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Subscribe to RSSThe boy, from Sayreville, New Jersey, was on a double-decker bus with about 65 other teenagers headed to New Jersey for a sweet sixteen party, according to Port Authority spokesman Al Della Fave.
They boarded the bus in Queens and crossed over the George Washington Bridge to New Jersey shortly after 6:30 p.m. ET on Friday.
As the bus exited the upper level to head toward Interstate 95, the boy opened the top hatch of the bus and stuck his head out, Della Fave said. His head struck the underside of the Fletcher Avenue overpass, causing extreme trauma.
Read the story on NBCNewYork.com
The boy was rushed to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
No other physical injuries were reported, but the other teens on board the bus appeared to suffer severe emotional trauma. They were taken to a bridge administration building on a lower lot, where their parents picked them up, NBC New York reported.
Della Fave said two adults on were on board the bus at the time: the driver and an assistant. The assistant's role was not immediately clear.
Designer Transportation, which operates the bus, expressed its "deepest heartfelt sympathy" for the boy's family.
Police are continuing to investigate.
The accident caused long delays Friday night as the express lanes of the I-95 southbound from the bridge were shut down while emergency responders rushed to the scene and police investigated.
NBC New York and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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How terrible for the family. My sincerest condolences and thoughts.
And you know the parents are going to be suing the bus company.
I'm sorry he died. But when does a teenager start taking resposibility for their own actions? Far as I'm concerned, the parents shouldn't be able to sue, unless the 16 year old was menally deficient at the time. Just saying folks! People need to grow up sometime.
Maybe instead of suing the bus company the parents should take some responsibility for having a 16 yr old that would do something like that . It is obvious that he was not taught much about what is properm behavior and what is not .
FlatIron
The Lawyers are already on the sent. To Bad, people can't accept "Personal Responsibility", and that Stupidity is some time Terminal.
1 less idiot in the world!
Keep your head and hands inside the bus at all times. When we rode the bus as kids we were told this every year when we had an annual "school bus saftey" course. They must not teach that in Jersey, the kids there are probably transported to school in their private limos.
The bus company should be held faultless for having installed an emergency exit in accordance with state law and generally-accepted safety standards. If the boy was on an arranged excursion specifically for minors, then the excursion operator may be liable for failure to properly supervise, but if the boy simply boarded a scheduled bus on a regular route, then the parents should hold themselves responsible for failure to properly supervise.
Please tell me you're not serious. I've seen this head-out-of-the-limo-sunroof thing in countless teen movies, so you can bet kids have seen it and think its cool. And teenagers are all about cool and pushing the limits, not thinking there is a height difference between a limo and a bus. They are kids, and kids do dumb things no matter how good their parents are and how well they've been taught. They are not little automatons. For you to automatically blame these grieving parents and judge the parenting skills of people you don't know says a lot about you, not the least of which is that you've completely forgotten your teenage years.
How awful to send your child out for a night of fun and then get the phone call that every parent dreads. Sincere condolences to his family and friends.
They must not teach that in Jersey
So, DT7970... The next time some gun-nut goes off on a killing rampage, that meams every gun--nut hasn't been taught a damn thing, by common sense, personal responsibiity, or the gun-nutty NRA-- b/c of the idiocy of one gun-nut?
Gotcha...!
Sorry that this happened but kids today are so stupid. So many kids these day's do dumb stunts and get killed for it and you wonder why hospital cost goes up and the rest of us have to pay for it.
Oh here we go. They should have a 24 hour armed guard on the escape hatch because of movies. As true with most articles on here you have to find another article to get the details. The other guy on the bus was in the security position. He says he told the kids 4-5 times not to play with the hatch. He went downstairs to inform the driver it was too hot and that's when it happened. It's a freak accident. But we know as cynics most everyone on the bus will sue and the jury will be people that watch movies.
Very Sad! No matter whether he was being foolish or not, it cost him his life. Take a few minutes, THINK, and be thankful you are still here. We were all kids and we ALL did things that when we look back on how lucky we were, it's not hard to see how this could happen.
My prayer's and love go out to the parents and his friends...
A father who lost his only Son!
And suddenly, YOU are the judge and jury! What part of the story didn't you get? The boy DIED!
Personally, my child wouldn't have been on that particular bus trip, but it could have happened just as easily on a school bus or church trip.
Either way, it doesn't matter what he was or was not "taught". And YOU certainly are no example to preach about children's upbringings, with your "HATE" attitude. How do you know he WASN'T taught better? He was 16 years old, and on a bus full of peers. Imagine that...a teenager trying to show off to his friends...yea...that's a first isn't it?
I guess the next thing you'll be bellyaching about is how much it's going to cost YOU as a taxpayer, right??
It never ceases to amaze me how cruel people have become in this world.
Exactly how much of YOUR statements would you want to read or hear, if it were YOUR SON, people???
My condolences to this young man's family. This is an extremely painful and sorrow-filled time for them.
@Sgation I am with you and your thoughts. This is a terrible thing. I couldn't imagine what this childs parents are going through. I hope they find the streangth to make it through this. Wow@ the idiots who are passing blame, this is a horrible ACCIDENT! This was a double decker bus and I'm sure if the assistant seen the kid doing this they would of probaly tried to stop them. These kids were 16. They aren't 3 or4 year olds that need an adult eye on them with out blinking. I don't see how anyone should be blamed here.
@ConwayTwitter, Thank you for putting that out there. I was thinking the same thing.
I feel even worse for the person who was having the Sweet Sixteen party. Way to go for ruining that!
@piegan, your an idiot, stfu. Kids aren't stupid, they make bad choices. Just like any other human at any age could.
I wouldn't call it a freak accident. A freak accident would have been if a rock tumbling down a hill in a place where rocks usually don't fall happened to hit the bus and kill someone. Sticking your head out of the top of a bus, especially after you have been told not to that very day, is the choice the boy made when apparently the adult wasn't looking for a moment. It wasn't smart and this boy was old enough to absorb directions and choose to follow them or not.
That all said, I am sorry for the family's loss and that his friends had to see something so horrible. Our choices affect so many around us. I hope they all get help to deal with this tragedy.
Unfortunatley, teenagers do a lot of stupid things and we just hope they live through their antics. I doubt it had anything to do with the way he was raised and it was not the fault of the bus. One driver and one assistant to watch all the kids. I am sure he didn't want to get adult attention prior to sticking his head out.
So sad. No one is to blame, except adolsecent thinking. My condolences.
Jeez, lots of bitter people here. Kids do dumb things. It's a fact. It doesn't mean the parents are bad parents. It doesn't mean the kid was inherently stupid. It just means he did something dumb (which he probably thought was harmless at the time - like all "invincible" 16 year old boys) while among 65 teenage friends on a party bus. Unfortunately when skull meets concrete at 30+ mph the consequences are not favorable.
I know I often look at teens and wonder if I was so idiotic when I was their age. If I truly look back, then yes, I sometimes did extremely stupid things and so it would be hypocritical of me to abhor them as much as some of the people here do now, lest I hate myself. Some of you must be too old to remember...either that or too jaded to admit it.
I do wonder if the grieving parents will sue the party bus company. I hope not. At risk of speaking without knowing the whole story, it sounds like a pretty simple matter.
Agreed. He wanted to see what the view would be sticking his head out the top of the bus and wasn't thinking about things like proper clearance. What a tragedy.... The hatch no doubt has to be there for emergency exit and has to be easy to open (for emergencies). I am sure there was probably a sticker there identifying it as an emergency exit.... Just too bad. I really feel for the kids who pulled him back down in the bus. They likely saw something they won't quickly forget...
Kids tend to act before they fully think. Usually nothing bad happens. Occasionally, though, things go terribly bad... My condolences.
Damn. tinto,that's scent.
@Conway Twitter, I totally agree with you. Thank you for stating it so well.
(and also, love the screen name!)
This tragic event is no different than the recent loss of lives of those that stood too close to a raging stream/water fall in Yosemite NP, and got swept over the edge. There were signs/guard rails visible, and available, and as we all recall....it's not just "kids" who do stupid things. It's not about "the kids 'today' ", as past events have shown that kids, and some adults don't always use what God gave them...... a brain.
My condolences to the family...
Uh Lizzie...while you may have seen the head-through-sunroof in a limo plenty of times, this was neither a limo nor a sunroof. It was a bus, and an emergency escape hatch.
And DT970...really? Limos to school? Where did your impression of New Jersey, especially Sayreville, come from? Stop watching Jersey Shore.
30 seconds later and probably nothing would have happen. Terrible case of bad timing and certainly a tragedy. Calling the kid stupid and his parents irresponsible isn't right either. Accidents happen, this was a bad one and this was likely a 1 in a million, bad timing situation.
As for the comparison to limos and doing this sort of thing, this was a double decker bus. Apples and Oranges.
I would say that it was impeccable timing............
I have already read, in other articles, where he was told more than once to leave the EMERGENCY hatch alone............Well?
My condolences to the family...
The pain of burying a child is immense.
A LOT of these comments are crass. I hope you are NEVER put into a situation like this.
Still no reason to sue the bus company. No one says the media has a obligation to teach YOUR kids.
When they used the words "extreme trauma", that got me to go read about this story elsewhere. That meant what I thought it did. The indecent removed a portion of his upper face and head, then the remaining body fell into the bus where the contents of his head spill out out on the interior of the bus and on some of the students.
Why they waited for the Dr. at the hospital to declare him dead only then I don't know.
I feel badly for the family that lost him and for the students that had to see that.
For those of you who leave crass, off topic and disparaging comments, save it. This is already as bad as it gets. For the family to see their son mutilated like that is not a place any of us want to go. Keep this in mind people, when you get killed in a vehicular collision, you look very, very bad.
Drive and conduct yourself safely while on the road please.
Kids are no different today then you and I were at their ages when it comes to pulling stupid stunts. And, yes unfortunately some lost their lives. The only difference from now and then is our stupid stunts weren't plastered all over the Internet, they were contained to the local newspaper. So unless you lived there, you didn't know about them.
Condolances to the boys family, but it looks like the 2012 darwin awards has another candidate, perhaps the boy didn't understand what an emergency exit was.
First thing, why wasn't the hatch locked?
Second thing, to those who condemn the young boy and denigrate his parents; HOW DARE YOU?! None of you have ever done something that brought home to you the fact that we all have moments when the obvious eludes us? I don't care if you are Einstein, or the smartest being alive today, there are times when something you should have seen coming, jumps up and bites you! That you so badly need to feed your starving egos that you would attack the intellect of a youngster and disparage his family ought make you ashamed of yourselves! Of course shame requires humility, humility requires some modicum of humanity, humanity would mean you had empathy, empathy would mean you weren't sociopaths...never mind...
The hatch was " not locked "due to it is designed as an EMERGENCY EXIT . Hard to be functional if it is locked. Somewhat defeats the intended purpose............
This kid stood head and shoulders above his peers, for about 100 milliseconds............
And the herd gets a little smaller, one day at a time. The kid trying to be so smart, appears to not have been so smart.
Have you ever heard of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire? It is unsafe, and therefore illegal, to lock emergency exits.
I think you're overreacting to what those people said. Many of them did NOT say that the boy was stupid and the parents were bad people, but rather simply that the parents are not justified in suing someone else for their misfortune. This tragedy shouldn't be turned into a lawsuit boondoggle. Everyone should acknowledge the accident and grieve with the family for their loss, and the family should mourn their loss and then move on.
Locking emergency exits isn't the answer.
Are you serious?! It's called an "emergency hatch" so that in an emergency, people can get out of the bus EASILY. If it's locked and the bus flips on it's side and bursts into flames, how many lawsuits would there be if the hatch were locked?!
"Why did you have the hatch locked?!"
"Well, we lock the hatches so that kids won't try to open them and stick their heads out."
"But why would a kid EVER do that?! You need to leave the hatch unlocked."
"Okay."
@sighber
It was an emergency exit hatch... It kinda needs to stay unlocked or 65 people would die, In an emergency.
Not enough information to even speculate, but, two adults transporting 65 children. One drives and an "assistant" monitors the children's behavior (to an extent.) The assistant (his purpose, what he was doing, what the "contract" details and expectations are) is going to receive a great deal of scrutiny. My agency transports children albeit in much smaller busses. A lot can go wrong quickly and we use "assistants" to monitor behavior...just like on school busses. This assistant was probably too far away from the kid to be able to prevent the tragedy. Unfortunately, "can't save them all" but this won't help the assistant feel any better.
The escape hatch is not "locked" it has quick release levers under pressure holding them in place; not hard to open but you have to want to open it.
It's not a surprise this happened. The surprise is so many of us made it out of our teen years alive. I can think of dozens of instances that could have ended badly for me and most of my friends. Some of them did.
To those who condemn the young boy and denigrate his parents; HOW DARE YOU?! None of you have ever done something that brought home to you the fact that we all have moments when the obvious eludes us? I don't care if you are Einstein, or the smartest being alive today, there are times when something you should have seen coming, jumps up and bites you! Your need for affirmation of your intellectual superiority is so great that you would attack the intellegence of a youngster whose momentary lapse of judgement cost him his life and disparage his grieving family? You ought be ashamed of yourselves! Of course shame requires humility, humility requires some modicum of humanity, humanity would mean you had empathy, empathy would mean you weren't sociopaths...never mind...
What a tragedy.
And here come the attorneys, ready to profit, ready to sue, ready to turn an accident into vacation homes and boats and German sports sedans.
What price, irresponsibility?
Just awful.
@sighber I think you're overreacting to what those people said. Many of them did NOT say that the boy was stupid and the parents were bad people, but rather simply that the parents are not justified in suing someone else for their misfortune. This tragedy shouldn't be turned into a lawsuit boondoggle. Everyone should acknowledge the accident and grieve with the family for their loss, and the family should mourn their loss and then move on.
Locking emergency exits isn't the answer.
I checked out the standard contract. It very clearly says:
The contract clearly puts the burden here on the passenger. There is no promise, expressed or implied, that the bus company will play a supervisory role.
my thoughts to the family and to all of the teenagers who were on that bus who saw something that I am sure was completely horrible.
When I was younger I saw a man who was thrown off a bridge.....he was lying there with a pool of blood on the dirt...the paramedics showed up and I will remember for as long as I live...they rolled him over...and then pulled a full pencil out of his mouth.....I couldnt believe what I was seeing.
I was 19 then...having fun in Tijuana.
life is short people....love every minute of it.
There was a warning sign not to open that hatch.
You truly can not fix stupid.
These kids were old enough to have more sense than this.
No, just a lot of honest people. Grow up!
Of course they will. Not accepting personal responsibility is the American & Republican Way!
It's tragic, but nothing to lose your head over.
This is terrible my heart goes out to the family but I have to agree theses kids are old enough to know that you keep your hands feet and Heads in the vehicle at all times. And it does beg the question why were there ony two adults on board. Parents must have felt that the kids were responsible enough to go on a bus ride without killing themselves. My prayers are witht he family and the survivors who witnessed this terrible accident, hopefully a lesson learned.
The parents will probably try to sue for negligence but the bus company will win due to the fact that the hatch is supposed to act as an emergency exit not for overhead view! As for kids having more sense these days, I doubt it. Parents these days are not as restrictive then years past. They let these kids get away with anything.
Kids think they are invincible. We did and we did some stupid things as kids.
Unfortunate for the family.
at sixteen, you do not think through the matter, and you do some really dumb things, (remember when you were 16).
first ,the hatch by law can not be locked down, it is a emergency hatch, for escape.
second, it will be considered a auto accident, therefore comparative negligence will decide.
the parents auto insurance and the tour bus insurance will decide the amount owed, if any to the surviving parents.
the medical bills will be the responsibility of the parents auto insurance policy, as well as any death benefits, depending on the insurance policy the parents have purchased.
any additional medical bills will be controlled by the parents medical family policy.
the bus company has very little liability, if any.
The bus company should have zero responsibility and the parents should pay the bill to clean up the mess.
1000 ways too die will have a new episode. Life is short , i do feel for the kid. Maybe being cool is not all it is cracked up to be.
Talk to your kids about it.
What was the emergency that the hatch needed to be opened?
People do stupid things, teenagers do stupid things -alot. Maybe it was the way he was raised maybe he was trying to impress others; either way, it was stupid and sometimes when you do something stupid enough you die. I'm pretty sure all the teenagers on that bus knew it was not a safe thing to do. C'mon only a moron would think it was but he did it anyway and obviously without a thought of checking to make sure there was nothing out there that would hurt him. It's a double decker bus! What do you expect! I feel bad for the kid who's birthday it was...sometimes people have to learn lessons the hard way. Those who think before they act usually don't.
How did the accident happen? Reactions... Shock, Anger, Blame, Sympathy, etc...
Accidents happen when more than one object tries to occupy the same time and space...
I almost had one the other day when a kid on a motorized skate board almost plowed into my car at an unmarked intersection. Didn't see him till I heard his brakes (thank god) squeal. Thank God meaning he had brakes, a learning experience for both of us.
Blame... It seems to me that everyone, from bystanders to courts will try to pile up the blame on one person or often the party with the deepest pockets. The kid, who may have been smart, did something stupid, was acting out. Was it his fault that the bus manufacture built a vehicle right up to highway system height limits? Did his head hit the overpass or did the open hatch door hit the overpass and was slammed on the kids head? Not every combination can be foreseen. But take a look at a 5 gal utility pail sold at hardware stores. On them you will see the picture of a toddler about to tumble head first into one with a few inches of water. After many such accidents a decision was made to put the graphic warning on such pails. Did it work? Maybe not 100% but my bet is that many lives were saved. There is a place and reason for litigation that isn't necessarily just gold digging.
i wonder if the overpass sign said "EXIT A HEAD" when his head smacked into it !
That this was a kid is kind of irrelevant. The lesson here is that people sometimes do stupid things, and sometimes these stupid actions have consequences, occasionally fatal consequences. It's as simple as that.
One thing we can all be assured of is that the lawyers won't buy into this logic, not when there's money to be made.
Kids aren't smart. A human male brain isn't fully developed until age 24. So kids, especially teenagers who believe they are invincible, are prone to doing really stupid things.
If the job of the "assistant" was to keep these kids in check, then yes, the bus company should be sued. If there was no official chaperone of any sort, it's the parents fault.
The contract says clearly that the passengers are responsible for their own behavior.
"I've seen this head-out-of-the-limo-sunroof thing in countless teen movies...."
'Kids aren't smart. A human male brain isn't fully developed..."
It's absurd how people in this thread are looking for excuses for the kid and a way to blame the bus company for a payday... reality is the kid opened an emergency exit that is clearly labelled 'emergency' after being warned repeatedly and stuck his HEAD out while the bus was moving.... it's a terrible tragedy, but
a teen kid thought it was AOK to ignore authority and obvious warning signs... this isn't a 3 year old.... it's an almost adult... and that says something about parenting in a big way...
if you raise reckless, disrespectful, immature kids / young adults.... it's on you if they can't get through the world safely...
I'd like to see the grounds of the lawsuit... one that will include that the hatch, clearly marked "emergency" actually does open.
Kids do stupid things all the time... and if anyone watches youtube, a lot of those things are teasing natural selection or trying to win a Darwin Award. I'd figure that since it's a party bus, liquor was involved (yeah, they drink at that age), so I'd figure the family should at least try to have his blood alchohol level tested. There is no excusing this, the kid did something stupid, and now he's been put down by his own stupidity. Maybe this'll serve as a lesson to others... knowing them, however, they'll take this as a challenge.
Why does it feel every generation is getting stupider? Is it just because I'm getting older, or are they putting something in the Wheaties? Ugh.
Another idiot gets whacked doing stupid things of his own volition.
It is too bad he didn't listen, what a dumba$$.
I have absolutely no idea what this kid's parents taught him. But I'll tell you something that my parents taught me: No matter what you might think, you don't say something like that, especially when someone's child has just died.
If you want to open the floor to judgements on parenting, then I don't think yours did so well.
My comment of ealier was COLLASPED after 48 thumbs up.WTF I will repost; 1 less idiot in the world.
for those of you that say;It Could Happen To Your Kid." BS My kids are not that damn stupid!
Dan-2358143 @#1.64
Totally agree. Heartless people always judge.
Condolences to the family. There are some very traumatized kids from that bus. My heart goes out to them also. There are some things one should never see.
People die everyday. They just usually don't die doing such a stupid thing.
Extreme trauma? Is that when you go to the hospital in more than one vehicle?
Most people would agree that loss of a young life is tragic beyond words.
As per whose fault it is - is not a black and white answer. The unfortunate reality is - it could've been avoided in multiple ways.
Directly by the 16 yr old himself by not doing something stupid. Directly by the bus company by providing safety instructions at the start of the tour (which they probably did - we don't know).
And indirectly by parents to make sure that their kid has better sense of safety and risk.
So it's not really a black and white answer but for a 16 yr old - the majority of blame lies with himself so please spare the parents here.
These comments are sick. I am disgusted by your vile apathy for human life. I couldn't hardly get through the article because of the thought of that poor kid and his family. Then I came to the comments. Jesus. Some of you make me want to puke. RIP kid.
Richard; Stupid rules! and you make me want to puke
there is a discussion thread so people can express opinions and debate them, it's unfortunate a 16 yo tragically died, but a discussion of cause, legality, parenting, values, fault and whatever else is aok....
some people incite with crude remarks, but if you just ignore them, there is some interesting discussion and I don't think anyone serious on this thread is apathetic that a kid died.
people are defensive about the parents, but honestly, this kid died because of his inability to 1) make decisions out in the world, 2) respect authority, 3) read a sign and understand it 4) logically know what the risks were to sticking his head out the top of a double decker bus on I95.... the people responsible for not teaching him these things are his parents and no one else
It is amazing how this fact escapes so many people.
Yep CowTrucker...You are one of them. You are sick and demented.
Nice@OldHam It is open for my opinion to theirs. And that was mine. Some people have no empathy and talk like complete savages here and it is repulsive
His name was Daniel Fernandez, he was told to leave the hatch alone, SPLAT ! his fault
I still feel bad for the dead dog with the yellow matter custard dripping from its eye.
Ever seen those "Faces of Death" videos that were popular 15 years ago? I lasted about 10 minutes before I had to turn it off.
After being around my step son for 13 years, I can say without a doubt that some kids today are very stupid. We took him to downtown Phoenix to celebrate after the Diamondbacks won the World Series, as we were heading home dumb @!$%# decides to try and High Five some street dude from the back seat as we are going 45mph...bout ripped his arm off. At 25yo he is no smarter - last I heard the judge said if he saw him one more time, that he was going to jail for a year and a day...always for just stupid stuff.
Richard, you need this: Whiners Anonymous. 1-800-StopWhining
The bus company is not at fault in this situation, The supervisor told them not to open the hatch and the moment he/she left, he purposely ignored the order and opened it and you really can't blame the supervisor either. Remember this is a double decker bus which means there are also kids on the lower level as well so, he/she had to leave to check up on them too. I really do feel sorry for the boy but he was told not to open it and did anyway and it coast him his life.
You can debate if the kid was dumb or not. What seems pretty clear is most teenagers don't have much in the way of wisdom to back up whatever smarts they may have.
@You're more wrong than I am --
Uh You're more wrong than I am -- not a very apt name, because you obviously missed the part where I mentioned kids don't think of the height difference between a limo and a bus. I doubt they see much difference between a sunroof and a escape hatch, either.
My condolences to the family and friends.
I dont think it matters whos fault it is, because lets face it, were all trying to point fingures. But seriously, whats done is done, the boy passed away, and im sure we can all agree that what happend to the victom was terrible. RIP.
While you're right that "What's done is done" and that this was a terrible tragedy, I think that overlooks an important aspect underlying this discussion. This is a discussion forum, "a place for people to share and discuss topics relating to the news". It is a reasonable assumption that any discussion here related to an incident like this will be with regard to what caused it, what can or should be done to prevent such tragedies, etc. There is nothing to "discuss" with regard to sympathy - it actually shouldn't be "discussed" - sympathy shouldn't be questioned or challenged in any way, so this really isn't an appropriate place for it. I don't think it is wrong to post notes of sympathy, and I surely wouldn't want anything done to preclude such - my point is that implying that notes of sympathy is what should be posted here, and that discussions about cause and fault shouldn't, is way off-base.
I agree with what was said about kids not thinking about the difference between a sun roof and the emergency safety hatch. I also want to say that if I was the monitor on the bus, I would wish that I had insisted that any kids behaving irresponsibly in the second level of the bus move to seats on the first level before heading down to the first level. Hindsight is 20/20. It sounds like the kids wanted more air circulation if the monitor was going down to tell the driver that it was too warm on the second level. I wonder if the kids encouraged the monitor to head down to the first level, or just took that opportunity and I wonder if any other kids were involved in egging on the boy who got killed. I think that if I were the adult monitor, I would wish I had specifically stated the risk of opening the hatch being severe injury death. There could also be warnings on the hatches with drawings depicting the risks to make people think twice.
The role of the assistant was not yet clear?? These were minors! Where the hell were the parents? Chaperones? Hello?? This could have been prevented EASILY. My heart goes out to the parents. This should never have happened.
Sometimes Kimberly you just have to have faith that your child isn't (or doesn't act like) a moron. This kid was 16, not 6.
This tragedy could NOT have been prevented easily. Those hatches can be opened in seconds. I don't care who was the assistant--outside of Usain Bolt, very few people would've been fast enough to run to the end of the bus and yank the kid down.
It's perhaps not nice or PC to say that the 16-year-old was being a moron but... he was. He executed not only bad judgment but bad timing. He was probably already a driver himself, so as Cullerco said, it's not like he was six years old and had no concept of the dangers of being in a moving vehicle.
I was a chaperon for a high school in Penna for years....
On trips, I was ORDERED not to interfere with the "good times" the kids were having.....kinda like the "Holloway" girl that was never found a couple of years ago.
You are there as an illusion.......The parents don't want you interfering with their childrens activities, unless something goes wrong and then they have someone to blame.
Hummmmm ... I can't imagine the clearance to be that little coming off a major roadway ...
with a clearance that minimal a large truck could hit it .... A truly tragic accident, and all about timing ... probably anywhere else on that roadway this child could have done the identical act, and we wouldn't be reading this story ..
moonbeamracer,
Federal standards for Interstate highways dictate 16.5 feet of clearance, though only 14 feet is mandatory in urban settings. Double deck buses are 14 feet tall, though the ones used in London are 14 feet, 4 1/4 inches tall.
Not too much of a stretch to see that this kid could have exceeded the clearance by sticking his head out of the bus.
To kimberly J: True it could have been avoided. w/proper supervision, But! The kid was 16 years old! Unless he was menally deficient, he was old enough to know better! When are all you people going to realise that sooner or later you have to take responsibility for your own actions! Good grief people! Grow up!!!
Tragic story for all involved.
Unbelievable that the clearance is so tight..........just unbelievable if your 14 feet mandatory level is right and these buses are also the same height.
The kid didn't use his head.
This accident goes exactly in line with the model who walked into the plane prop and the woman at the zoo who didn't secure the tiger's cage. A moment's inattention, a second of not thinking and you end up injured or dead. Then of course, people try to blame it on someone else because the person who was killed or injured couldn't possibly have been that stupid. No one would have been fast enough to stop him. It would have only taken seconds for him to open the hatch and pop his head out. I'm sure before they all boarded the bus some rules were provided concerning those hatches and when they could be used and when not to use them. Those hatches are made for people to stick their heads out while driving down the road, but they are also used as emergency escape hatches so they can't be locked. But those of us who survived our teenage years know that we knew it all back then and that the rules didn't apply to us. I doubt if that has changed much.
I'm imaging that its somewhere near, though slightly less than the height of the head protruding through the bus roof.
That head of course, belonging to FT Lee's Darwn award winner.
people that think it cant be that tight of clearance obviously have never been there. The GW bridge has 2 levels one for cars only and one for all vehicles, and the clearance is vary tight
Oh Kimberly, you are so naive. Teens will do what they want. Were there a chaparone sitting in the next row, the kid would have done it as soon as the chaparone turned to check on another kid. Do you really believe that this kid would have been saved had there been an adult there? I'm sure that will be the parent's and their lawyer's argument, but in fact, your own children (if you have any) never do what they aren't supposed to do while you are watching; what would be the fun in that. As soon as your back is turned, voila. This is a tragic accident and nothing more. The one to blame can be called blameless, if we like, because as a teen, he didn't possess the smarts to not stick his head out of the window of a moving vehicle.
Singbiker, Chicago has some clearances at 13'8" on the interstate, because they are old bridges. I think the new regulation requires higher on new bridges built, It is also the same with power lines. and NC62553, this was a double decker bus, which is taller than a normal bus. I drive a truck which is 13'6" and I have gone under some bridges that are at 13'6" and I think I am going to hit the top. I saw a truck hauling one of those shipping containers hit a bridge in Chicago one time, and it was made of steel, So I know what it would do to a human head. And someone posted asking why the hatch wasn't locked, it is an emergency escape hatch in case of an Emergency, they can not lock it.
Many bridges and overpasses are quite low in NJ, NY, PA, CT, MA. In some cases they were built for horse and carriages and Model 'T's, and decades before double decker buses. They can not easily be rebuilt. I have seen trailers, and in one case a tour bus stuck under them. They predate any national standards for road construction. If the boy had stuck his head out of a regular bus, he most likely would have been ok, but not a double decker. To 'StandUpJokeOff' If the boy was from Sayerville NJ, he was not a driver. NJ's age for getting a driver's license is 17, NOT 16.
NC62552...
Best mind your p's and q's when driving a semi on the chicago area turnpikes. Lots of signage telling truckers to only take specific lanes to avoid clipping a bridge.
I regularly take students to Europe. This past summer, I had a kid decide to hang out of a 5th floor window above a concrete parking lot. He couldn't understand why I freaked out, because "nothing happened".
I think I'll save this article and make kids and parents read it before my next trip.
Kids do stupid things, especially when they have an audience of peers and no parents around!
Not really. Trucks travel under it every day going to and from NY. But clearances aren't much and sticking a head out would exceed it.
SingBiker,Federal law says all commercial vehicles can't go over the height of 13'6". If the bus was 14', it was an illegal height without an oversize permit and oversize sign. Check DOT rules. I personally have seen overpasses at 9'.
This happen a half a mile from the GW bridge in NJ..not on the bridge..it was the Fletcher Ave overpass where it happen. Like another said..if he open that roof door a few seconds later this would of never happen.
Idiotic to do it anytime when bus is moving..but some children not to bright!
I'm sorry Kimberley but the assistant's job isn't to be everywhere on the double decker bus and prevent stupid people from doing stupid things. If you know kids you know they do not listen to or do what adults would like them to do. This kid did not know to think ahead to the consequences of his/her actions and that is a parent's job, not a tour bus assistant's.
This kid had planned to go into politics.
Darwin award?
Absolutely!
He apparently didn't listen to the pre-boarding instructions: "This is a party bus, so have a good time, but don't lose your heads."
THAT broke the tension!
the sign on the overpass was "EXIT A HEAD" :p
Darwin award..... on a platter.
It could be a Darwin Award, but I think 16 is too young to qualify.
Daniel, you don't understand the purpose of the Darwin Award...it's to remove the less-able-to-survive genes from the gene pool...so killing ones self at 16, that was probably done pretty effectively, sad to say.
Good idea. Maybe an alarm that sounds off a few seconds before the door is able to be opened on the hatch so the driver knows that the door has been opened and this would serve as a deterrent to kids wanting to open the door.
Also, a policy of booting someone off the bus for opening the door without authorization for a non-emergency would serve as a deterrent.
And leave them where? On the side of the road? Booting anyone off before reaching home would leave the bus company open to a endangerment suit.
Sounding an alarm and putting a camera up to take pictures isn't a bad idea. At least once they got home there could be other rramificationsinvolved. Maybe a hheftyfine from the state.
Does anyone have a first-hand account of the event that reports that no alarm went off? So many people are speaking as if that was the case, but I haven't seen anything that could qualify as proof of such an assertion.
All these safety measures proposed are a little late for the victim. Let him RIP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_Awards
Matches all the requirements. Done and done.
Looks that way.
My understanding is that minors don't qualify.
They don't. :)
While I was stationed in Germany back in the mid 80's we had a drunk GI stick his head out of the top of a tour bus as it passed under a low bridge with 3 inches of clearance. His body stayed in the bus, his head not so much. Why buses have vents that completely open allowing a person to put their head through is beyond me. This is not the first or last time this will happen.
Some buses have top hatches to allow for escape should the bus end up on its side where access to the side door(s) becomes unavailable.
It's by design. The hatches double as emergency exits in the event of a roll over. My prayers go out to the family.
The hatches are for emergencies. They're not meant to be used when the bus is moving. I'm glad they're there, but I've also never had the desire to open one in transit...
Well, like most emergency exits, these top hatches should have alarms on them if they are opened. That might have prevented this. Just seeing a sign "Alarm will sound if opened" would usually be enough to dissuade someone from opening it.
Unfortunately some jackass lawyer will make the case that the "Alarm will sound when opened" sign was not written in multiple languages, assuming this kid could even read English.
It was an emergency exit alright...
Here we go. Not enough warnings. No cameras on the hatch. No emergency engine shut off blah blah blah How about geometry tests required for all passengers?
Patrick you forgot in include a personal quardian bound at the hip for each individual
The buses need these hatches as exit emergencies. However, there is no fixing stupidity and aggressive behavior no one can control. This kid was evidently hyperactive and did not follow rules or commands. Life is funny that way. The problem is solved.
Something like this happens, and the right wing whacko trolls crawl out of the woodwork! It aint just teenagers who do dumb things. Ever notice in mountainous areas , the roads have guard rails? What do you suppose those guard rails are there for? Surely, if every driver followed the speed and traffic laws, we wouldn't need those guard rails!
Like it or not, you right wing whackos, we aint in this country alone. Everybody makes mistakes, sees things differently, reacts in different ways, to all sorts of situations, AND GROWN UPS DESIGN THEIR COMMUNITIES ACCORDINGLY!! In this case, the driver shouldn't even be considered "an adult" monitor. The driver is there to drive, period! So, one adult monitor for a double decker bus full of teenagers out partying?! Its a lawsuit waiting to happen!! Who ever rented the bus, and the bus company, should both be responsible.
A sign would have stopped him but being told repeatedly to leave the hatch alone shouldn't have? The large red "emergency exit" sign and associated warning label isn't enough warning?
From the linked NBCNewYork article:
big ed... I keep re-reading the article.. I cannot find where it turned political... please help me. The guard rails.. I would like to think... are for if the roads are slippery, or if a flat tire causes a car to veer off course... This kid was driving age; nearly old enough to be handed an weapon and sent to war... Should have known better. There is no such thing as "idiot proof" although we try; and lawyers capitalize on that fact!
You could have one adult for every kid and it still would have turned out the same.
Patrick, I know you would like to make this political (less government interference), but fortunately my mind isn't brainwashed into thinking in terms of "left" or "right", just some logic and common sense.
The traffic lights you see at every intersection are installed by "the government", are they interfering with your rights and freedoms to cross the intersection by controlling your movements, is it some kind of REGULATOR that CONTROLS the traffic. Yes it is, but without them you'd probably get t-boned by a garbage truck.
You really need to think these things through for yourself without letting the political brainwashing do the talking for you.
its called a exit in case of emergency hatch. might need it in case of emergency not while moving at 55 MPH if it weren't there or locked then we'd be hearing "why wasn't this thing there and unclocked when they tried to get out in an emergency"?
This is truly sad. It's hard for me to fault the chaperone; I mean it was just 1 chaperone to 65 teenagers, and those hatches are pretty quick and easy to open. It's like driving along and your child rolls down their window and sticks their hand out. By the time you've realized what's happened to stop it, it's already after the fact. Plus these are 16-year-olds - an age that enjoys much of the same freedoms as an adult. The kid likely didn't see this coming; I mean any other stretch of highway and this would have been harmless.
The kid did not see it coming but the rest of the people on the bus got a face full of blood and brain material. Not a pretty sight. It will stay with them forever. He made a memorable final exit.
Chances are he didn't see it coming or he might have had a chance to get back inside the bus.
Guess the party's over for him;)
very sad- if all were told not to open the emergency hatch, and it was clearly marked "emergency", then it was this teen's choice to ignore the warnings, whether he understood the danger, or not. and even if there were alarms, as one commenter said, this could, and did, happen before anyone would be able to react and stop the bus. it only takes seconds to drive under and underpass. bad timing and a bad decision.
Darwin award? Yes, I know I'm being mean, but seriously, that wasn't very bright.
It has nothing to do with being "very bright." People make mistakes. Some people pay for them dearly.
I think the "Darwin Award" remarks are out of line. They're not made in seriousness and if meant as a joke, are in poor taste.
The fact that a sixteen-year-old didn't have common sense enough to 1) leave an emergency exit hatch alone, 2) keep his head inside the bus, and 3) pay the slightest attention to where the bus was on the road (approaching an overpass) is troubling.
I do feel sorry for his family, but this "child" (borderline adult, and most likely already driving himself and not unaware of the dangers of being on the road) got what was inevitable--a severe injury from disobeying basic instructions that you're taught in elementary school. Namely, "Don't mess with the emergency hatches!" and "stay seated in your bus seat." I also feel sorry for his classmates for witnessing the "extreme trauma."
It was, in a word, stupid. And no amount of sympathy for the young man can erase such behavior. He hurt himself, his friends and his family.
If everyone that is posting "Stupid" comments were to have their "Head Ripped Off" for every "stupid" things that they had done in their life ..... 90% percent wouldn't be here!
It wasn't a Stupid" act .. there was in this child s mind there was no reason to believe that what he did was dangerous or could result in his death ... nor would this have happened on 99.99 of locations of roadway in this country .. his statistical risk of dying from this are about the same as being hit by a falling airplane ...
Have some common sense, he has paid his price for his mistake ... stop your "stupid" remarks ... they are insensitive & ignorant!
@moonbeamracer, where did you grow up that you didn't get taught not to do that in elementary school? I was taught about the dangers of sticking body parts out of a moving vehicle in first or second grade, and again before I got my driver's license.
You say this wouldn't have happened in 99.99% of locations? Sounds about right, but that means one kid in a thousand dies each time they do it. That's why IT WAS STUPID! That's basically the definition of "stupid act": Something that gruesomely kills about 1 out of a thousand fools who try it.
Don't drive drunk. Don't use a hair dryer in the tub. Don't point a gun at anything you don't intend to kill... Most of the time, people get away with all those things. But when one fails, it results in a gruesome death. Parents don't like those, so out of instinctive terror we use those failures as object lessons for our own children. In other words, we point and call them "stupid".
I do feel for his family and friends. But it's tinged with a strong dose of, "one tiny second of bad judgement, and that could be us." One second of bad judgement on a bicycle changed my life once. I'll walk with a cane forever. I call my lapse that day "stupid" as well, if that helps.
Moonbeamracer it's your so-called common sense that is incorrect. This accident WOULD have happened in 99.99 percent of roadway locations all around this country. Just how much clearance do you think there is on most overpasses? It is rare to find more than a foot of clearance between the top of a double decker bus or covered gravel hauler than it is to find only inches. Why? Because the vast majority of our roadways were built (and even re-built) between the 1930's and the 1970's.
This kid WAS stupid. But he was also a normal, hormone and adrenaline infused teen who was probably trying to impress his normal, hormone and adrenaline infused friends.
Personally I plan to show this article to my equally normal, hormone and adrenaline infused 14yr old son. Hopefully it will teach him and he will be less stupid.
I think it doesnt matter what you think.
Apparently you do, or you'd have not commented. Ironic, isn't it....
Thanks for taking the bait, Mike. There's always at least one that falls for it.
I can certainly remember as a child being told not to stick my hand and arm out of car window while we were going down the road, and I think I remember meeting someone who had perhaps been told the same thing but he still did it anyway, wanna guess what the results were. Just in case you don't know, he lost his arm from elbow down, and this was before we have all these bionic arms etc. they have nowadays. Yes, I remember doing some stupid things as a teen, and I'm 70 now, but I'm still alive.
Ed orr...
I concur, sometimes we are lucky, sometimes we didn't freeze, sometimes the other guy just said "oh @!$%#" and swerved at the last second, sometimes you just have to say... "there, but by the grace of God go I".
MoonBeam:
The dead kid is thinking, "Well, that was a pretty stupid thing to do." Some of us make it through stupid, and some of us don't! This is the NV. Can't take this stuff too personally!
I think they are completely appropriate. This idiot was 16, not 6. At 16, most kids are employed with after-school jobs (unless their last name is Romney, Cheney or Bush) and they are licensed drivers themselves, so they know the rules of the road and the dangers inherent in Stupid Behavior while in a moving vehicle.
Darwin Award -- 100%!
Anyone who says "darwin award" or anything along those lines is a complete @!$%#ing moron, is not civil and has no class. Just total losers.
Hey Bogy. Is your mom ok today? Have you gotten over all of that yet, or still angry about it...
Terrible tragedy! Unfortunately, when you put 65 teenagers on a bus with a bus driver and one assistant things could easily get out of a hand. Our kids need more supervision. In todays society our children are allowed so much freedom and responsibility at such a young age. Where were the parent chaperones? And do 16 year olds really need a party bus in the first place?
I would say "in today's society our children are allowed" far less freedom and responsibility, and 16 is not really "such a young age". Surely someone who is old enough to drive on their own is also old enough to ride a bus without a parent chaperone.
I was taught in kindergarten not to play with the emergency exits. At the age of four. This kid was sixteen. My sympathy for his stupidity includes his friends, who witnessed a show of poor judgment, and his family... but I cannot feel sorry for him, for not knowing the rules about how to ride in a bus.
A sixteen year old now needs constant supervision! I was in the Marine Corps at 17. My mommy wasn't there and I didn't have a night light.
What do kids need now days, maybe watch a video on bus saftey done by Snooki?
As a former school bus driver I can tell you that unless you handcuff the kids to their seats there are always going to be a few that push the limits. I actually had one 16 year old throw a water bottle out of the bus and hit a cop car. He got his own personal ride home that day. The next day kids were throwing stuff out the windows again. Remember, it's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt.
DT7970...
If I were a teenager again I wouldn't be watching the film for safety instructions, I would be watching snookies T & A.
We have people just one year older serving in the military, the problem isn't that we need to watch them better it's that we are watching them too much. They get pregnate? oh it's just a child they don't need to carry that kind of burden. They kill someone? It's just a child so put them in juvy for a few years and it all goes away. If we give an easy out for our children and outright refuse to teach them personal responsibility then ofcourse they are never going to grow up. After all who really grows up till they reach that point where the hand outs are no longer there? Oh I forgot, this is the USA where the handouts don't stop.
Was someone sneaking booze and drugs on board ? Imagine that....sixteen year olds out of control...Look at me ! my head is out of the bus but my body is still in.
On the flip side, I can't help but think, "Dude, what a way to ruin the party!"
He "harshed their buzz" for sure.
Buzz is right. He might have been one of those popular cool pot smokers.
Kids always have to try something when they are young. My brother did things that hurt him but he is still alive today.
I have a sister who always stretched out her teen actions as far as she could, even knowing that my parents weren't adverse to physical punishment and social restrictions. Didn't stop her though, she figured that she would be caught less than 10% of the time. Why give up the fun when the risk was so low?
Oh. Well then! THAT excuses stupid behavior! Thanks for clearing that up!
Maybe he was just lucky. It is good to use brains for survival but some people like to take "stupid" chances. Hey....their lives as long as they do not hurt others.
A party bus with sixty-five teens is supervised by only two adults, and one adult has to concentrate on driving the bus--don't like those numbers. A party bus is not the same as a school bus transporting kids to class. I was a high school parent chaperone from band camp and field trips right up through the senior (actually, graduate) all-night parties, where the kids were transported to the party site by charter buses. We never had fewer than two volunteer chaperones per bus in addition to the driver. For a double-decker bus, that would mean two adults on each level. That might have made all the difference in this situation, we'll never know.
(BTW, there is another reason to have chaperones as a team of two or more. Chaperone teams help protect both the kids and the chaperones from any wrongdoing or accusations.)
Sad story all around. The parents who chartered the bus probably did so assuming it was safer than having everyone drive their own kids separately or having young drivers on the road themselves.
My heart goes out to the family and all of the kids that had to be there.
But, no one can deny that it was a dumb move on the boy's part.
My heart goes out to the family and all of the kids that had to be there.
Well, this kids "head went out" to all the kids who "didn't HAVE to be there, but were"....
This Darwin descendant ruined the night for the other 64 passengers without a thought "in his head"..........
Terrible tragedy but why do 16 year old kids need a party bus in the first place? And where were the parent chaperones? Should've been a few parents on the bus. Too much freedom and responsibility given to kids these days. God forbid, we as parents, accompany our own kids to a party. Lets leave it to a bus driver and his assistant. Heart goes out to the family.
My guess is that due to the large number of kids, it was agreed that they would meet at one place for the trip. I'll also guess that they were headed to some venue or park for the party, as opposed to a private residence.
From a logistical standpoint, one bus carrying the kids to the venue makes sense, especially in the area around NYC (they boarded in Queens). Lots of traffic. Plus, it saves parents from having to drive kids to the party and wait around. Or worry about their kids driving (if any were old enough). And one bus versus sixty-plus cars?
Soeey
I think chaperones are an illusion for parent's peace of mind. They really do little but enjoy themselves and pretty much ignore the kids. Remember Natalee Holloway ? she went to Aruba on a graduation trip, with chaperones. None of them were there to stop her from going into a car with three strange men. How is that for control ?
Given that parents can't stop their kids from doing stupid things (like getting in a car with strange men), we shouldn't expect any more from chaperones. Personally, I don't think that they're present to stop teens from doing stupid things, but rather to assist the kids if a problem crops up, like illness.
This is a sad story... A parent should never have to bury a child. Yes, this may have been due to poor judgement. Nevertheless it is a tragedy any way you look at it. We have all made "stupid choices" in our lives. Timeing is everything......... So to sit here and judge this boy is asinine. Think of how you would feel if your child or loved one was whom this happened to. Would you feel good reading the hurtfull comments of insensitive callous people?? Most likely not! I send my sincere condolences to the family and friends affected by this tragedy.
amen!
Gee Tina,
Most anyone with a remote sense of rational thought wouldn't have concluded that this article was posted for the family to review so does your cpmment even apply here? Most likely not.
Timmer2 - MSN does not "post articles for the family to review". Where would you come up with that? It is posted as it was a spectacular and stupid thing. If anything it might make the next potential idiot think for a SECOND or two longer before trying to pull this same stupid stunt.......
j burk, maybe it will make other kids think twice. But probably not.
My comment was in response to Tina's, jburke. If you'd read the entire @!$%#ing comment you'd have figured that out.
Anything intelligent to say?
You are a total douche?
Wow............Folks.......being a "Turtle Head" is not easy. Just ask Republican TeaBilly Conservative Whack job
Mitch "Turtle Head" McConnell.
You're on the wrong discussion, and totally off topic. This is about one isolated case of extreme stupidity, kinda like you. Why don't you go to the ""Totally clueless losers" forum?
Is that you Mitch "Turtle Head" McConnell?
Jimmy in Philly, couple of things...
Typing in a larger font will not make you taller or your penis larger, even it it feels that way as you write.
Your personal issues with jstdafacts are your problem, not everyone else's.
Im almost sure this article is about a kid being a moron and giving himself a lobotomy, via the GW bridge, not your obsession/mancrush with jstdafacts, so if you don't like what he @!$%#ing writes, dont @!$%#ing read it
So speaking of sad excuses, find a mirror.
yawn......
jstdafacts, Get out of the sandbox, the cats are going to buyy you.
jstdafacts=political loser
Mymomdidnotraiseafool=hillarious
jimmy in philly=personally poignant
Timmer2=indignantly COLLAPSED! (LOL)
CSAC=cat poopy humor
Sarcasticus1=Saturday morning on the NV=Life; need a life!
Ok. And now you're talking about Mitt Romney... Why start talking about him? Is it his Magic Underwear?
Darwin
Yep.
That sucks so bad!
Just kids being kids................. my sincere condolences to family and friends.........
JUST KIDS BEING KIDS...You must have the same very-low I.Q. as the 'kid' and his parents !
God Bless America... AGAIN... SOON...
People tend to forget that teenagers lack impulse control. It is why they aren't legally allowed to drive until they are 16 (not acceptable to me), vote until they are 18, and drink until they are 21. There are reasons society puts age requirements on those activities. The brain is not considered fully matured until the age of 26 (which is why a noticable drop in car insurance rates occur at that time). The body may look mature on the outside; inside not so much. So please, give this poor kid and his parents a break with the Darwin Award comments. It was bad timing, fate, or simply a horrible accident; intelligence had nothing to do with it. My sympathy to the family and all of those poor kids that witnessed this.
I agree with that; hell when I turned 16, I KNEW I wasn't ready to drive...
Do you think crawling helmets for todlers are needed too
I believe that 17 is the driving age in NJ (I didn't move here until age 28, so I don't know for sure).
It is sixteen in most states.
In NJ, a 16-year old can get a learner's permit, and a "probationary" license at 17 (full license at 18). According to the NJ DMV, 23 states have this phased approach.
Well at least he wasnt texting.
We'll give him some points for that at least.
the only one he could hurt was himself. You got to give him that...on the other hand, that final pic is staying on the minds and memory of everyone on that bus, including the people who had to clean it. He should have been texting, since he was NOT driving.
"His head struck the underside of the Fletcher Avenue overpass, causing extreme trauma."
That's certainly an understatement!
As Baga said, "Just kids being kids." That was a horrible thing to happen; sad for the parents, friends and relatives of the boy, and it's going to take a while for those who saw it to get over it as well.
I would DEFINITELY nominate this kid for a Darwin Award!
LOL
Top candidate for this week. Natural selection in action.
Team of jewish lawyers and a stupid jury will fix all of this dumbness. Considering NY and NJ, should not be a problem to locate either. Common sense is a curse for having to tolerate the morons who have none!
Really? You need to get racist?
to the other guy: you probably watch jersey shore and think we all talk and act like that. we'll snookie and the whole cast and crew are not from NJ. My brother is a lawyer in NJ and he's not jewish. stop being a biggot.
Nothing racist or biased in my opinion. Several jews, lawyers, and morons in NY/NJ area.
Too bad the kid died; however, stupidity has its price.
Yep, always gotta be a show-off in every bunch...
Didn't John Wayne say "Life is hard, and it is harder when your stupid."
DT7970
Oh I don't know about that...look at all the nitwits running for office and getting in. They're living larger than many of the rest of us with less intelligence than most.
That's the life -- when you truly believe in a god-who-created-the-universe and you're convinced that god cares about whether or not you're wearing Magic Underwear!
Actually, the 'underwear' thing is peculiar to a cult working out of Utah.
Yes.
And that was my response to his comments about NITWITS RUNNING FOR OFFICE... ie: Mittens and his Magic Underwear....
Ever hear the statement about "survival of the fittest"? Well, I guess he wasn't one of the fittest. Stupid acts have consequences, some more severe than others.
and that's how you filter a gene pool
Maybe this Kid just got done reading a “Sarah Palin” book….became Confused, Irrational and Lost his Mind. It seems to be a “Side Effect”.
You BetCha….Fer Sure.
Looks like Jimmy & Richard are off their Meds!
Bet he doesn’t do that again! Mother Nature’s way of weeding out those that should have been aborted.
Yo jstdafacts,
Could you send jimmy a picture of someone and tell him that its you?
It seems he needs something for the ceiling over his bed and that need seems to focused on you.
Thanks from the rest of us.
double yawn....is that better ?.....from the rest of us ?....seems pretty solo so far, you think it's funny when people lose their kid ?......sad.....man,..... sad.
then go to room and cry