15 year old mows down runner, leaves for dead, later laughs about it

good investment wrote:

Always run against traffic.

It says the back of calves were consistent with bumper hitting them. Always give yourself the chance to jump out of the way.

Always! And.....always be prepared to dive into the bushes if an approaching car veers off the road. Remermber 99.9% of the time the driver isn't intentionally trying to hit you.

YeshuaHaNozri wrote:

in high school i ran a fair amount on two lane country roads with a speed limit of 55. always against traffic. sometimes it would be a little harrowing if people didn't see me or as.sholes wanted to swerve a little to have some fun. looking back i would probably not do that as much knowing more about how dumb people are and stories like this. like another person said killing a person is basically a slap on the wrist in this country as long as you were behind the wheel. it's utter bullsh!t.

Only when you're a district attorney or a Massachusetts Senator.

malmo wrote:

Which brings up the question, have any of you had a similar close calls?

When running on the shoulder of a road I often run facing traffic so I can see what is coming. I've had a few people in cars veer towards me a bit; maybe frustrated about something and imagining mowing over somebody, or maybe thinking it's entertaining to see a fearful reaction. I've had mountain bikers do this on trails too. Or sometimes if I'm running or riding a bike in the same direction as cars I will have someone come behind me and honk their loud car horn, which can be really startling. If anything inspires runner or cyclist road-rage, it's stuff like that.

As for a 15 year old doing that, it's a tough call. 15 is so young. I would definitely look at the parent(s) because something is up. I wouldn't let them off the hook.

Well, actually, maybe you are right, with regard to her "godmother" (not actual parent). If the godmother is being honest (that she really initially believed her goddaughter about how the damage was caused), then the godmother (who she lived with and owned the car) told police (and her father) as soon as she knew her car was involved. Then also, I suppose, the father did turn her in, but, there wasn't a lot else he could do at that point. Seems like maybe a bit of a troubled childhood since she was living with a godmother and not her parents. She also trashed her godmothers place when she found out the car had been turned over to the police so not sure how much love there was between the two of them.

MelRnr wrote:

So horrible and sad.

I simply can't comprehend how someone can have such disregard for another's life.

Unfortunately, we are living in a world where high-profile people gleefully cheer on the death of someone with opposing political or religious opinions, which in turn inspires others to do the same. It happens on this website all the time. If you are 15, you have come of age in this environment. Unless your parents are drilling the sanctity of life into you every day, you likely share the opinions of the masses online. We live in sad times. We are back to publicly cheering the gallows. We have become what we never thought was possible, all in the span of ~10 years.

I blame the girl, but I also blame society.

R.I.P. to this runner and his family.

Tragic. Could have been any of us.

R.I.P. fellow runner, Greg Moore.

Parenting101 wrote:

Smoove wrote:

I’ll give her parents credit for doing the right thing and making their kid face the music for her horrible decisions.

You think this child began making poor decision's accidentally? The father should be arrested a long with the child, There should be a law that the parents of a child convicted of a crime should SHARE the sentence. Maybe that will force people to properly parent their kids.

So you aren't a parent of a child of driving age and/or have been fortunate.

malmo wrote:

She just wanted to scare the man. WTF is going on in the country?

Forget the kids. I stick mainly to running in the local area these days and there are/were a few of my friendly neighbors who, when approaching me, would "lurch" their vehicles towards me before correcting to not hit me. ....as a joke supposedly.

I, in turn, approached them and although they thought I was messing with them when I first told them not to do that, they realized I wasn't kidding around at all. I basically told them that if it happened again I'd call the sheriff and that's only if I didn't decide to do something about it directly.

I had a driver veer toward me a few weeks ago - while I was walking with my wife on the side of a one-way road in a public park. The adult male driver was purposely driving the wrong way. I nearly called the police and probably should have.

SocioPandemic wrote:

Unfortunately, we are living in a world where high-profile people gleefully cheer on the death of someone with opposing political or religious opinions, which in turn inspires others to do the same. It happens on this website all the time. If you are 15, you have come of age in this environment. Unless your parents are drilling the sanctity of life into you every day, you likely share the opinions of the masses online. We live in sad times. We are back to publicly cheering the gallows. We have become what we never thought was possible, all in the span of ~10 years.

I blame the girl, but I also blame society.

R.I.P. to this runner and his family.

+1000

MelRnr wrote:

Parenting101 wrote:

You think this child began making poor decision's accidentally? The father should be arrested a long with the child, There should be a law that the parents of a child convicted of a crime should SHARE the sentence. Maybe that will force people to properly parent their kids.

That would make a great dystopian movie plot.

Yeah WTF. This is incredibly tragic but teenagers are known for doing comically stupid things without thinking about them. This one is egregious and deserves no leniency but lets not pretend that you can parent the crazy away.

Remember when we used to blame mothers for autism and schizophrenia before we learned they had fairly strong genetic drivers?

SocioPandemic wrote:

MelRnr wrote:

So horrible and sad.

I simply can't comprehend how someone can have such disregard for another's life.

Unfortunately, we are living in a world where high-profile people gleefully cheer on the death of someone with opposing political or religious opinions, which in turn inspires others to do the same. It happens on this website all the time. If you are 15, you have come of age in this environment. Unless your parents are drilling the sanctity of life into you every day, you likely share the opinions of the masses online. We live in sad times. We are back to publicly cheering the gallows. We have become what we never thought was possible, all in the span of ~10 years.

I blame the girl, but I also blame society.

R.I.P. to this runner and his family.

I can assure you that if I went out running with a red ballcap, not even even a M@GA, I would not make it back home in one piece in my town. It has gotten sociopathic on every level.

The reality is people are getting crazier and crazier. Covid crazy has really done a number. I now stick to 25 mph neighborhoods, sparingly used trails, and the treadmill. Also I always carry my phone with me now. I’m considering pepper spray too. America has turned into a Mad Max movie. We need to prepare accordingly.