Fuel injectors in flood mode?

[Juro]

Once I was inspecting a '96 Cavalier with a no-start condition, with the fuel rail and injectors removed from the engine.

When I turned the ignition switch to "run" position, the injectors began squirting fuel, and continued until I turned the key
back to "off" position. Good thing I placed a container underneath the injectors to collect the fuel, it filled up quick!

Why do they do that? Never did check for codes.

[Stencil]

I know of no reason that injectors would just go wide open like that - I can't think of anything helpful that would do for the engine at any point. I would guess there was some sort of wiring short or bad ECM or something along those lines.