled electric device that was supposed to revolutionize personal transport.

It was Jimi Heselden, a one-time laid-off coal miner turned self-made millionaire who had bought the Segway company only 10 months earlier. He apparently fell to his death while riding one of the sleek black-and-silver scooters. Authorities said Monday his body was found in the River Wharfe at the base of a 30-foot cliff.

Details remained sketchy — police say only that the death was not suspicious, meaning foul play is not suspected — but the incident seems certain to raise fresh questions about the safety of the Segway, which is banned on British motorways and in some U.S. cities because of safety concerns.

Um... no comment.

[gmoney]

1. and, no, this is NOT from the Onion...

[rocktivity]

2. (Sigh) SOMEBODY had to post it

RIP, indeed.

:shrug:
rocktivity

[Rhiannon12866]

14. That was my first thought, too...

:blush:

But then we expected this from Bush*. He nearly killed himself by trying to eat a pretzel... :shrug:

[1955doubledie]

3. What's this rush to banning them?

I mean, this same kind of accident could just as easily happened if he were riding a motorcycle, right? Are there calls for banning them, too?
:shrug:

[spanone]

4. one should not ride anything near a river cliff

[Yeahyeah]

5. Hasn't the Segway gone over like a lead balloon?

Why would he buy the company?

[Duer 157099]

6. I'm not gonna say it.

Nope, I'm not... aw shit, I can't help it...

Maybe he wanted to drive the company over a cliff? (ouch!)

[Yeahyeah]

7. No golden parachute,apparently.

I regret this post.

[Duer 157099]

9. Me too

after I laughed

[Rochester]

8. Sounds liek Darwin Award material

[AnnetteJacobs]

11. 30 feet isn't much of a "cliff" either...

Obviously, it was enough to be fatal, but when I first read the OP I was thinking something like the Grand Canyon.

[rufus dog]

10. I have to admit

That I laughed hard when I heard the story this morning.

[Politicalboi]

12. And I thought

Tell me he wasn't on a Segway. LOL! Oh Well.

[Duer 157099]

13. And I didn't realize they meant "company owner" until I read the article

I just thought it was some guy (like Gob in Arrested Development) who liked riding those things around. I nearly choked when I saw he actually OWNED the company!

[petronius]

15. If I wanted to get rid of this guy, the first thing I'd think of is to toss him off a cliff and

throw a Segway after him - human nature being what it is, there will be a intense desire to believe that this was a hugely ironic and blackly humorous event.

hope the police are setting their senses of humor aside as they investigate, and that his family is as well as can be expected...