A 60-year-old woman fell to her death after landing on the metal straw in the beverage she was holding at the time of the fall.
The straw went through her left eye and into her brain.
via People:
Elena Struthers-Gardner was in her home with a mason jar drinking glass in her hand when she fell on Nov. 22, Inside Edition reported. The 10-inch metal straw was in the jar’s screw-top lid and pierced Elena’s left eye socket, causing a traumatic brain injury, according to authorities.
“There is no ‘give’ in them at all,” said Brendan Allen, an assistant coroner, according to Inside Edition. “If someone does fall on one and it’s pointed in the wrong direction, serious injury can occur.”
Elena’s wife, Mandy Struthers-Gardner, said in a statement read at the coroner’s inquest that she didn’t hear Elena fall but did hear her making strange sounds in the kitchen, according to the Bournemouth Daily Echo.
“I went to the kitchen door and could see Lena lying on her front at the doorway between the den and the kitchen. She was making unusual gurgling sounds. Her glass cup was lying on the floor still intact and the straw was still in the jar. I noticed the straw was sticking into her head,” Mandy said.
Mandy said Elena fell or collapsed regularly, at random, due to a horse-riding accident. Elena was a retired jockey.
Elena was rushed to Southampton General Hospital where she was pronounced dead the next day, the Daily Echo reported.
It’s bad enough that paper straws disintegrate before you can finish your drink, now we have to worry about the dangers of metal alternatives. We know plastic is destroying the environment, but there has to be a better way to solve the straw crisis.
