There’s a right way and a wrong way to remove the engine from a truck. And one Australian man found out the hardest way possible—becoming crushed beneath a dump truck in the process. What could’ve been a simple job turned into a tragic tale of irony, miscalculation, and a lesson in the art of asking nicely.

The Australian Police Journal tells the story of a 34-year-old who, for reasons we’ll never fully understand, decided he needs the engine from a Bedford dump truck parked outside a glass recycling plant in Alexandria, Sydney. Was he hoping to cash in on scrap metal? Maybe dreaming of a big block engine for a hot rod project? We’ll never know.

But here’s where our story becomes a true head-scratcher: he opted to work on the engine from underneath, loosening the bolts while lying beneath the cab. Anyone with a bit of mechanical know-how might suggest using an engine crane or a chain to prevent gravity from, you know, winning. But our would-be mechanic chose to throw caution to the wind.

Without anything holding it up, the engine eventually broke loose, fell, and landed on him. Presumably, it fell forward through the rusted-out grille and tumbled off the frame crossmember. However it fell, it fatally crushed his head in an instant. It’s the kind of mistake that makes you wince and wonder, “What was he thinking?”

And it gets stranger. Police suspect he wasn’t alone that night. Someone threw up in the nearby bushes, after the accident. So a companion was standing by, watched the whole scene unfold—and then vomited in shock when things went horribly wrong. It was a partnership that could’ve lasted a lot longer if someone had suggested, “Hey, maybe I secure that engine before you start wrenching.”

But here’s the kicker: After the grim discovery, the recycling center’s manager made a revealing statement. He said that the truck was headed to the scrapyard anyway, and the engine was up for grabs. “If he had come and asked me for it, I would have given it to him.”

This story is a tragic reminder that sometimes, the simplest solutions are just a polite question away. Instead, this man’s choices left him with nothing but a Darwin Award, posthumously earned. We’ll never know what the aspiring thief was thinking. But I suppose we know the last thing that went through his head: an oil sump pan.