Man Dies after accident on Tough Mudder Course in Baltimore

An Ellicott City man died over the weekend after an accident on the Tough Mudder obstacle course in West Virginia, the first such death in the three-year history of the outdoor run that bills itself as "probably the toughest event on the planet."

Avishek Sengupta, 28, was with a half-dozen friends on the course Saturday when he encountered the "Walk the Plank" obstacle, in which participants jump into a deep pool of muddy water 15 feet below a wooden platform. Sengupta jumped in but did not resurface and was later flown to Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., where he was taken off life support Sunday.

The Berkeley County Sheriff's Office in West Virginia is investigating Sengupta's death as an accident, according to Sgt. Ted Snyder, the lead investigator. He said such an investigation is standard after deaths or accidents.

Snyder said Sengupta was taken out of the water by Tough Mudder staff and emergency medical technicians resuscitated him so that his heart was beating and he was breathing, but his brain was "compromised" because of how long he was submerged.

Tough Mudder released a statement Monday extending sympathies to the man's loved ones for their loss. The company said "safety is our top priority."

"As organizers, we take our responsibility to provide a safe event to our participants very seriously," Will Dean, CEO of Tough Mudder, said in the statement. "Tough Mudder is devastated by this tragic accident."

Dan Gemp, Sengupta's best friend, was not at the race but said friends who ran with Sengupta told him it took "four to seven" minutes for a nearby Tough Mudder diver to reach Sengupta.

Ashley Pinakiewicz, a Tough Mudder spokeswoman, declined to comment on how long it took for Sengupta to be rescued. Tough Mudder is cooperating with the local sheriff's office investigation, she said.

Tough Mudder races are designed to test participants' physical and mental abilities with a course the company says was designed by the British special forces. Through 20 obstacles on a 10- to 12-mile course, runners dodge live electrical wires, jump over 4-foot-wide mud pits and climb a muddy hill while being sprayed from both sides with high-pressure water hoses.

Some 14,000 people participated in the Tough Mudder event Saturday in Gerrardstown, W.Va., including Ravens coach John Harbaugh and other members of the team's staff. Pinakiewicz, the Tough Mudder spokeswoman, would not comment on whether the event organizers would discontinue or modify the Walk the Plank obstacle and said future races would go on as planned.

Arsham Mirshah, a friend of Sengupta's who accompanied him on the course, said Walk the Plank was the fourth obstacle the group encountered, about an hour after their noon start time.

Mirshah said he was the first in the small group to jump off the wooden platform into the chilly water. As he left the water, Mirshah said, he turned and saw Sengupta jump, but his friend did not resurface. Another teammate was the first to notice.

Sengupta was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, and was taken by helicopter from there to Inova Fairfax Hospital. Friends said dozens of loved ones came to the hospital Sunday before Sengupta was taken off life support.

Tough Mudder says it has hosted 50 such events since 2009 with about 750,000 participants. They have become popular with adventure-seekers, and events planned for the next few weeks in Ohio, Chicago and London are sold out.

The company says Sengupta's is the first death on one of its courses, though injuries have been reported at other Tough Mudder events. The West Virginia event was staffed with about 75 emergency and safety personnel, the company said.

A man died in Texas last year while crossing a river in an outdoor obstacle course similar to Tough Mudder called "The Original Mud Run."

Obstacles in Tough Mudder, including Walk the Plank, are inspected before the race and built after consultation with engineers on safety concerns, Pinakiewicz said.

Participants in the race must sign an extensive waiver acknowledging their awareness of "inherent risks" in the course that can cause permanent disability or death. The form requires signees to "take full responsibility for any and all damages, liabilities, losses, or expenses" they incur as a result of participation.

The group joked about Tough Mudder's risks before they began, and took it slowly through the course.

"We said in the car, 'Well, this will be a successful day if no one gets hurt,' " Mirshah said.

cwells@baltsun.com

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/ellicott-city/bs-md-tough-mudder-death-20130422,0,3954904.story#ixzz2RcMFsCcx

Woman 'Killed Man By Squeezing His Testicles'

The trial for a woman, who is accused of killing a man by squeezing his testicles in China last year, has begun on Monday, 8 April.

The woman had killed the man over a bike parking issue almost a year ago on 19 April 2012.

The accused, a 41-year-old unidentified woman in Haiku City in the Hainan Province of China, is thought to have become involved in a row with a shopkeeper after parking her bike before his shop to pick up her daughter from an elementary school nearby. 

After he protested that she was blocking off access to his business, the woman caught hold of the  42-year-old shopkeeper's testicles and squeezed it so hard.

According to witnesses, while having the man's testicles in her grip, the woman had shouted: "I'll squeeze it to death, you'll never have children again!"

The man went into a state of shock from the pain, and died before he could be treated by paramedics who rushed to the scene.

The final outcome of the trial depends largely on the interpretation of the woman's alleged statement of "squeeze it to death."

The woman may be convicted of murder for intentionally inflicting injury under China's Criminal Law Article 234.

Article 234 of China's Criminal Law reads: "Whoever intentionally inflicts injury upon another person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance."

"Whoever commits the crime mentioned in the preceding paragraph, thus causing severe injury to another person, shall be sentenced to fixed- term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than 10 years; if he causes death to the person or, by resorting to especially cruel means, causes severe injury to the person, reducing the person to utter disability, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years, life imprisonment or death, except as otherwise specifically provided in this Law."

For those who are wondering if it is possible to kill a man by just squeezing his testicles, the answer is yes. Last year, urologist and San Diego Sexual Medicine's director Dr. Irwin Goldstein had told Gizmodo such severe testicular pain can result in death.

"The testicles are exquisitely sensitive to touch and there is a huge release of adrenalin when there is excessive force applied to these organs. Testicular pain is referred to the lower abdomen, mesenteric plexus, and causes men to stop abruptly what they are doing, lie on the ground, close their eyes and bend their knees," Goldstein said, giving a scientific explanation for such a death.

"A heart attack could certainly result from severe testicular pain from squeezing," he added.

Via: International Business News  - http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/460353/20130423/woman-kills-man-squeezing-testicles-china-trial.htm

NJ Golfer Retrieving Ball Killed by Falling Tree

Police say a New Jersey golfer is dead after a tree fell on him when he tried to retrieve an errant ball from the backyard of a home adjacent to an exclusive country club.

Alpine police identified the man as 60-year-old Sung Paik of Union City.

Capt. Michael LaViola tells The Record newspaper Paik entered the yard where workers were removing a dead tree Sunday afternoon. LaViola says the workers yelled for Paik to move but the tree gave way on its own.

Paik's golfing partner and a physician who was also on the course at Montammy Golf Club performed CPR but Paik was pronounced dead at a hospital.

LaViola called the death accidental although local ordinances bar homeowners from hiring workers for such work on Sundays.

Via: NBCNewYork.com

Man Killed Photographing Beaver

A fisherman in Belarus was bitten to death by a beaver, and all he was doing was trying to take its picture, Sky News reports. The man spotted the beaver while fishing with friends at Lake Shestakov, but as he approached to take a photograph, the beaver bit him on the thigh. The animal managed to sever an artery, and his friends couldn't stop the blood flow.

Sky News helpfully reminds us that beavers can, of course, bite through trees. Beaver attacks are rare, though, and when they do occur, rabid beavers are generally to blame.

Via: USA Today

Man Dies Getting Wisdom Teeth Pulled

A scenario likely common in the nightmares of dental patients became the devastating reality for a 25-year-old San Diego man earlier this month. He died during his wisdom teeth extraction.

Marek Lapinski, the vice president and part owner of San Diego-based Tactical 3D Dimensions, had voiced concern over the March 21 procedure with Dr. Steven Paul in Temecula to his sister. "He was so scared to get this done," Natalie Lapinski told FOX5. "That morning, he texted me and said 'I'm going in. I'll call you when I'm out.' I never heard from him again."

The complications began mid-surgery when Marek began to cough. In response, medical staff administered propofol, causing the patient to go into cardiac arrest. Marek was rushed to the hospital, where he died. A piece of gauze was found in his airway.

"I was told by the hospital they weren't sure if this was all caused from him choking on a piece of gauze," Marek's mother, April Lapinski, said. "Somebody was not paying attention at some point."

Marek, who had no medical issues that the family was aware of, was given at least six different sedatives by the surgeon. Natalie talked to a nurse at the hospital, who said Marek "was given way too much anesthesia." The pulmonary doctor at the hospital told April Marek's death "looked like an overdose to him."

In addition to the apparent overabundance of sedatives, medical records also show that Marek "may have been without oxygen for 10 minutes," said Natalie. Per FOX5:

Medical records show instruments measured of Marek’s oxygen saturation levels every five minutes. For the first 20 minutes of surgery, levels stayed at 99 percent. At 25 minutes, there was no register. At the last entry registered at 43 percent.

The official cause of Marek's death is pending autopsy, and his family plans to take legal action.

Via: LAist

Man Dies After Cutting Hand On Bottle

A man was killed at a Brooklyn restaurant early today after he fell down and cut his hand on a bottle, police sources said.

The incident happened before 4 a.m. at the La Cabana Rodriguez restaurant on Flatbush Avenue near Beverley Road, when the man took a tumble and injured his right hand on a bottle, sources said.

When cops arrived, they found the patron bleeding heavily.

EMS rushed him to Kings County Hospital, but he did not survive.

Police have not identified him yet, but he is believed to be in his twenties, authorities said.

No criminality is immediately suspected, but police are investigating the man's death.

Via:New York Daily News

Filmmaker Documenting Homeless Life Freezes to Death

Filmmaker Who Immersed Himself in Homeless Life as Part of Journalism Job Application Apparently Froze to Death

An up-and-coming filmmaker who had decided to live on the streets for a week to document the plight of the local homeless population was found dead inside a boarded-up hostel just three days after his experiment began.

Though an official cause of death has yet to be released, friends of 26-year-old Lee Halpin believed he froze to death after overnight temperatures in Newcastle (UK) dipped well below zero degrees Celsius (32F).

Halpin, who had an MA in creative writing and was the founder of a magazine on North East culture, intended to use the week-long documentary to apply for a spot in Channel 4's highly competitive Investigative Journalism Program.

"I am about to go and spend a week being homeless in the West End of Newcastle," he said in a video detailing his plans. "I will sleep rough, scrounge for my food, access all the services that other homeless individuals in the West End use. I will interact with as many homeless people as possible and immerse myself in that lifestyle as deeply as I can."

Friends of Halpin, who last heard from him on Sunday when he asked to borrow a sleeping bag, were shocked to learn of his fate.

"He made the ultimate sacrifice trying to raise awareness about what was happening to other people," said pal Daniel Lake.

A coroner's report will be released in the coming days, but local police say they don't suspect foul play.