freak accident

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Teen Tries to Mask Cigarette Smoke, Causes Explosion

Too much air freshener created a dangerous gas mix

(Newser) - A German teenager has suffered serious injuries after accidentally creating an explosion in the family car with air freshener, the AP reports. Police in the western city of Duisburg say the 17-year-old boy had been trying Wednesday to get rid of the smell of cigarette smoke in a recently purchased...

Woman Paralyzed After Branch Falls on Her at City Park

Donations are being collected for the family

(Newser) - Cui Ying Zhou was at a San Francisco park watching her little girls play on Aug. 12 when her life changed forever. A 100-pound branch fell 50 feet from a tree and hit her on the head, snapping her spine and leaving her paralyzed, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Now,...

Cop Kills Woman, 73, by Mistake in Role-Playing Drill

Mary Knowlton, 73, was picked at random to participate

(Newser) - In what's being described as a "horrible accident" by Punta Gorda Police Chief Tom Lewis, a 73-year-old Florida woman was mistakenly shot dead while participating in a citizen police academy designed to better relations between officers and the community they serve. The "shoot or don't shoot"...

Soon-to-Be-Dad Dies in Molasses Vat at Work

Robert Herweyer had just married and was expecting his first child

(Newser) - Robert Herweyer had much to look forward to. The 23-year-old had married in November, just moved into a new home with wife Joy, and was expecting his first child with her any day now. But a tragic accident cut all that short when the Michigan man died in a molasses...

Georgia News Anchor Swept Over Waterfall

41NBC is mourning Taylor Terrell

(Newser) - The station 41NBC in Macon, Ga., is mourning news anchor Taylor Terrell, who was swept over a waterfall to her death the day before her 25th birthday. A US Forest Service spokeswoman says Terrell fell 160 feet over Rainbow Falls in Transylvania County, NC, on Thursday after she slipped on...

Country Singer's Teen Son Missing After Boat Accident

Craig Morgan's son, Jerry Greer, was reportedly tubing with friends

(Newser) - The son of country singer Craig Morgan is missing after a boating accident Sunday in Tennessee, People reports. Jerry Greer, 19, was tubing on Kentucky Lake at the time. TMZ reports that a boat pulling an inner tube was in an accident of some kind. Sources say it was a...

Teen Faces Amputation After Blast in Central Park

Cops are trying to figure out if it was a firework Conner Golden stepped on or something 'more sinister'

(Newser) - A group of friends enjoying a morning in NYC's Central Park stumbled onto misfortune Sunday when one apparently stepped on an explosive, severely injuring his leg, the New York Post reports. The FDNY says the explosion happened around 11am at 68th Street and Fifth Avenue, per NBC New York...

Teen Trips, and Javelin Impales His Eye Socket

His coach calls it a 'freak accident'

(Newser) - An 18-year-old track-and-field star impaled his face on his own javelin Friday in what his coach calls a "freak accident," BuzzFeed reports. According to KATU , Parker Kennedy was participating in a USA Track and Field event in Portland, Ore. “He was warming up and had just thrown...

Flying Umbrella Kills Woman on Virginia Beach

Lottie Belk died after wind-flung umbrella stabbed her in chest

(Newser) - A celebratory day at the beach turned to tragedy after a woman was killed Wednesday when a beach umbrella blew out of the sand and stabbed her in the chest, WHNT reports. WTKR IDs the woman as Lottie Michelle Belk (the station says she was 55; WHNT says she was...

Fire Ants Kill Woman Planning Mom's Funeral

Such a death is rare in Alabama

(Newser) - Kalyn Rolan's mother died on May 19. Less than 24 hours later, Rolan was dead, too. In what WSFA calls "a story so tragic, it's almost hard to believe," Rolan, 29, was in Selma, Ala., making funeral arrangements when she was attacked by fire ants as...

Carnival Horror: 11-Year-Old Scalped by Ride

Elizabeth Gilreath's hair was caught in King's Crown attraction at Neb. festival

(Newser) - "I can't believe the place is still open," Billie Bankus told KMTV Sunday as she stood holding a sign outside a Cinco de Mayo festival in Omaha, Neb., warning people of the dangers she said lurked inside the gates. Bankus was protesting on behalf of Elizabeth Gilreath,...

Motorcyclist Killed After Smashing Into Fridge

NJ cops trying to find who abandoned appliance on side of road

(Newser) - When winter turns to spring in New Jersey, there's always an uptick in the number of motorcycle crashes, with the two main reasons cited by state cops being "unsafe speed" and "driver inattention," NJ.com notes. Further down the list is "road/environmental factor," which...

Man Almost Drives Over Ledge, Then Gets Hit by Bus

He became 'disoriented' after first crash in Malibu, Calif.

(Newser) - A man in Malibu, Calif., was hospitalized Saturday after being involved in not one, but two car accidents along a road winding through the area's canyons, KABC reports. Per a Facebook post by the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station, the driver—identified by the California Highway Patrol as Silviano...

Woman Dies in Bizarre Drive-Thru Accident

She was pinned by own car at coffee stand

(Newser) - A South Carolina woman died in the drive-thru lane of a coffee shop in what cops are calling a freak accident. From what investigators can piece together, 28-year-old Pamela Page was in the drive-thru lane at Biggby Coffee in Summerville when she opened her car door to pick up something...

Freak Basketball Accident Kills 16-Year-Old

Noah Lear initially thought he'd just knocked out some teeth

(Newser) - A game of pickup basketball turned tragic for a teen in Bucyrus, Ohio. Noah Lear, 16, was shooting hoops with three friends on Feb. 27 when he went to dunk the ball—and the support post, backboard, and rim fell and crushed the teen's head and neck. He was...

Boy Killed by Falling Rock on Impromptu Hike With Uncle

'This was a non-survivable injury'

(Newser) - Connor McLaughlin, 12, was driving with his uncle when the pair saw Roaring Brook Falls in New York's Adirondacks and decided to make an unplanned stop to hike in and get a closer look Sunday. Tragically, as the boy stood with his uncle Jesse Malone, 40, at the base...

Fall Kills Rodeo Queen, 27
 Fall Kills Rodeo Queen, 27 
Mar 4, 2016 4:32 PM CST

Fall Kills Rodeo Queen, 27

Lara Dewees leaves behind an 18-month-old son

(Newser) - A rodeo queen from Florida has died following an accident at a competition last month in Mississippi. The Tampa Tribune reports that Lara Dewees, who would have turned 28 on Monday, died from her injuries the day before her birthday. She was injured following a Feb. 20 competition at which...

86-Year-Old Killed by Device Intended to Save Her

She was strangled by her medical alert necklace

(Newser) - In what the Cumberland County, Penn., coroner is calling a "freak accident," an 86-year-old woman was strangled to death by a device that was intended to save her life. Roseann J. DiFrancesco apparently tripped and fell, causing her medical alert necklace to become caught on her walker, the...

CarMax Salesman Killed in Test Drive Gone Wrong

Witnesses say Corvette was going 70mph

(Newser) - It was just another test drive—a regular task in the daily routine of a used-car salesman. But for CarMax's Warren Smale, it turned out to be his last ride after a potential buyer crashed the red Corvette they were driving in Tuesday into a tree, killing the 43-year-old...

Teen Impaled by Giant Splinter in Basketball Game

Floorboard split apart in freak accident during Wisconsin middle-school tourney

(Newser) - Thirty-four teams of middle school basketball players were gathered at a Wisconsin tournament Sunday when a freak accident took place on the court, WDJT reports. "I don't know if we'll ever hear something like this ever happening again anywhere," says Perry Hibner, the tourney's organizer,...

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