Tag Archives: driver error

Jimi Heselden, the owner of Segway apparently drove one of the personal transport devices off a cliff and into a river. He was killed. Police say they do not suspect foul play.

Heselden, 62, was one of Britain’s richest people, he purchased the Segway company last year. He was also one of the most generous, giving away some 23 million pounds to various charities.

“Police were called at 11:40 a.m. yesterday to reports of a man in the River Wharfe, apparently having fallen from the cliffs above,” a spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said today, according to British media reports.

“A Segway-style vehicle was recovered. He was pronounced dead at the scene,” the spokesman said. “At this time we do not believe the death to be suspicious.”

Police confirmed the body of Heselden, a multimillionaire philanthropist who founded defense company Hesco Bastion, was found in the river, the Guardian reported.

He was found five miles from a factory in Leeds where he made his fortune from defense contracts for Afghanistan and Iraq. His top-selling innovation was a wire basket filled with earth and water that was better than sandbags in protecting troops from missile and mortar attacks, the paper said.

Authorities are investigating whether the death was due to driver error or a problem with the scooter, the Daily Mail reported.