Segway owner Jimi Heselden, 62, died yesterday when he rode his Segway off a cliff and into a river at his West Yorkshire estate. He often used a Segway to explore the grounds of his estate.
Heselden is not the actual inventor but rather bought the company in early 2010. He is a former miner who became fantastically wealthy as chairman of Hesco Bastion Ltd, a defense manufacturer and the world’s leading manufacturer of protective barriers. He was also known as incredibly generous in giving large sums of money to charity. He tended to downplay his generosity but his gifts helped many thousands of veterans and other citizens.
Notably, in England, you are not allowed to use a Segway on the roads or sidewalks — only on your private property.
Source: Daily Mail
Youre unquestionably right on this blog!!
I live not too far from this chap and can verify that he was indeed a thoroughly decent bloke.
He used his redundancy (lay-off) money to fund his invention and got very lucky without forgetting where he had come from.
My condolencies to his family and friends.
When it comes to the hereafter, very few people would consider a segue via Segway . . . .
In the Cary Grant movie “Suspicion” there is a scene that discusses the hazardous instability of the cliffs’ edges. Perhaps instead of suicide, it was an accident. I would think a good investigation would be able to determine what happened.
So sad! however it happened…he was a generous soul…
In west palm I’ve seen the police using them in the downtown shopping areas.
Meanwhile here in California, a Hollywood cosmetic surgeon recently drove his Jeep off a Pacific Ocean cliff and was killed instantly. The best information is that he was texting at the time.
And a few days later, another California physician managed to end her life in a unique manner. She thought it was a clever idea to use the “slide down the chimney to get to the shy boyfriend” technique. It didn’t work very well.
So here at the headquarters of “America’s Dumbest Doctors” we can surely commiserate with those of you, baffled by the sudden loss of otherwise valuable contributors to society. We feel your pain.
Unlike when medical student & sexual predator Phillip Markoff recently killed himself in a jail cell;
Or when New York surgeon Nicolas Bartha blew himself up accidentally, while trying to get back at his divorcing wife;
Or Massachusetts physician Richard Sharpe, who hanged himself in prison after failing to get away with murdering his wife;
Or Shiva L. Acharya, a Chicago MD, who hanged himself following his idiotic high-speed chase and the death of an innocent motorist in Pennsylvania;
Or Doctor Bruce E. Ivins, the “Anthrax Terrorist” who overdosed as the FBI was closing in on him;
Or Graham Harrison,MD, who was found dead by his wife following his auto-erotic asphyxiation misadventure;
Or Illinois physician Hani Hennein, who had the good sense to kill himself after shooting his wife in an argument. Fortunately she survived.
No, in these cases and several thousand others, we suspect the outcome was Karma exemplified.
I have ridden a Segway in downtown Chicago and I can’t understand how someone who is familiar with the device could fall over a cliff by accident. I wouldn’t be surprised if they determine that it was a suicide. I hope I am wrong.
All accounts say it was an accident. Still, one may wonder.
That doesn’t speak well for his device. Are you sure it wasn’t because he couldn’t get others as excited about his invention as was expected?
Bob, Esq.
Excellent story … just excellent.
“Always the indefatigable investigator, in 1626 Francis Bacon tested the effect of freezing on the preservation of meat by going out ina blizzard and stuffing a chicken with snow.
The chicken was preserved, but Bacon caught pneumonia and died a month later.”
http://www.bnl.gov/bera/activities/globe/sir_francis_bacon.htm
Oops, “untimely death.”
He’ll be greeted at the pearly gates by Dr. Jim Fixx who educated us all on the health benefits of distance running — just before his untimely from heart attack which he suffered while … yes, you guessed it … running.
This is a very sad end for a very good man. RIP
It was bound to happen at some point…..
“He tended to downplay his generosity but his gifts helped many thousands of veterans and other citizens.”
It seems that the good people always lose out.And the bad ones seem to thrive.:-(