A 49-year-old San Francisco stockbroker, who "totally zoned when he
ran", accidentally, jogged off a 100-foot high cliff on his daily run.
    
6th Place 

While at the beach, Daniel Jones, 21, dug an 8 foot hole for
protection from the wind and had been sitting in a beach chair at the
bottom, when it collapsed, burying him beneath 5 feet of sand. People

on thebeach used their hands and shovels trying to get him out but

could not reach him. It took rescue workers using heavy equipment

almost an hour to free him. Jones was pronounced dead at a hospital.
    
5th Place

Santiago Alvarado, 24, was killed as he fell through the ceiling of
a bicycle shop he was robbing. Death was caused when the long torch

he had placed in his mouth to keep his hands free, rammed into the base

of his skull as he hit the floor.
    
4th Place 

 

Sylvester Briddell, Jr., 26, was killed as he won a bet with friends
who said he would not put a revolver loaded with four bullets into his

mouth and pull the trigger.
    
3rd Place 

After walking around a marked police patrol car parked at the front
door, a man walked into H&J Leather & Firearms intent on robbing the

store.

The shop was full of customers and a uniformed officer was standing at

the counter.. Upon seeing the officer, the would-be robber announced a

hold-up and fired a few wild shots from a target pistol. The officer and a

clerk promptly returned fire and several customers also drew their guns

and fired.

The robber was pronounced dead at the scene by Paramedics. Crime

scene investigators located 47 expended cartridge cases in the shop.

The subsequent autopsy revealed 23 gunshot wounds. Ballistics identified

rounds from 7 different weapons. No one else was hurt.
    
HONOURABLE MENTION 

Paul Stiller, 47, and his wife Bonnie were bored just driving around
at 2 a.m. So they lit a stick of dynamite to toss out the window to see

what would happen. Apparently they failed to notice the window was

closed
    .
RUNNER UP 

 

Kerry Bingham had been drinking with several friends when one of
them said they knew a person who had bungee-jumped from a local

bridge in the middle of traffic. The conversation grew more heated and

at least 10 men trooped along the walkway of the bridge at 4:30 a.m.

Upon arrival at the midpoint of the bridge they discovered that no one

had brought a bungee rope. Bingham, who had continued drinking,

volunteered and pointed out that a coil of lineman's cable lay nearby.

They secured one end around Bingham's leg and then tied the other (!)
to the bridge. His fall lasted 40 feet before the cable tightened and tore

his foot off at the ankle. He miraculously survived his fall into the icy water

and was rescued by two nearby fishermen.

Bingham's foot was never located.
    
AND THE WINNER IS... 

 

Zookeeper Friedrich Riesfeldt ( Paderborn , Germany ) fed his
constipated elephant 22 doses of animal laxative and more than a bushel

of berries, figs and prunes before the plugged-up pachyderm finally got

relief.

Investigators say ill-fated Friedrich, 46, was attempting to give the ailing
elephant an olive oil enema when the relieved beast unloaded. 
The sheer force of the elephant's unexpected defecation knocked Mr.
Riesfeldt to the ground where he struck his head on a rock as the elephant
continued to evacuate 200 pounds of dung on top of him. 

 It seems to be just one of those freak accidents that proves....
'shit happens'