British Man Fatally Stabs Himself Believing He Had 'Stab-Proof' Vest

A British man died in 2017 after stabbing himself in the chest trying to test out a vest he mistakenly believed was "stab-proof."

Jordan Easton, 22, of Thornaby, a small town in Stockton-on-Tees, England, was reportedly in the kitchen of his friend’s home on Aug. 23, 2017, when he lodged a knife into his chest, according to an investigation into the death.

"While in the kitchen, he took hold a knife to demonstrate it was stab-proof and sadly realized it wasn’t the case," assistant coroner Karin Welsh said at an inquest into the incident, local newspaper Teesside Gazette reported Saturday.

Easton was rushed to University Hospital of North Tees where he was pronounced dead from the knife wound just five days after his 22nd birthday.

Details of the death were revealed during an inquest held at the Teesside Coroners’ Court, as police had launched an investigation after the stabbing, the Sun reported. Witness accounts and post-mortem tests conducted by the coroner confirmed the theory that Easton accidentally plunged the knife into his chest thinking that it could withstand the blade. Detective Superintendent Ted Butcher of the Cleveland Police Department confirmed through several witnesses and Easton’s family members that Easton assumed the vest would protect him.

Allison Price, Easton's mother, explained during the hearing that it was "hard to believe the concept that Jordan would consciously do that."

"It’s more possible if it was bravado, showing off in front of lads, but where a mother and a young girl were, it’s out of character for him. I can’t absorb it," she said.

Easton’s death was ruled a "misadventure," which, according to Welsh meant that he died from consequences that were not intentional. She blamed the incident on "the foolishness of the youth."