That is pure stupidity. One should use spotters that are 'experienced' and 'trained', and not some people in the audience or some beginners. A spotter should keep his hands together a few inches below the bar at all time, and follow its movement. Then, he/she can easily catch it. Two good spotters have no problem to stop or slow 400 or even 500 pounds. But nowadays any benchpress competition should use a benchpress like the one in the pic below. You can regulate it so it catches the weight slighlty below chest level, and thus prevent any serious damage - even without spotters. Amazing, three pages and none of you have mentioned such safety devices. Have you never seen it? Its regular in the IPF...
