Traffic Came to a Halt When Other Motorists Stopped to Applaud

From the San Francisco Chronicle comes yet another report that the spirit of Justice is alive and working among us:

SUV burns on Bay Bridge – cigarette butt blamed

The 20-year-old San Francisco resident was cruising across the upper deck of the Bay Bridge at 10:40 a.m., smoking a cigarette. When he got near the Harrison Street off-ramp, he rolled down the window of his white 2004 Ford Expedition SUV and tossed out the butt, authorities said.

Instead of bounding along the pavement, however, the still-lit cigarette blew back in and set the interior of Fish's $30,000 SUV ablaze, he told police.

Black smoke filled the vehicle. Fish pulled over to the far left-hand lane about 100 feet from the Harrison Street exit and leaped from the Expedition -- leaving the SUV in neutral instead of park.

The flaming Expedition rolled driverless into a guardrail by the exit, where it crashed to a stop and burned to the frame.

Do you suppose he was yakking on a cell phone at the time he tossed the butt out the window? Naaah, that would be too perfect.

(via Patti Beadles)