Thanks to
_stupidpeople_ for posting this...I believe the Darwin Awards winner for 2006 has indeed been found.
Note that he used gas. Made from oil. TO PROTEST THE WAR IN IRAQ. HAHA! (That was his note.)
Malachi Ritscher (45) set himself on fire during a protest of the war in Iraq
Published: Nov 10, 2006
As horrified Friday-morning commuters watched, a man apparently doused himself with gasoline and lit himself on fire along the Kennedy Expy. near a 25-foot-tall Loop sculpture titled "Flame of the Millennium."
A homemade sign was found near his charred body that read, "Thou Shalt Not Kill," said State Police Lt. Lincoln Hampton. Police are reviewing a videotape that also was found near the body.
The death of the man, whose identity has not been released, was being treated as a suicide, authorities said.
Witnesses told police they saw the man ignite himself just before 7 a.m. near the southbound Kennedy's Ohio Street exit, Hampton said.
The Chicago Fire Department was called to the scene to help extinguish the fire, which was set at the base of the seven-ton sculpture along the Kennedy.
An Illinois Department of Transportation worker was among those to witness the incident, according to a preliminary report.
A can of clear liquid smelling like gasoline also was recovered, the report said.