Man stabbed trying to use knife as makeshift wrench

Post Gazette ^ | 3-28-2003 | Jonathan D. Silver

[Cagey]

Alicia Neal said she warned her husband not to use a butcher knife to tighten the screws in their granddaughter's crib. An Allen wrench was needed.

Thinking John Neal Sr. had heeded her advice, she said, she went to the basement to do laundry.

[Tijeras_Slim]

I shudder to think what this loon would do if confronted by Torx screws.

[Wolfie]

...a 20-year employee of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation...

Nuff said.

[Salvation]

Darwin award of the day.

[Glock19C]

Hold muh beer ALERT! Semi-darwin award (I'd imagine most of us have used an improvised tool before). I'll think twice next time I think about using a pocket knife to tighten a screw.

[shadowman99]

This story doesn't ring true. My gut says this turns out to be a marrital spat or domestic abuse case ending in manslaughter.

I can usually smell a Darwin Award nominee, and I don't here. I do get the sense the wife wacked this guy in the neck and the son is covering.

Just my opinion.

[scooter2]

Sniff, sniff. Do I smell more chlorine in the gene pool?

[KarlInOhio]

Soon to appear on the new CBS hit "CSI: Idiots". The CSI team take time off from serious murders to investigate the deaths of Darwin Award nominees.

[EggsAckley]

What happened in the bedroom that led to his cries, she can't say. "I have no idea," she said. "I can't even imagine."

Maybe the baby did it.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

"He had got the butcher knife, and I told him that the knife wouldn't work," Alicia Neal said. "He had to use the Allen wrench" -- a small L-shaped tool with a hexagonal tip that fits snugly into the face of certain screws.

On one level, this is tragic and suspicious, yet on another, I can see this very exchange occurring in my house, and could see this happening to me.

Sometimes you just don't feel like getting the right tool, especially isf you're being nagged to do something that you know damn well doesn't need doing.

[ctdonath2]

A knife is the worst and most expensive prybar.

[Nick Danger]

[rabidralph]

Maybe the baby did it.

A baby that looked, suspiciously, like Maggie Simpson.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Don't know how many times I've used the wrong tool when working, especially on my car, pliers instead of a wrench. Despite the cuts and bruises, never seem to learn.

[rabidralph]

Sometimes you just don't feel like getting the right tool, especially isf you're being nagged to do something that you know damn well doesn't need doing.

yes, but how in the world do you get a butcher knife to fit into an allen wrench hole?

[Hatteras]

Always use the right tool. If you don't have it, the job doesn't get done until Mom let's Dad go to "Dad's Toy Store". Mrs Hatteras knows that every project she requests requires at least one new tool. An extra $20 now or call the plumber/electrician/tile installer/carpenter and pay up to 10 times or more in labor alone.

[LouisianaJoanof Arc]

I smell fish....

[Wolfie]

On one level, this is tragic and suspicious

Don't sweat it. This guy's a PennDOT worker. Which means they'll have to send another crew out to kill him all over again in 3 months.

[shadowman99]

First thing, I bet this guy wore a tool belt to work every day, and had one handy in the house, so I don't believe this
-But-
If I were too lazy to go get my allen wrech set, I can think of a million other thing I'd substitute before using a butcher knife. Butcher knifes are typically square in shape, so why did he not grab a knife with a point instead? Or a small phillips sceewdriver sometimes can turn an allen screew. Allen screews are typically flat head with a recessed hex-shaped hole. A butcher knife is often times rounded at the edges. how was he going to turn a screew with this knife? I don't buy it.

[Jaxter]

Well, I guess that's better than getting screwed by trying to use a wrench as a knife. Or something.