NEWS ABOUT: accidental death
accidental death stories: 38 news briefs
Anchorage Daily News Jun 13, 09 7:40 AM CDT
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Two experienced climbers died this week trying to summit Mount McKinley, the Anchorage Daily News reports. The pair plunged at least 2,000 feet from the 20,320-foot mountain, North America’s tallest peak. Officials say it’s unclear whether the men reached the summit before their fall on Thursday or why they were on a particularly treacherous route not usually used by climbers. About 1,200 climbers attempt McKinley each year, and a handful of deaths usually result.
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Vegas entertainer died from 'toxic reaction' to pain medication
Las Vegas Sun Jun 10, 09 6:38 AM CDT
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Las Vegas entertainer Danny Gans' death early last month at the age of 52 was accidental, a coroner ruled yesterday. The longtime Vegas Strip fixture, known as the "Man of Many Voices," suffered from underlying health problems including high blood pressure and chronic pain syndrome and died from a toxic reaction to a painkiller, the Las Vegas Sun reports. The coroner declined to say how much of the painkiller was found in Gans' bloodstream or whether the singer had a prescription for the drug.
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AFP May 30, 09 7:57 AM CDT
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Former Olympic snowboarding champ Karine Ruby of France died yesterday after she and two fellow climbers tumbled into a glacial crevasse while descending Mont Blanc in France. One of her companions survived the fall, but sustained serious injuries and was air-lifted to the hospital. The 31-year-old Ruby, who won a gold medal in 1998 and a silver in 2002, was training to be a mountain guide.
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Associated Press May 26, 09 6:31 PM CDT
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Mike Tyson's 4-year-old daughter died today after accidentally hanging herself from a cord dangling from a treadmill in the family home. Exodus Tyson had been on life support since being found yesterday by her older brother in their Phoenix home. Mike Tyson was in Las Vegas at the time but flew home after getting word of the accident.
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Book Review
Slate May 26, 09 1:22 PM CDT
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If you’re thinking about a trip to the ball park, you’d better have some good insurance. In their new book, Death at the Ballpark: A Comprehensive Study of Game-Related Fatalities, Robert Gorman and David Weeks chronicle 850 baseball-related deaths, listing them in reference-like fashion. You’d likely be shocked at just how many have been killed by balls to the heart, errant throws, lightning strikes, and other freak occurrences.
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BBC May 24, 09 7:04 AM CDT
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At least 11 people were killed by a fan stampede after a Moroccan concert, reports the BBC. Some 40 others were injured when a wire fence collapsed, causing a mob to surge forward at the event packed with 70,000 spectators. The Rabat event was part of the week-long Mawazine world music festival that included several top musicians, including Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keyes, and Kylie Minoque.
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"Nonhostile" incidents pose greatest threat in recent months
Boston Globe May 3, 09 5:27 AM CDT
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Troops serving in Iraq in the past eight months were most likely to die from "nonhostile" causes such as illness or accidents, according to new statistics. The period marks the first time insurgents have not been responsible for the majority of troops deaths, reports the Boston Globe. While the statistics highlight the decline in insurgent violence in recent months, they also raise disturbing questions about military safety.
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Associated Press Mar 20, 09 4:11 PM CDT
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Family and friends assembled in New York today for the wake of Natasha Richardson, the AP reports; husband Liam Neeson, their sons, and mother Vanessa Redgrave were among them. “It’s been a very, very sad few days and I think it will stay that way,” said family friend Matthew Broderick. “I had dinner with her Saturday,” said another actor friend. “She left to ski the next day.”
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Entertainment Tonight Mar 19, 09 4:38 PM CDT
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The crew of Liam Neeson’s latest film is “bereft” over the death of his wife but will continue shooting, Entertainment Tonight reports. Chloe will focus on scenes that don’t need Neeson, who is mourning wife Natasha Richardson. “There are some scenes with Liam Neeson which have not been completed, (but) we do not feel this is the time to address that matter,” says a statement.
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New York Post Mar 19, 09 2:07 PM CDT
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Natasha Richardson’s cause of death was an “epidural hematoma due to blunt impact to the head,” the New York Post reports. The verdict comes from the city’s medical examiner, ruling the actress’ death an accident. A hematoma is a blood clot that grows between the brain and the skull, the Daily News adds. The lights of Broadway’s theaters will be dimmed tonight in tribute.
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Coroner says Dakota's blood-alcohol level was 3 times state limit
E! Online Jan 21, 09 9:46 AM CST
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Macaulay Culkin’s sister was drunk when she was struck and killed by a car in Los Angeles last month, E! Online reports. Dakota Culkin, 29, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.31%, more than triple California’s legal limit. “It might have influenced her decision to walk into traffic,” said the coroner, who ruled blunt-force trauma as her official cause of death.
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Washington boy dies after he's struck in head by metal debris
Seattle Times Jan 18, 09 6:38 AM CST
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A 6-year-old Washington boy was killed when he was struck in the head by a flying piece of metal while watching a Monster Truck show. It wasn't immediately clear what flew off one of the trucks and up over a safety barrier. Another fan in the stands was also injured. The weekend performances continued as planned, despite the death, though the problem truck was removed. "Our entire family is grief-stricken and angry," said the boy's stepmother.
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Police suggestions wrong, TMZ sources say
TMZ Jan 3, 09 2:24 PM CST
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The official story on how Jett Travolta died is way off, sources tell TMZ. The family’s lawyers, who are with John Travolta in the Bahamas, say Travolta's 16-year-old son probably died from banging his head against a hotel bathtub or toilet, not from a seizure. They also deny the police story that Jett had gone undiscovered for hours.
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Tragedy a 'parent's worst nightmare'
Daily Telegraph (UK) Dec 30, 08 6:37 AM CST
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A father accidentally dropped a television on his 4-year-old daughter's head in a horrific Christmas tragedy, reports the Daily Telegraph. The North Wales father was carrying an old television to another room to make way for a new Christmas set when he tripped over his daughter, who was playing at the bottom of a stairway. She died of massive brain injuries on Christmas Day, an inquest heard.
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Calls it a 'tragic case of mistaken identity'
New York Times Dec 10, 08 7:14 AM CST
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US troops killed six Afghan policemen and one civilian today, in what a senior military spokesman called a “tragic case of mistaken identity,” the New York Times reports. The forces had just finished overrunning a Taliban hideout, killing a suspected Taliban commander and detaining another man, when the policemen fired on them, according to a joint statement from the American and Afghan militaries.
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'Tell me' how to deal with this, pleads grieving father
CNN Dec 10, 08 5:02 AM CST
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The Korean immigrant who lost his family when a fighter jet crashed into his San Diego home urged people to pray for the Marine Corps pilot "not to suffer," reports CNN. "I don't blame him. I don't have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could," sobbing dad Dong Yun Yoon told reporters yesterday. The body of Yoon's 15-month-old daughter was found yesterday.
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8-year-old accidentally shot himself with Uzi
as father looked on
Reuters Dec 5, 08 6:36 AM CST
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A Massachusetts police chief was indicted after an 8-year-old accidentally killed himself at a gun show the officer helped sponsor, Reuters reports. The boy mistakenly shot himself in the head with an Uzi as his father looked on with a camera. The policeman was indicted for involuntary manslaughter and furnishing a machine gun to a minor; the sports-club site of the show and two men who supplied the gun were also indicted.
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Experts mixed on whether death can be prosecuted
Newsday Dec 2, 08 9:32 AM CST
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Trampling a Long Island Wal-Mart worker in a frenzied rush for flat-screen TVs may be a prosecutable crime, reports Newsday , but experts are split. “In order to prosecute a homicide, you have to establish that someone caused a death," said a lawyer. "If I stepped on his arm, or chest, or leg, even if you have that on video, how are you going to establish that I caused his death?"
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8 year-old was firing an Uzi under professional instruction
Hartford Courant (Conn.) Oct 27, 08 4:20 PM CDT
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An 8-year-old boy died yesterday after he accidentally shot himself with an Uzi at a Massachusetts gun expo, the Hartford Courant reports. “The force of the weapon made it travel up and back toward his head, where he suffered the injury,” police said. An investigation is under way, but authorities have deemed Christopher Bizilj’s death a result of “self-inflicted accidental shooting.” An instructor was present at the time of the shooting.
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Kelly underscores success rate of emergency-response units
New York Daily News Sep 30, 08 2:13 PM CDT
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Last week's Tasering of an emotionally disturbed man that led to his death was a "mistake" by New York police officers, commissioner Raymond Kelly admitted yesterday. Two cops involved in the incident have been put on desk duty, and the entire 440-member Emergency Service squad will undergo a retraining session on tactics for dealing with the mentally ill, the Daily News reports.
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