A New York marijuana grower attempting to protect his crop from intruders was caught in his own booby trap, riding beneath a trip wire he strung around his plants and nearly cutting off his head.
Daniel Ricketts, 50, was driving an all-terrain vehicle on his upstate property in Albany County when he drove right into a neck-height piano wire he had lined around his plants as a booby trap to alert of trespassers, a local news website reported.
He was nearly decapitated as he was thrown from the ATV and was pronounced dead at the scene by the county coroner.
County Sheriff Craig Apple said that alcohol may have played a part in the accident.
The country area is a favorite of marijuana growers, the sheriff said.
“They go up there and they’ll grow marijuana on a lot of the state lands,” he told a local television station. “Fortunately, hikers — people out and about — neighbors will call us and they’ll tell us.”
Authorities said they found barbed wire and a leg trap near the pot plants that may have been used as part of the booby trap. The man’s four marijuana plants were removed from the property.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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