Posted on 09/14/2006 7:14:47 PM PDT by annie laurie
LANTANA, Fla. Sep 13, 2006 (AP)— It seems a father's plan to cure his daughter's fear of heights fell short. Troy Stewart and his 10-year-old daughter were on their daily bike ride about 7:45 p.m. Monday when Stewart, 31, suggested they jump off a 15 foot bridge. Stewart held his daughter Meagan Stewart's hand as they jumped off the bridge into the Intracoastal Waterway, authorities said.
"At first he said, `Do you want to do it or not?'" Meagan said. "I thought, `It's kind of high,' and then he's like, `Trust me.'"
Meagan made the jump safely, but her father ended up with a broken leg. She rode her bike half a mile home and told her mother, Mandy Potter. Potter called authorities who found Stewart waiting on the edge of Lantana Bicentennial Park.
"In his mind, he was playing," Potter, 32, said of her partner of 10 years. "But I don't condone his child's play."
Stewart was not charged since Meagan jumped willingly. Officials from the state Department of Children & Families planned to interview Potter.
"This is an example of what not to do as a parent," police Capt. Andy Rundle said. "And let this be a lesson to everybody: Somebody's tried it, and it's not a good idea."
Meagan said she was not upset with her father, but she planned to have a talk with him when he returned home from the hospital.
"I'm going to tell him I don't think he should have done that and you should have learned your lesson," she said.
From 15 feet? A neighbor has a rope swing that takes us up to almost 30 feet. When we release, we're not exactly in a perfect dive position.
Wouldn't it have been dark at 7:45 p.m., so Dopey Dad couldn't even see where they would land that well?
They jumped into a nasty river! Not like they were jumping off a roof of a one story house.... which I did many times as a youth.
"Not like they were jumping off a roof of a one story house.... which I did many times as a youth".
Ain't no valleys in Florida. Flat as a pancake.
I remember jumping off the 40 foot highdive at Lake Surprise in my youth. 15 feet would have been a snap.
Playing house for 10 years, anyway.
"'I'm going to tell him I don't think he should have done that and you should have learned your lesson,' she said."
Then you can tell him to marry your mother, dear.
Is that you, Billy Joe?
I guess you never heard the expression, "valley girl."
Never trust anyone who says 'trust me'.Trust me.
This is stupid. He jumped off a 15 foot bridge into the water, big hairy deal. Now the DCF (the agency formerly known as HRS) is coming after him?!?
That's just perfect.
They were quoting the 10 year old girl.
MM
I do believe I am much older than you, and I do know what a "valley girl" is. They originate from California, and, like, speak, ya know, like this, ya know?
My point was that there are no "valleys" in Florida, so a "valley girl" can't be there. It was a joke, which appearently fell as flat as the pancake that Florida is.
hee hee
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