Oh, wait, it gets better. In southwest Virginia—that is, Appalachia—a 5-year-old girl, Rebecca Hope Wagoner, died after her 14-year-old half-wit—I mean, half-brother—placed her in a front-loader washing machine in a laundromat. The machine supposedly started on its own because of a manufacturer's defect, and the girl drowned before the moo could break the glass to free her. Moo had stepped out while the boy and girl were alone unsupervised in the self-serve laundromat. (One news story at the time said she had stepped out to smoke.)
If you can believe this, the incident was the basis of an off-Broadway play,
Washing Machine, performed last year.
Here's a sample story about the aftermath:
http://www.wtopnews.com/?sid=558319&nid=25Judge Dismisses Manslaughter Charge in Washing Machine Death[26 August 2005]
MARION, Va. (AP) - With the backing of a prosecutor, a judge dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against a teenager who placed his 5-year-old half sister in a coin-operated washing machine.
The prosecutor, Roy Evans, said discussions with lawyers for the boy, who is 14, and law enforcement agencies led him to conclude the teenager would not be convicted in the death of Hope Wagoner on June 17 in Chilhowie. [[i]He had faced up to 10 years if tried as an adult.—K-Man[/i]]
A Smyth County judge, Charles Lincoln, dismissed the criminal charge against the teenager on Thursday.
The boy put no coins in the machine but it started anyway, his attorney said.
Hope's mother, Rebecca Wagoner, has filed an $18.9 million lawsuit against the washing machine's maker, claiming the company knew the model had a history of starting up without the insertion of coins but has failed to fix the problem.
In response to the lawsuit, the machine's maker, the Pellerin Milnor Corp. of Louisiana, has said the machine had received a new electronic coin-counter before the accident.
John Graham, who represents the 14-year-old, called Hope's death "a tragic accident."
"This happened during a playful game between brother and sister," he said.
Graham said the boy "frantically tried to stop" the washer to free his sister. "He finally took a large rock from the parking lot and smashed at the glass. He was frantic."
Rebecca Wagoner ultimately used the same rock to smash the glass and was able to pull Hope from the machine. The child died of asphyxiation, a medical examiner ruled.
Wagoner's suit claims the Pellerin Milnor Corp. has had to replace more than 1,500 of the "failure-prone" electronic coin counters. The suit also names as defendants the owners of the Chilhowie Laundromat.
[[i]The laundromat closed after the girl's death. The owners said then, three years ago, that it may never reopen. I fail to see how the laundromat can be held liable in any way, even if the machine did malfunction. By the way, most self-serve laundromats have signs prohibiting placing people or animals in the washers or dryers. But this is idiot moos and kyds for you.—K-Man[/i]]