Blind man dies after drunken friends let him drive ATV.

[edbermac]

Yet another 2007 Darwin Award nominee...



COLUMBIANA COUNTY, Ohio -- Police said a local man who was legally blind died after crashing his all-terrain vehicle in Columbiana County. Columbiana County sheriff’s deputies said Charles Hoyle, 34, of Boardman, was socializing with friends when he made the decision that ended his life.

Chief Deputy Allen Haueter said Hoyle was with two friends behind a home on Steubenville Pike Road when he asked one of his friends if he could ride his ATV. While Hoyle was considered legally blind, he did at one point have a driver’s license, but Haueter said that license expired in 2000.

The deputy said the men helped Hoyle onto the ATV anyway and warned him to go slow, but Hoyle didn't listen. “When the men put Mr. Hoyle on there, he took off, full acceleration,” said Haueter. “And they were screaming at him to hold back and stop, and they couldn't catch up to him. Then he struck a smaller tree and he hit a larger one head-on.”

Deputies said Hoyle was thrown from the ATV and died of a head injury at the scene. Haueter also said Hoyle's friends admitted they all had been drinking prior to the accident.

“They advised they'd been drinking but they weren't at a point of no return,” said Haueter. "It shouldn't have happened. It's a tragic accident."

[MrScorpio]

1. Why am I not surprised?

Stupid is, as stupid does