Boy who fired bottle rockets into traffic dies fleeing driver

[MrCodeDude]

Originally posted by: Nik
No way are the drivers at fault for the kid's death. The kid mad the choice to run out into traffic and get hit. I'd charge the one guy with assaulting a minor, but what are you going to charge the other guy with? CHASING a minor? It's not like the guy MADE the kid run into traffic, sheesh. Does the law clearly define manslaughter in such a way that would, without a doubt, define the guy chasing the kid as committing a crime? Hell no.

If some little bastard shot bottle rockets at my car, I'd get out and chase him down too. It's not my fault if the dumbass runs out into traffic and gets killed. Dumbass got what he deserved. Natural selection, ya know?

I agree.

 

[BrokenVisage]

Oh I know exactly how I feel about this one.. while it's a shame a little boy is dead, he got exactly what he deserved. They think it's cool to try and scare the crap out of drivers by shoot rockets at them, possilby causing an accident, well here's an accident for you, kiddo. And parents, WTF are you doing letting your TWELVE YEAR OLD out till midnight?? Never mind he was with his cousin who I doubt was much older then he was.

 

[dquan97]

Originally posted by: gopunk
i think the kid is responsible for his own death

 

[sandmanwake]

The kid deserved to die. Being struck by a car was probably too quick of a way to go though.

 

[codeyf]

Originally posted by: Cuda1447

Originally posted by: codeyf

Originally posted by: Cuda1447

Originally posted by: codeyf
So what happens if he was a cop, and the kids ran from him. You think the cop would be held responsible?

There is a difference in running away from someone, and running away someone who is going to kick your as$/kicking your friends as$.

While I don't think a a cop would have "kicked their a$$", they damn well would've have done more than held their hands taking back to the cruiser...and with the way kids look these days, the 12 year olds could've been 5'6" and 165lbs. Looking far older than 12.

Like what? Its not often that cops use excessive physical force on little kids.

I'm not saying excessive force, but they wouldn't have been gentle. Have you ever seen or heard of an officer nicely/gently apprehending a person running from them? They tackle em and hold them down till their contained. And the fact that the kid was 12 is irrelavant. How would anyone, let alone a police officer know this before hand?

 

[sixone]

Originally posted by: Nik

Originally posted by: Antisocial Virge

Originally posted by: sixone
Hell no. The little twerp with the bottle rockets got himself into a situation out of his control. What the hell was he doing out at midnight, and with bottle rockets, unsupervised?

Yea, I'm kinda wondering what parents whould let 12 yr olds go roaming at midnight.

What are parents supposed to do? Lock their kids in their rooms at night with bars on the windows? Are parents supposed to stand guard as their children sleep so they can say "no" and shake their finger at them when the kids try sneaking out?

Get real. Unless they're the kind of 12 year old that has to wear a helmet and reflective vest and use a walker when they go outside, a 12 year old knows better.

I'd bet this kid's parent(s) knew just exactly what kind of trouble he was likely to get into. I doubt it was the first time he tried some stupid stunt; just so happened that this one got him killed.

 

[codeyf]

Originally posted by: BrokenVisage
Oh I know exactly how I feel about this one.. while it's a shame a little boy is dead, he got exactly what he deserved. They think it's cool to try and scare the crap out of drivers by shoot rockets at them, possilby causing an accident, well here's an accident for you, kiddo.

We have a winnar!

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: sandmanwake
The kid deserved to die. Being struck by a car was probably too quick of a way to go though.

A better way would have been for him to be in a car driving along. Then someone hiding in the bushes shoots bottle rockets at cars around him and have those drivers react naturally, freaking out like I know I probably would, crashing into the kid's car and causing some huge accident and killing only the one kid.

 

[Mermaidman]

Remember this ??

ATLANTA (AP) - Rafael Diaz Jr. was driving his oil tanker through an Atlanta neighborhood this week when a bottle rocket flew into the cab and struck him in the face, sending the truck careening out of control.

What happened next was even more disturbing: The same band of teens who shot the firework quickly swarmed the overturned rig, dragged Diaz out, stole his wallet and beat him senseless.

"The kids are either doped up or drunk," said Bill Nothdorft, Diaz?s supervisor at Penn Tank Lines. "They?re just creating their own good time - a good time gone bad."

Diaz, 29, remained in critical condition yesterday - four days after the attack. After seven hours of brain surgery, his head remained swollen, Nothdorft said.

Police say Diaz was the hapless victim of a Fourth of July offensive against Atlanta drivers, with about a dozen teens hurling explosives, rocks and jagged chunks of concrete at passing vehicles on a busy highway.

Police have cited an 18-year-old with reckless conduct in the case, and they are searching for other suspects, including a 16-year-old, said police spokeswoman Sylvia Abernathy.

After the firework exploded below Diaz?s left eye, his truck went hurtling down a grassy incline until it finally halted in a grove of pine trees just 50 yards from an apartment building.

Diaz said the teens then pulled him out and "were punching him in the back of the head, trying to rob him," Nothdorft said.

Hours earlier, a tractor-trailer driver called police after his vehicle was hit by a slew of bricks, but the juveniles eluded officers when they arrived at the scene, said Atlanta police Sgt. Kevin Iosty.

The teens returned and didn?t stop harassing drivers even after Diaz?s truck went off the road. Only minutes later, a fellow Penn Tank Lines driver had to weave his own truck across the four-lane highway to dodge the makeshift artillery, Nothdorft said.

"It?s one thing for the kids to do what they?re doing, but it?s another thing when the city of Atlanta doesn?t take care of the streets like they?re supposed to," Nothdorft said. "If they had responded in the proper manner, this would never have occurred."

Iosty said police handled the complaints appropriately.

"We take it very seriously," he said. "Unless they?re sitting right there when it?s happening, it takes a few minutes to respond."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: sixone

Originally posted by: Nik

Originally posted by: Antisocial Virge

Originally posted by: sixone
Hell no. The little twerp with the bottle rockets got himself into a situation out of his control. What the hell was he doing out at midnight, and with bottle rockets, unsupervised?

Yea, I'm kinda wondering what parents whould let 12 yr olds go roaming at midnight.

What are parents supposed to do? Lock their kids in their rooms at night with bars on the windows? Are parents supposed to stand guard as their children sleep so they can say "no" and shake their finger at them when the kids try sneaking out?

Get real. Unless they're the kind of 12 year old that has to wear a helmet and reflective vest and use a walker when they go outside, a 12 year old knows better.

I'd bet this kid's parent(s) knew just exactly what kind of trouble he was likely to get into. I doubt it was the first time he tried some stupid stunt; just so happened that this one got him killed.

If I reply to this like I really want to, it's just going to start a big discussion over how to raise kids.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Originally posted by: Nik

Originally posted by: Antisocial Virge

Originally posted by: sixone
Hell no. The little twerp with the bottle rockets got himself into a situation out of his control. What the hell was he doing out at midnight, and with bottle rockets, unsupervised?

Yea, I'm kinda wondering what parents whould let 12 yr olds go roaming at midnight.

What are parents supposed to do? Lock their kids in their rooms at night with bars on the windows? Are parents supposed to stand guard as their children sleep so they can say "no" and shake their finger at them when the kids try sneaking out?

Get real. Unless they're the kind of 12 year old that has to wear a helmet and reflective vest and use a walker when they go outside, a 12 year old knows better.

My parents never physically stopped me from going out, but I damn well knew if I screwed up, my dad would throw me against a wall.

 

[sixone]

Originally posted by: Nik

Originally posted by: sixone

Originally posted by: Nik

Originally posted by: Antisocial Virge

Originally posted by: sixone
Hell no. The little twerp with the bottle rockets got himself into a situation out of his control. What the hell was he doing out at midnight, and with bottle rockets, unsupervised?

Yea, I'm kinda wondering what parents whould let 12 yr olds go roaming at midnight.

What are parents supposed to do? Lock their kids in their rooms at night with bars on the windows? Are parents supposed to stand guard as their children sleep so they can say "no" and shake their finger at them when the kids try sneaking out?

Get real. Unless they're the kind of 12 year old that has to wear a helmet and reflective vest and use a walker when they go outside, a 12 year old knows better.

I'd bet this kid's parent(s) knew just exactly what kind of trouble he was likely to get into. I doubt it was the first time he tried some stupid stunt; just so happened that this one got him killed.

If I reply to this like I really want to, it's just going to start a big discussion over how to raise kids.

I'm not sure we disagree as much as you think we do. This kid did what lots of 12yo's do, set up a situation that went haywire. He's ultimately to blame here, more than the adult chasing him, is all I'm saying.

 

[sygyzy]

Let me get this straight: after the kid got "beat up" by the first guy, he was able to still escape and run away from the second guy?

 

[notfred]

The one guy can be charged with beating the one kid. It's not the other guy's fault that the stupid little sh!t ran into traffic.

 

[DaveSimmons]

These are the kind of kids who killed a driver a year or two ago by throwing a chunk of concrete from an overpass.

They should have been arrested and charged for endangering drivers, with a nice long probation hanging over their heads.

Obivously the one kid didn't deserve death for his stupidity and potential harm, but it's also hard to muster any sympathy for him.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: sixone
I'm not sure we disagree as much as you think we do. This kid did what lots of 12yo's do, set up a situation that went haywire. He's ultimately to blame here, more than the adult chasing him, is all I'm saying.

I bet you do agree, as most people would if they had their head screwed on straight.

I'm not saying that any one specific person would disagree, but there have been quite a few threads where kids do something stupid over and over again before getting screwed by their own mistakes. As soon as someone mentions the idea of dumbass parents, there's always a few monkeys who jump in with their comments to the contrary.

I just don't want to start that conversation.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: sygyzy
Let me get this straight: after the kid got "beat up" by the first guy, he was able to still escape and run away from the second guy?

There were two kids. Go back and read it a couple more times.

 

[Landroval]

Originally posted by: codeyf
Text

SPANAWAY, Wash. ? A driver angry that a 12-year-old Tacoma boy was shooting bottle rockets at cars early today got out of his vehicle and chased the boy into traffic, where he was struck and killed by another car, authorities said.

Witnesses tried to revive the boy, identified by the Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office as Garnet Wilis II. Two men were arrested shortly afterward for investigation of manslaughter, the Washington State Patrol said.

The episode happened around midnight near an intersection on Washington 7 in Spanaway, a small town south of Tacoma. Wilis and his 12-year-old cousin had been hiding in bushes and shooting bottle rockets into traffic, trooper Johnny R. Alexander said.

A green Toyota stopped, and its passenger, Tyrone Sherrod, 22, of Tacoma, got out, chased one of the boys and started beating him, Alexander said.

The Toyota's driver, Mario N. Haley, 22, of Lakewood, made a U-turn and chased the second boy into a nearby parking lot, Alexander said. Haley then got out of the car and continued chasing the boy, who ran onto the highway and was struck by a car driven by a 17-year-old Spanaway girl, the patrol said.

Investigators determined the girl who hit Garnet was not at fault. The other boy was treated for injuries and released to his parents.

Sherrod and Haley fled, but police found them three hours later at homes in Tacoma and Lakewood.

I don't know how to feel about this. I'd be pissed too. Should the guys be responsible for the kids death??

No.

 

[Frodolives]

I may be sad that the boy was so young and didn't get a chance to learn better, but he had it coming. Kids no older than him have been caught dropping cinder blocks off overpasses in a neighboring county in recent years. People die or are permanently injured.

Those acts are no less malicious just because a kid performs them, even if parents or others should share the blame.

 

[tami]

yes, they should. they were chasing the kids in a dangerous area. look what they did. now a boy is dead and a 17-year-old girl has to live with the fact that she hit a kid, despite the fact that the police told her that she was not at fault.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: tami
yes, they should. they were chasing the kids in a dangerous area. look what they did. now a boy is dead and a 17-year-old girl has to live with the fact that she hit a kid, despite the fact that the police told her that she was not at fault.

The kids they were chasing were shooting rockets at cars.

 

[BobDaMenkey]

Originally posted by: sygyzy
Let me get this straight: after the kid got "beat up" by the first guy, he was able to still escape and run away from the second guy?

No, there were two kids. The first one got beaten like he properly should have for being a fvking menace to society, the second ran onto the freeway he was shooting bottle rockets onto and got hit by a car and died.

I'd feel sorry for the kids if they didn't do anything to provoke the situation, but if they're the kind of nitwits who would shoot stuff at cars, then they were bound for a life of stupidity and would have been a major bane in society. Good riddence. Maybe the second one will learn his lesson and shape up.

 

[RaiderJ]

Originally posted by: Tick
Yes.

 

[Cuda1447]

Originally posted by: codeyf

Originally posted by: Cuda1447

Originally posted by: codeyf

Originally posted by: Cuda1447

Originally posted by: codeyf
So what happens if he was a cop, and the kids ran from him. You think the cop would be held responsible?

There is a difference in running away from someone, and running away someone who is going to kick your as$/kicking your friends as$.

While I don't think a a cop would have "kicked their a$$", they damn well would've have done more than held their hands taking back to the cruiser...and with the way kids look these days, the 12 year olds could've been 5'6" and 165lbs. Looking far older than 12.

Like what? Its not often that cops use excessive physical force on little kids.

I'm not saying excessive force, but they wouldn't have been gentle. Have you ever seen or heard of an officer nicely/gently apprehending a person running from them? They tackle em and hold them down till their contained. And the fact that the kid was 12 is irrelavant. How would anyone, let alone a police officer know this before hand?

While I agree that some kids certainly don't look their age, most do. Its more than likely that this 12 year old kid probably looked no older than maybe 14? Possibly looked younger than 12, we don't know. In any case, even if he did look 14 or so, the officer would not have had to tackle the kid. Most likely grabbing him by the shirt or arm would have slowed him down enough to stop him. Its a kid we are talking about, not a 17 year old young adult. Doesn't really matter though, cause the kid is dead. He shouldn't have been doing stupid sh!t. While I feel bad for his parents, I really don't give a sh!t that he's dead. Thats just one less a$$hole this world has to deal with, and we've already got plenty of them.

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: BobDaMenkey

Originally posted by: sygyzy
Let me get this straight: after the kid got "beat up" by the first guy, he was able to still escape and run away from the second guy?

No, there were two kids. The first one got beaten like he properly should have for being a fvking menace to society, the second ran onto the freeway he was shooting bottle rockets onto and got hit by a car and died.

I'd feel sorry for the kids if they didn't do anything to provoke the situation, but if they're the kind of nitwits who would shoot stuff at cars, then they were bound for a life of stupidity and would have been a major bane in society. Good riddence. Maybe the second one will learn his lesson and shape up.

Oh! My mistake. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Anyway, deserved what he got.