Segway owner dies after falling off river cliff


LONDON – All police found at the bottom of a cliff was a man's body in a frigid river and a Segway, the 2-wheeled electric device that was supposed to revolutionize personal transport.

It was Jimi Heselden, a one-time laid-off coal miner turned self-made millionaire who had bought the Segway company only 10 months earlier. He apparently fell to his death while riding one of the sleek black-and-silver scooters. Authorities said Monday his body was found in the River Wharfe at the base of a 30-foot cliff.

Details remained sketchy — police say only that the death was not suspicious, meaning foul play is not suspected — but the incident seems certain to raise fresh questions about the safety of the Segway, which is banned on British motorways and in some U.S. cities because of safety concerns.


A witness reported seeing a man fall Sunday over a 30-foot drop into the river near the village of Boston Spa, 140 miles (225 kilometers) north of London. The remote, heavily forested area, not far from Heselden's country estate, is popular with hikers.


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