Man Tries To Win Darwin Awards: Dies Setting Off Fireworks From Top Of Head

The Darwin Awards salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who accidentally remove themselves from it, and thus helping to chlorinate the gene pool. This guy who accidentally killed himself on July 4th looks to be a strong contender for 2015:

As reported by NECN:

Police say a 22-year-old Maine man was killed after setting a fireworks mortar tube off on top of his head on the Fourth of July.

State police say Devon Staples of Calais was killed in what they described as a "bizarre" accident around 10 p.m. Saturday while drinking with friends and setting off fireworks at one of their homes on South Street.

He died instantly when he set off a fireworks mortar he had placed on his head, investigators said.

Staples' death is the first fireworks-related death since fireworks became legal two years ago, according to state police.

 Sky News heard from the victim's friends:

Stephen McCausland, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, said: "Apparently, he thought it was a great idea.

"His friends thought [they had] dissuaded him from doing it, and the next thing they knew, he ignited the fireworks and he was killed instantly."

Cody Staples, Devon's brother, was just feet away from him when the firework exploded.

He told the New York Daily News: "There was no rushing him to the hospital. There was no Devon left when I got there.

"It was a freak accident... but Devon was not the kind of person who would do something stupid.

"He was the kind of person who would pretend to do something stupid to make people laugh."