Curious News

CNN is often almost as amusing as The Onion, and nearly as informative. Take Alan Duke’s recent article about Peter Fonda’s grisly discovery.

Los Angeles (CNN) — “Easy Rider” actor Peter Fonda found a body while driving down Sunset Boulevard in the Pacific Palisades community of west Los Angeles on Wednesday, police said.

Fonda, 70, noticed that a car had been parked on side street off Sunset Boulevard for two days, so he stopped to check it out, according to Los Angeles Police Homicide Detective Allen Shubert.

“He looked in the vehicle and saw a body in there and called the fire department,” Shubert said.

A man who had committed suicide several days before was slumped over the wheel of the sedan, he said.

The man’s identity has not been made public, but he was not a celebrity, he said.

My first thought was, why would Mr Fonda call the fire department? The car wasn’t ablaze. Is the number for the fire department easier to remember than “911”? Anyway, apparently it isn’t unusual to see someone “slumped over the wheel” of a car in L.A., but for TWO days?! That’s odd. If it weren’t for Neighborhood Watch Citizen, Peter Fonda, the guy might have been there until the car’s tags expired. That would get the cops out there in a hurry.

My second thought (I number them for easy reference) was that Sunset Boulevard must be a desolate place if people can kill themselves by the side of the road and not be discovered for days. It wasn’t until I reached the end of this gripping tale of tragic death, that the mystery was solved. “…he was not a celebrity.”

Your average Joe Suicide is hardly newsworthy (especially one that no one misses), but if the guy who finds him is a celebrity, then rush that story to the press!