Man Dies Trying To Stop Verizon Van
The Washington Post says that a 79-year-old widower died after trying to stop a Verizon technician from pulling out of his drive way. The man was apparently extremely frustrated with his service, in addition to being quite lonely since his wife passed away from a stroke.
Police say that after the Verizon tech was finished working on the man's service, he got into his van and began to leave. The homeowner was upset and followed the tech to his vehicle.
The homeowner "continued to express his dissatisfaction and tried to block the technician's van from leaving his driveway," a police spokesperson told the Post.
The technician got inside his van. [The homeowner] Cornelius moved out of the way, and the technician began to drive away, according to police.
That was when Cornelius "reached in through the van window and grabbed the steering wheel," [the police spokesperson] said. Cornelius fell to the ground. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.
Police are still investigating whether the man's death was caused by the fall or something else.
Verizon called the incident a "tragic accident," and are cooperating with police.
Vienna Man Dies After Bid to Stop Verizon Van [Washington Post] (Thanks, Shera!)
(Photo:dooleymtv)
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Comments:
Tragic.
Everyone, call your moms and dads.
I'm going out on a limb and saying somehow this is Comcast's fault.
This is tragic but was the guy just lonely or did Verizon not finish their work? One sentence says both.
The lonely part is really sad if that is the reason why he wanted Verizon to stay.
@Ouze: Sounds like an obi-wan sacrifice move. Maybe he's more powerful than Verizon can possibly imagine.
Has Verizon said that they are taking the incident very seriously yet?
+1
Let's hope comcast doesn't incorporate this into their montone signing commercial
@Ouze:
I can't tell if I should be offended. Either way, I'm not, so a big *heart* for you, sir-and/or-madam!
@The Cheat: Well they said "we are serious as a heart attack." Then they immediately retracted that statement.
On the plus side, at least he didn't pull a gun on the guy and go all Grand Theft Auto on him. But seriously, don't they have volunteers who go talk to these people in order to complete community service?
I'm sure they are taking it very seriously.
So it's official. Verizon's service is so bad that it will kill you.
I feel bad for Bill, but this doesn't really seem to be the fault of the technician unless there is foul play. If I was the tech and some guy was trying to prevent me from leaving after I was done with my work (article doesn't say anything about unfinished work), I would probably be scared and freak out.
Is Cornelius still being billed for the service?
@Galactica: In this time of grief during tragedy, it's sad that you should jokingly push the blame onto Comcast. Clearly, this was a sad accident that has little to do with Comcast and can be blamed solely on AT&T.
verizon in "taking this issue seriously"
As a ex teleco tech I can honestly say there are a lot of people out there who are lonely and or crazy, they will make up excuses for someone ANYONE to visit them.
@ManiacalV: If only they would allow other phone companies to use the iPhone, this man would still be alive. Sad really. Where's John Kerry when we need him?
The sad thing is that Verizon will be held liable for this idiot, regardless of how old, how lonely, how demented he was.
I agree kepler. It's a shame he died, but grabbing onto any part of a moving vehicle is a bad idea.
@Deweavy: Is that singing? I never knew what to call that. All things considered though, I can't complain about Comcast because they screwed up when hooking up someone's cable in my building and now everyone gets it free.
The tragic accident is that Verizon came into being. Do you really think they care?
@kepler11: Do you really think Verizon is going to be held liable? You mean criminally liable, or liable for damages in a civil suit?
I'm not really seeing how Verizon would be criminally responsible, so I'll just assume you're talking about a civil suit.
I'm really thinking I could get rich just making wagers with people who believe that corporations regularly pay giant civil awards to individuals for every little thing.
So, let's go. How much do you want to bet on that?
From what's written, it appears that the old man is at fault. Why would you reach into a moving vehicle? If the service was sub-par, don't waste your time yelling at the tech if they aren't willing to co-operate. Just call Customer Service and try to straighten it out that way.
Until more info comes out, looks like the old guy should have just kept his hands to himself.
"Murray said police are waiting for the medical examiner to determine whether the fall or something else killed Cornelius."
That's messed up. Crazy old guy tries to stop a van with his body and attacks the driver and their number one priority is to determine if they can charge the driver with murder. Even if the tech ran the guy over, it wouldn't be the techs fault. Sometimes people are crazy and do stupid things that get them killed.
This is the UP movie when taken out of the Pixar/Disney universe. Reality can be sad.
@spanky: I'm not a die hard anti-lawyers person or something. I just predict that the family will sue, and Verizon will be found partially liable or forced to settle.
I'm not blaming the OP here, but this is a depressed 79 year old. There's a good chance that he was at least partially suicidal. (Taking risks he knew would most likely end in death, perhaps as justification)
@Corporate_guy: That's not what it says at all. They're probably just trying to establish whether he had a heart attack or stroke or something, or whether he died of trauma from the fall.
There's no mention of murder, and no reason to think that's what they're looking for.
@kepler11: Bullshit. If they settle (unlikely it gets that far). They'll settle for peanuts. Low five figures max. Jeez spanky is right, people think every little thing a company does makes people multi-millionaires
I think judgment should be withheld until an autopsy or other investigation determines what the cause of death was.
Perhaps it's because I'm re-reading Gaiman's Anansi Boys and so the images of Mr. Nancy "diving off the karaoke stage" and yanking down the tourist's tube-top -- which was actually him collapsing due to a ?heart attack? and grabbing onto whatever he could reach for support -- are fresh in my mind, but...
It seems at least possible to me that if someone is standing next to a vehicle with an open window, and experiences a massive heart attack or stroke or other sudden-death event, reaching out to grab something for support and an effort to "hold on" is a logical, predictable action. Even if the person was able to identify what he was grabbing, the part of the brain that would otherwise say, "Hey, 'steering wheel' is not your best option here" is going to be understandably preoccupied by the whole "OMG I'm dying" thing.
Additionally, having "a sense of impending doom" is one of the signs of heart attack, BION, so that could be an additional factor in his behavior (not wanting the tech to leave).
All of my thoughts are speculation, of course, but I think no more speculatory than saying that "the driver freaked out" or that "the old man should have kept his hands to himself" or that he "tried to stop a van with his body." I think it's far too premature to say that the guy was threatening the Verizon worker or that he was "attacking" the driver, or that the driver was in any way responsible for the man's death.
All that's clear from the article is what happened, not WHY it happened - the guy *could* have been grabbing the steering wheel to prevent the tech from leaving, but he could also have been grabbing blindly for anything (or nothing) at all because he was in the throes of a life-stopping event.
So when will this get updated with a lawsuit by the guy's kids?
This really doesn't sound like Verizon's fault.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that somehow this is AIG's fault. Verizon has been a sore loser since AIG won the WCIA Competition. They're just trying to one up AIG.
I guess he can't hear them now.