We’ve been having fun with the gene pool monitor stories lately, but two stories in the news today illustrate that stupidity is not always a laughing matter. Being stupid can get you seriously hurt—or worse.

You’ve probably heard about the fellow in Florida who decided to turn Tropical Storm Fay into a kitesurfing opportunity. Unfortunately, Kevin Kearney realized too late that he was making a mistake. He couldn’t get his harness unhooked before the winds slammed him on to the beach and then jerked him back up into the air—and into the side of a nearby building.

If you haven’t seen the video, you can check it out here. It is difficult to watch.

Kevin Kearney is in critical condition. But he fared better than Tyree Monique Tate.

Tate, 26, of Delta Township, Mich., was with her sister at a TJ Maxx Monday when they were confronted by a store security agent who accused the pair of shoplifting. One or both of the women sprayed pepper spray in his face, and the two ran from the store. Tate’s sister was found hiding near a trash compactor at a nearby Goodwill store, but she told authorities she “barely knew” the woman who had been with her, and she only knew her by her street name, “Diamond.“ She refused to tell authorities where Tate was hiding.

As it turned out, they found out without her help—when they got a call about a woman who was heard screaming from inside the trash compactor.

Authorities arrived and extricated Tate from the machine, which had been turned on after Tate jumped in. She was taken to the hospital, but it was too late: She died Tuesday of “multiple crush injuries.“

A law enforcement official said the two were suspected of trying to steal less than $500 worth of children’s clothing.

“It was a fairly minor crime with a fairly major consequence,“ the undersheriff said.

Certainly Tate and her sister believed Tate’s life was worth more than a couple of hundred dollars’ worth of clothes.

But that is what they traded it for.

And what of the children for whom Tate and her sister were allegedly trying to steal those clothes? If they were Tate’s sister’s, they will now grow up without an aunt; if they were Tate’s own, they face life without their mother.

Stupidity: It can be dangerous.

Don’t let it happen to you.