SEVEN TEENAGERS KILLED IN N. C.

[boothead]

Seven teenagers ranging from 13 to 18 were killed this A.M. about 12:30 after being chased by the Troutman Police. The driver was seen driving in an erratic way and a chase was started. The car ran off the roadway to the left and went into a slid ending up in a small stream-bed on it's top. All seven, 5 boys and 2 girls were killed instantly. The auto was stolen earlier in the night. Some of the victims have not been identified. The teenagers were all from the Statesville, N. C. area. Sorry but this is all I have.

[ValerieUSA]

Same here. My deceased husband was a LEO, too, and a father. Cops know what happens to innocent citizens when drunks and criminals are allowed to drive eratically on the streets, and it is their job to protect the citizens.

[FITZ]

Juvenile gangs members can be young but very dangerous. Around here they steal a car and do drive-by shootings --- far too often ---- it doesn't really matter if they're only 13 but committing serious crimes already. Possibly the 13 year olds were being coerced into the crime or forced into the car against their wills --- but it's more likely they were a part of it all.

[TheCrusader]

"Libertarian, huh?"

If caring more about the lives of seven teenagers than rcovering a piece of tin makes me a Libertarian, then I guess I'm a libertarian. As i see it, only one person was driving the car, and the other six kids were scared sh-t and probably screaming for their lives. My heros aren't the "tough guys" of the world, my heros are people with compassion for their fellow human beings and who don't view a car full of kids as a vile full of ebola.

[vetvetdoug]

Maurice, Derita and all the rest are out of the gene pool. End of story. The cops didn't force them to speed and wreck the car. Maybe if their culture didn't approve of stealing cars, taking drugs, and participating in race based gangs this would not have happened. Maybe they will play some "gangsta rap" at their funerals for some sympathy and effect. Each one of the deceased could have left the group at any time. I guess only morally sound individuals would have thought of that response. I agree with you, car theft is not a petty crime. Its stealing something worth $20K or better. Stealing bubble gum is petty theft. They shoot robbers at convenience stores for stealing less than $100, why should a car theft be treated any differently?

The headline should have read, Seven Thieving Teenagers Killed during the commission of a crime...

[Mark was here]

wow, you are just full of that Tis the Season cheer and good will to all! lol

Well... I did say "Sorry..."!

Tis a waste of life to be truthfull. Quite sad actually, I just dont blame the cops this time.

[TheCrusader]

", I made my own bad choices. Just like those kids did"

That's the whole problem here, only one kid was driving the car, the other six were innocent passengers who were more than likely screaming for their lives and begging the driver to stop during the chase. They committed no crime. Some of them were only 13. But this is the year 2004, the age of the hardened heart.

[philetus]

Should all the boys in the car have "been confronted by the authorities for all their actions"?
And if a 13 yr old or a 17 yr old won't obey their parents, what should the "authorities" do about it? Put them in jail?

[Triple Word Score]

The 18 year old didn't know he was an adult yet. And none of them understood that there isn't always a parent who can bail you out of trouble. Authority can be flouted, successfully--time after time. Physics? Nope. Physics enforces its laws every single time--on the young, on the cute, on the famous, on the Christian, on the atheist--it doesn't matter.

Many people come out better than they were raised to be, and some come out worse. There are no such hard and firm rules here, no way we can definitively assign blame to the parents. However--we've seen the parents who will never believe their little darling did something wrong at school or wherever. It must be the evil administrators, out to get their kid, picking on him or her.

Sometimes there can't be a bailout. Mom can't march down to Death's office and demand that her son be released from his punishment.

All of the cops who had to pick up the pieces of this would gladly give their lives to undo what happened--how can anyone view such a scene without remorse and what-ifs? But they are not responsible for it--obviously. If their departments did not forbid high speed chases, then they were following their procedures! If they hadn't been, the reporter would have gleefully reported this fact. They did their jobs and there was a bad outcome.

We have this mentality in this country today that bad outcomes are always the result of negligence--and that if you hire the right lawyer, you can sue. There is less difference between what this bereaved father said and what that slip-and-fall-artist who was trampled in a Walmart did than you'd think.

Forget being responsible for our own actions. There is always, always a way to twist it so that someone else is to blame. That cannibal in Germany? His father abandoned him. There was an earthquake in Bam? The mullahs say it's because of rebellion against their rule. There's a way to blame anything on anyone!

Most of us did stupid stuff when we were young. We just got lucky--and hopefully had enough moral sense to avoid the big-stupid-stuff like car theft.

Most of us would be stunned and angry to find an empty driveway where we left our automobile. Perhaps we need to get to work. Perhaps we need to get to the emergency room. Whatever--we trade a little bit of our lives for money, and then trade that money for the stuff we want and need to live. Therefore, a theft is a little murder.

Thieves are usually not punished this quickly, but Physics never grades on a curve.

[Triple Word Score]

If they were afraid for their lives, why didn't they put on their seatbelts?

[MattAMiller]

Police Commissioners, Cheifs and Mayors did NOT want these high speed chases for petty crimes.

You say that. But I doubt it. It seems to me that earlier generations had a more aggressive attitude towards policing. I mean when they finally got sick of chasing Bonnie and Clyde around they just set up an ambush and gunned them down. And no one really seemed to mind. So I have trouble believing that back in the day cops thought very much of criminals who take their own lives into their hands.

[Servant of the 9]

Not all that long ago it would have been recognized by the law enforcement people involved that out of the whole car full of kids only ONE was breaking the law, the driver, and that the others may have have been quite innocent. The other kids would more than likely have been considered to be innocents in danger, and the police would have proceeded the persuit with caution, and with the use of radios and tried to avoid the unnessary deaths that occur so often today.

Again, You Lie. Nowhere, excvept possibly Mayberry RFD ever had a policy like that.
Now, as then, the other kids were recognized as what they were, accesories to a felony, or coconspirators in it.

This is classic leftist big lie nonsense.

So9 So9

[John D]

The other six were not innocent bystanders. They were just as involved in stealing the car as the driver.

[FITZ]

Poor young Bonnie --- just a frightened passenger. Clyde only pilfered some things --- people should be more kind.

[okie01]

"As i see it, only one person was driving the car, and the other six kids were scared sh-t and probably screaming for their lives."

And, if the cop hadn't given chase, the driver wouldn't have continued at high speed? He wouldn't have hit another vehicle loaded with kids, either? Or, for that matter, a semi-load of bananas or a tanker filled with gasoline?

He would've peaceably delivered all the kids home, safe and sound, then abandoned the stolen car? You're sure of that, huh?

[Triple Word Score]

Innocent or not, if they were afraid they would have put on their seatbelts and tried to influence the driver to stop, or signalled to police. Children as young as six are capable of snatching keys out of the ignition to make a kidnapper's car stall. They were not helpless to improve the odds they faced.

Having seen what groups of kids can be like, I believe they were having a great old time till the skid started.

[mombonn]

I must conclude that you plan to vote for Dizzy Dean. Your posts are completely irrational. Those kids stole a car, were driving erratically at 12:30 a.m., ran when targeted.

The police did their job. Usually, I question police over-reaching; in this case, I think they were doing their job.

Prayers for the families. Truly sad.

[Newbomb Turk]

nobody was wearing a seatbelt

I noticed that too also this type of car only seats 5 anyway.

[CMAC51]

>> I hope the police are happy they gave a high speed persuit of this carload of dangerous criminals. <<

I'm happy to see that you recognize that a carload of auto thieves driving erratically are dangerous criminals. I'm glad my law abiding children were not in the area to be threatened by their criminal action.

[Lucky Lyn]

It must have been their 'abused childhood' that made them
do it, its always somebody else fault (sarcasm)

[DefCon]

"...I was once a stupid kid...I was 16...I'm 19 now..."
- -
You might not be stupid now, but you're still a kid.
Many times I have wondered how I managed to survive
the stupidity of my late teens/early twenties.