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Seven youths killed while "joyriding"
CS8161
Member Posts: 13,596 ✭✭✭
There was a newsblurb on AOL this morning about the seven "youngsters" that were cruising in a "borrowed" car and when the police gave chase, the 15 year old driver wrecked the car killing everyone aboard. The father of the driver was outraged that the police would chase the car as the "kids" were just out "joyriding" and that they had done lots of times before. I think the father should be locked up for neglect as he knew his child was out stealing cars and didn't take any steps to control or discipline the kid. Now papa bear wants to sue the police dept, the city and the county! Whatever happened to taking responsiblity for ones own actions?
Chris8161
Admit nothing, deny everything, demand proof!
Chris8161
Admit nothing, deny everything, demand proof!
Comments
Lawyers happened. Since the coffee in the lap incident, there is NO such thing as being personally responsable for you own actions.[}:)]It's gotta be someone elses fault.[}:)][}:)][}:)]
I agree with you about the father. If he had knowledge that these kids were driving illigally, he should be prosecuted. Not that I really think he should, but if he wants to play the game.......
SALLY
Committee member-Ducks Unlimited
I know the locals around here just want to hear their siren and see their lights flashing, must give them a rush, but shoot gotta get to the Dunkin Donut house.[:D][:o)][:o)]
"I dont care how thin you make a pancake, it still has two sides"
"A wise man is a man that realizes just how little he knows"
I agree, but the article in the paper said the cop followed only for about 500 yards and the lost sight of the car as it sped away. He didn't even witness the accident. I'll find the article and post it.
Crash after chase kills 7 teens
Police tried to stop 15-year-old driver in North Carolina
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Associated Press
Published December 30, 2003
TROUTMAN, N.C. -- A car trying to outrun a police officer ran off a road and crashed early Monday, killing all seven teenagers inside, the Highway Patrol said.
The driver was identified as a 15-year-old, and the father of one of the victims said none of the teens had licenses and the group had been borrowing cars for joyrides.
A police officer from Troutman began chasing the car after seeing the 2001 Dodge Intrepid weaving in its lane, the patrol said.
"They passed us going 85 to 100 m.p.h. with the police car passing us," said a witness, Brandon Jackson.
Troutman Police Chief Eric Henderson said Officer Keith Bills chased the car for about a mile on U.S. Highway 21 until it flipped over after hitting an embankment, crashed into a tree and then skidded to a stop upside down in a creek.
Bills, however, said he tried to stop the car only briefly, following it about 500 yards before it sped out of sight.
"It was swerving, slowing down and speeding up, just erratic driving," Bills told the Statesville Record & Landmark newspaper. Bills said he did not see the crash, but found the wreckage later.
The Highway Patrol identified the dead as driver John Lindsey Myers, 15, and passengers David Wayne Summers, 14, Quentin Maurice Reed, 18, Antonio Miller, 13, Domnick Hurtt, 17, Erica Stevenson, 15, and Antoinette Griffin, 13, all from Statesville.
All were pronounced dead at the scene, and none was wearing a seat belt, the Highway Patrol said.
Howard Hurtt said his son and the boy's friends had recently been borrowing cars from people they knew and going for rides.
"They were just out joyriding and a cop pulls them over and here we have seven deaths. I lost my only son," Hurtt said.
Dyrita Ellis, 31, who came to the scene with her teenage daughter and a cousin, said the five boys who died were a tight-knit group.
"You see these kids driving these fast cars and they have no sense," said Bucky Edwards, who stopped by to survey the damage. "It's so sad."
Troutman, about 35 miles north of Charlotte, has about 1,600 residents.
Copyright c 2003, Chicago Tribune
SALLY
Committee member-Ducks Unlimited
We did away with the High Speed chase when I was a cop in Kentucky, that was 28 yrs ago. Common sence and judgement seems to have gone out the window. "Catch the bad guy at all costs"
"I dont care how thin you make a pancake, it still has two sides"
"A wise man is a man that realizes just how little he knows"
Translated from Ebonics, means Stealing.
The policeman was doing his job, trying to maintain order, and showed reasonable restraint. He didn't cause the accident. The unlawful action of the teen driver did it. If you need an adult to blame, then blame his parents who should have had his life under their control, not a policeman doing his best to protect his public. the kid most likely should have been in his room doing homework, not running loose without supervision. Sorry Classic my friend, but your view point(to me)smells of PC and lawyer talk, not civilization.
There are no bad guns, only bad people.
The only thing worse than lawbreakers, are lawmakers.
They shouldn`t have been in the car in the first place.
It`s their own fault.
The parents should bear some responcability since they let their kids
be that way.
Bad spellers of the world
"UNTIE!"
Darn fools took their own lives in their own hands when they eluded.
A real tradegy..........
And now, gone forever............
What a waste................
Sure was a nice looking car........
Charlie
"It's the stuff dreams are made of Angel"NRA Certified Firearms InstructorMember: GOA, RKBA, NJSPBA, NJ area rep for the 2ndAMPD. njretcop@copmail.com
Auto theft is not a joke.
As to chases killing people. If the criminals didn't run, there would be no chases.
"Have a gun that works every time. All skill is in vein when an Angel pisses in the flintlock of your musket."
I must have lost my head for a moment! I don't know what came over me!
I always have compassion for car thieves who steal and destroy other people's property for their own enjoyment. That is not even to mention the lives of innocent people and police officers that are put at risk trying to get these idiots off the road.
As far as I'm concerned, they just committed suicide. As stated by others in this thread, they could have stopped and everybody would have gone home safely.
I'll try to remember myself in the future.........haha.
BTW: Welcome to the board.
Charlie
"It's the stuff dreams are made of Angel"<br>NRA Certified Firearms Instructor<br>Member: GOA, RKBA, NJSPBA, NJ area rep for the 2ndAMPD.<br> <A HREF="mailto:njretcop@copmail.com">njretcop@copmail.com</A> <P>
You said..
More people would be alive today if the cops would knock off the high speed chase.
Would'nt it also be true that more people would be alive today if guns did not exist in the U.S.????? You turning your guns in anytime soon? Is it guns that kill people or is it people that kill people? Did that cop kill those kids or did they decide and construct their own fate? How can you argue for one and against the other?
"Have a gun that works every time. All skill is in vein when an Angel pisses in the flintlock of your musket."
"Right is Right, even is everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it"
The kids messed up and they paid for it,
Probably saved the state a lot of money over the years the way it ended.
Bad spellers of the world
"UNTIE!"
Merc
Insignia?
Nos nullus habitum rancidum insignia!
"Tolerating things you may not necessarily like is part of being free" - Larry Flynt
But I still say was a car worth 7 lives??????????
Lil' Stinker's Opinion
My cousin was killed by a drunk driver...No Police Chase.
My Captain's pregnant sister was killed by a driver high on meth..No Police Chase.
Police chases are a deterrent. Do we just let crimnals get away get away with the crime, because we fear a chase?
Funny thing is, the criminals aren't losing the war on crime.
Only the their victims are.....
The only thing worse than lawbreakers, are lawmakers.
How would YOU have handled the situation? Until people start REFUSING to be victims, people will always be soft targets for criminals. That means doing what it takes to apprehend them and put them in cuffs. The LEO's in this situation did the right thing.
quote:But of course we are all ARM CHAIR quarterbacks.Cops Chasing cars at 100 MPH kill
That is the order in which the statements should have been written. It implies that not only are our opinions not valid but neither is yours.
Boomer
"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as it is by the obstacles which one has overcome while trying to succeed"
NRA Life Member
"Keep dangereous weapons out of the hands of fools-start with computers"
Anyway, that's a hell of a way to learn the lesson that you pull over when lit up for a traffic stop, ain't it? Especially when your DRIVER, who "borrowed" a car, is the stupidest one IN the car and will make everyone else present pay his price with him.
I keep saying it -- far too many idiots think "the system" is a game, and they can play the cops to their limits and laugh when they "get over on" one. It is NOT a game, the stakes can be for your life (in the ground or in prison), and these kids are not laughing anymore. If the driver's dad wants to sue "the People," I'm sure we the People can take him. He apparently taught his kid everything he DIDN'T know. Like respect for the law.
Sorry this sounds harsh. It's just words strung together to express how I feel about it. I do wonder what those kids were thinking when they saw that tree in the windshield doing X miles an hour.
T. Jefferson: "[When doing Constitutional interpretation], let us [go] back to the time when [it] was adopted. [Rather than] invent a meaning [let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed."
That was not my post...that was Classic on my comp....I know it can get confusing at times if one of us forgets to log off and the person is using one or the other comps here..but remember...I am the one with the dots....*LOL
Lil' Stinker's Opinion
At 60 mph, a car covers 88 feet per second. Do the math. IT WAS NOT A CHASE ! The kid wrecked the car before it became a chase situation. He probably, being an inexperienced driver, looked back at the police car, losing control and wrecking the car. At the speed the kid was driving, it was over in less than 5 seconds. Count off 5 seconds and tell me it was a chase!!
Bad Bad policeman. He should have known the car was full of kids and not turned on his blue lights.(Cops are mind readers and have Superman's vision, so he saw that, right?)
In most states, 'fleeing and attempting to elude' is a misdemeanor. Until the state legislatures make fleeing a felony, with a minimum 5 year, no probation, sentence, chases will continue.
All the kid had to do was stop when he saw the blue lights. Instead, he CHOSE to do what he did.
"If they won't give us good terms, come back and we'll fight it out."
-- Gen. James Longstreet
"guns dont Kill, people kill, Cars dont kill, Cops Chasing cars at 100 MPH kill, There are better ways to handle a situation like that without someone dieing."
So, enlighten us, what would have been the better way to handle this situation without anyone dieing? I can't wait to hear this.
"Have a gun that works every time. All skill is in vein when an Angel pisses in the flintlock of your musket."
Clouder..
I feel sorry for the cops, they are in a loose loose situation most of the time.
Wish we were in the days where men were hanged for stealing a horse!
R/
Dave
How different the world would be if we could consult the veteran instead of the politician. - Henry Miller
whiteclouder--To steal a thought from Wayne La Pierre....
What about the car manufacturers? Those high-speed cars that operate at very high rates ought to be banned. What about those high-capacity vans capable of holding more than 10 gangbangers? What about those compact easily concealed vehicles that can just be pulled into a tight spot and easily hidden after a robbery? These types of vehicles are obviously being marketed by these manufacturers specifically to the criminal element. Don't get me wrong. I'd never try to ban the utilitarian grocery-getting soccer-car-pooling station wagon.
[^][^]barto
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.-JFK
Sometimes the LEO kept going (on a call, I presume, and obviously not having anything to do with me or my vehicle) and sometimes they pulled in behind me.
Normally, when they pulled in behind me, it turned out that I simply had a tailight or headlight not functioning and they were just pulling me over to let me know that I needed to get it fixed. Other times, I received a ticket, for going a bit too fast or perhaps failing to come to a complete stop before proceeding at a stop sign.
What do all these things have in common?
Simple. I stopped. I'm also still alive.
Too bad the driver of that vehicle didn't have the sense to just do the right thing under the circumstances; he and all the other young folks in the car would still be alive, too.
Yeah, its the cop's fault, sure it is. Whatever.
Ever hear of it?
Oops.......that is not PC anymore.
It is always someone else's fault.
Kid made the wrong choice, he paid for it.
It is sad "all" of the kids paid for the drivers poor choice.
The gene pool needs chlorine.
The gene pool needs chlorine.
that pretty much says it all.
In the artical in our local paper it said that there was anouther 14 year old who wanted to go with them but his dad wouldn't let him. after hearing about what happened the dad took the boy down to see what could of happened to him as well.