huffers blow out the windows–and live
Todd Mellon, 34, suffered second-degree burns to his hands, face, legs and neck after attempting, according to Officer Steven Burroughs, to “light a cigarette.”He wrote in his report, “The chemicals in the air exploded, causing all the door windows to blow out.”His friend Brian Kelly, 19, with whom he had been huffing five aerosol cans of computer cleaner, suffered second-degree burns to his chest, neck and face. One of the police officers was taken to a nearby medical center after breathing some of the fumes at the incident scene. Imagine, the fumes, after the windows were blown out, after waiting for police to arrive, were still potent enough to adversely affect the officer.
The huffers win the Antic-of-the-Month award because they could have won the Darwin Award, but lived. Rarely is honorable mention earned, but Serena Sutton-Smith, 54, who burnt to death after refusing to exit her Nova as she sat with her foot flat on the accelerator, deserves this honor. She rammed another car and sat, with a reportedly “furious”expression, revving her engine and spinning her tires, which disintegrated, causing the metal rims to send a shower of sparks into the engine, igniting the brake fluid and setting the car on fire. Nicholas Willmore, who was in his workshop across the street when his mother alerted him to what sounded like an accident, easily opened the driver’s door and told Sutton-Smith, “you’ve got to get out of the car. It’s going to burst into flames.”She replied, “F*** off, just f*** off,”raised her fist at him and slammed the door shut. Willmore moved back a few yards (can you imagine his expression?) as Sutton-Smith continued to gesture in a threatening manner. It turns out she previously worked behind the bar at a British “working men’s club”and had a history of erratic behavior. While the idea that she suffered from bipolar disorder could explain this truly bizarre incident, the possibility that alcoholism triggered her desire for self-immolation should not be discounted. Unfortunately, however, she died and, alcoholic or not, cannot qualify for the Antic-of-the-Month award.