Thieves Take 32 Books on Suicide

Thieves broke into the car of a controversial author, stealing his sunglasses and 32 copies of his book “Final Exit,” a spokesman for the Hemlock Society of San Diego said Sunday.

Derek Humphry, author of the book that advocates a patient’s right to choose death, was in San Diego for speaking engagements Friday. Staying with friends, he parked his car in Mission Hills, where it was plundered.

Humphry, a resident of Eugene, Ore., discovered the theft Saturday morning before he departed the city.

“What the heck are those thieves going to do with these books?” said C. Desmond Pengelley, the society spokesman.

Humphry had come to San Diego to publicize Proposition 161, the “Death With Dignity Act” that will be on the Nov. 3 ballot. The act would make it legal for a mentally competent, suffering, terminally ill adult to receive aid in dying. Humphry is the founder of the Hemolock Society, which espouses voluntary euthanasia.