Mobile phone immobilises policeman – permanently

Curiosity killed the copper

By Lucy Sherriff, 25th August 2000

Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery

Mobile phones will probably act as an evolutionary catalyst, not because they spew out vast quantities of nasty radiation, but because they will separate the quick-witted from the more sluggish of thought. With this in mind, we can announce the latest entry for this year's Darwin Award.

PC Darren Riley was speeding along the A359 at around 90mph when he received a text message on his mobile phone. Rather than ignoring it the ill-fated copper decided to keep driving and check the message at the same time.

Investigators of the following crash think that he must have taken his eyes off the road to read the message causing him to lose control of his car and drive straight into a tree.

His phone was found in the wreckage of his Nissan still displaying the message he had just accessed. No details of the message's contents have been made public.

Two months earlier PC Riley had his first brush with death as he grappled with a crazy man armed with a sword. He was given a posthumous award for bravery.

Seriously, had PC Riley waited until he was out of his car before reading his message, he would almost certainly still be alive today. ®

Register Factoid

The Darwin Award is always posthumous, and given to those brave souls who have improved the gene pool - by removing themselves from it. Previous winners have included a man who shot himself as he fell 20 stories
to his death. It was a complicated ending for one so simple...