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Posted on 04/09/2009 10:58:56 AM PDT by Melissa 24
A woman jumped to her death in the Queens Center Mall atrium about 3 p.m. on Wednesday, landing on and injuring a high school student four levels below, officials said.
The crowds in the shopping center in Elmhurst screamed and ran, and police officers had to arrive soon to help calm the crowd.
The Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, said the woman was in her early to mid-50s and in the company of two teenagers when she jumped. He declined to release her identity immediately.
A waist-high glass barrier runs around each floor of the atrium. It appeared that the woman jumped from near a T-Mobile cellphone kiosk on the third floor in the center of the atrium, and landed among some teenagers using electric massage chairs on the lower level, which is below ground level.
Police officers and emergency service workers cordoned off sections of the mall and shut down some escalators leading to the lower level. The police also worked to keep onlookers back from the barriers on the floors above, where they had swarmed to get a glimpse of the confusion below.
The lower level was packed with high school students, many of them on spring break. The injured student, Derrick Muñoz, 17, a student at Amityville High School in Suffolk County, was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center. He was expected to survive.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Can you imagine relaxing in one of those electric massage chairs at the mall (Personally, I would never even think about sitting in a massage chair in the middle of a mall) when all of a sudden a woman committing suicide lands on you? Geez - I'd have nightmares for life!
This woman jumped 60 feet to her death at a crowded mall...she could have maimed this kid for life.
Why would anyone but an attention ho go to a mall to commit such an act?
Prayers up for Derek Munoz, and for the relatives of this poor depressed woman.
Attention ho, drama queen, or just an average mother of sleazy greedy teenagers raised without values or morals?
Are we SURE that the kids didn't push her over??
Ban shopping malls. [/s]
Obama’s fault.
And why would she jump into a group of innocent people? I mean, jeez, you can see where you’re going to land from 60 feet up.
Teenagers will do that to you.
Good point.
I, too, am skeptical that the woman jumped.
Tough crowd here today.
Suicidal people are generally not capable of rational thought.
Mine had to talk me off the ledge more than once. ;-)
She was there with two teenagers. They were probably her kids, and they will probably be scarred for life by her selfish suicide. The boy she struck “will probably survive”, but how badly did she hurt him? What emotional scars will he carry?
Some will be aghast at your monumental insensitivity, but that's funny nonetheless.
I'm sure many of us had the exact same thought.
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Security camras, which are everywhere at the mall, will show what really happened.
“cameras”. I can spell.
Maybe she just mis-judged the trajectory to the fountain.
Care to comment?
Queens Mall? You mean the limp-wristers have their own mall?
Not to mention scarred him for life. Wow. It's hard to imagine. And what about the two teens with her? And she chose such a busy time, in addition. Such a tragedy for all involved.
Obama lied; lady flied.
Another thing about that... She was in her 50s, right? I doubt that she could’ve bounded over the railing in a single burst of raw power. She’d have to climb over it. That would take a few seconds at least. Yet she was with other people. Why didn’t they stop her? Maybe they weren’t close enough, but there are plenty of lines of questioning I’m sure the police will pursue.
Ban buildings over one story tall. High places are inherently dangerous. Even worse, falling bodies, endanger our children.
BTW, It is pretty dastardly to go to a mall to get your chair massage.
Screaming and running. What an effective response to stimuli.
What a bunch of nancies.
Were the worried more old ladies were going to drop on them?
Quick! pass a Federal law banning all open mall atriums and mezzanines. Call it something like “The Shopping Freedom Act.” Mall owners must now completely glass in all openings from ceiling to floor for shopper’s “protection.” failure to comply will be met with confiscation by eminent domain and stiff fines. </sarc>
She just ‘dropped in’ for a little shopping.
Perhaps they dared her.
As to if she intended to jump or she was pushed, usually people who are falling and don’t want to and are afraid of death say “NOOOOOOOOO-”
If she didn’t say that, I’d say it was a safe bet she wanted to jump.
Especially high-capacity mezzanines.
On the remote chance Helen Thomas might, I'd run too.
Why would anyone but an attention ho go to a mall to commit such an act?The woman probably didn't go to the mall with the intention of jumping. Acting on spontaneous impulse is common among those who kill themselves.
Prayers for everyone involved.
She really wanted to be on top.
Hello Ann Archy.
Long time we dont speak.
“...Suicide is the most SELFISH...”
Suicide is not that simple. Folks who take their own lives generally have given signs they will. Too often, if they are bent on suicide, in the end, they can’t be stopped. They will find a way.
That poor kid...he could have been crushed by the weight.
Yes, I laughed and yes, I know I’m going to hell....
I know it’s complicated, but she killed herself in front of HER KIDS....and OTHER KIDS???? Insanity or selfish? Or was she pushed?
You have to wonder if she hadn’t threatened to harm herself in the past in some sort of emotional blackmail and the people she was with disregarded this as yet another incident. She may have started to climb and fallen.
I have a friend whose mother would call him claiming she had taken pills or had turned on the gas whenever she wanted him to do something. It was a nightmare for him, she was seriously mentally ill, but she would fight treatment and get the rest of the family to side with her.
Ref. post #32.
You are correct.
Dollars to donuts she was Korean.
I actually know of a guy who was standing in line at a post office when a nearby car wreck threw one of the passengers thru a window and onto him. He was hurt pretty badly and disabled for life.
Doing a Taepo Dong impersonation?
“I know it’s complicated, but she killed herself in front of HER KIDS....and OTHER KIDS???? Insanity or selfish? Or was she pushed?”
No!!!
I am sure she was not pushed, and she was not being selfish. She simply was not in her right mind.
I had an uncle and then a first cousin who committed suicide. In the end, neither one could have been stopped. It was just a matter of time but hoping it wouldn’t happen.
In the process, they did not kill or maim anybody thank goodness.
Compassionate Conservatisim.
"Do your impersonation of David Caruso's career!"
Best of the day!! LOL
“It appeared that the woman jumped from near a T-Mobile cellphone kiosk on the third floor in the center of the atrium...”
Maybe the massive amount of confusion when selecting a cell phone plan drove her to this?
Nah, that would have more likely caused her to toss the T-Mobile clerk over the rail.
A novel variation of “going postal”.
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