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Texting woman splashes into Lake Michigan

A woman is so engrossed in sending texts that she falls off a pier and into the chilly waters of the great lake.

Chris Matyszczyk
2 min read
Screenshot: Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

"No, I can't make 8. How about 9:30? I'm taking a walk on the pier right now. It's really long. LOL."

That's what I imagine that Bonnie Miller from Benton Harbor, Mich., wanted to text while walking -- just before toppling into the deep, cold beyond off the pier in St. Joseph, Mich.

This incident seems to have been even more unfortunate because Miller doesn't appear to be much of a swimmer. At least that is the evidence presented to ABC57 News by Rebecca Van Zant, who happened to be on the pier when Miller plunged to her embarrassment.

Van Zant told ABC57: "All of a sudden you hear a splash. We just thought people were jumping off, but it was weird because it's the river side, so it's like why would somebody want to jump off that side?"

Apparently, the river side just isn't a cool place to dive in.

Miller was with her husband and her son who shouted after his mom. She was trying to change an appointment by text. Well, at least she wasn't watching a YouTube video of someone, say, falling into a mall fountain while texting.

For this, did, indeed, happen just over a year ago.

Moreover, mere weeks have passed since a woman in the background of a live TV broadcast also managed to faceplant while glued to her smartphone.

Van Zant, being not only a concerned citizen, but also one who desperately wants to be a coastguard and has failed the test once before, leaped in and helped save Miller from far worse than a little red-facedness.

Once she had dried off, Miller shared her feelings with ABC57.

"I had set an appointment for the wrong time and so I sent about three words. Next thing you know it was the water," she explained.

She also said she tripped on something, but wasn't sure what. She is also fully aware of what might have happened.

"I can't believe how many people came, I'm really quite embarrassed. I'm just so grateful to be alive, I have a new lease on life," she said.

Life does sometimes offer very short-term leases, with some onerous terms. Who, though, cannot sympathize at least a little with Miller's fall with grace?

Sadly, there is no record of what type of phone she was using, but it didn't survive the unscheduled scuba experience.

Perhaps, one day, Siri and her ilk will be able to warn people when they're about to walk into something -- or, indeed, fall off the end of the Earth. Until then, we only have what is left of our imperfect senses.