Posted on 06/21/2005 12:33:09 PM PDT by Dog Gone
FORT WORTH — A 17-year-old skateboarder being pulled by a pickup truck died after falling from his board and hitting his head on the street, authorities said.
Daniel Roberts died of head injuries late Monday at a Fort Worth hospital, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner.
The accident was seen by an off-duty police officer who lives nearby and a friend of Roberts on a bicycle who was trailing the Ford F150 truck. One witness said the truck was traveling about 5 mph as Roberts held onto its tailgate, said police Sgt. Don Hanlon.
"There just isn't any safe speed to be pulling a skateboarder behind a vehicle," Hanlon said.
yep--sadly.
DIED at 5 MPH???
In my youth the favorite winter pastime was 'bumping' school busses. You grab on to the back bumper and see how far you can slide behind it. Not smart but a lotta fun.
Michael J Fox did it in Back to the Future without getting hurt.
Ban skateboards! If it saves just one dumba$$ it is worth it.
It's not hard to kill yourself with an uncontrolled fall from standing still or walking slowly. Dr. Atkins (the diet guru) died this way while walking to his office in NYC. Slipped on a patch of ice, hit his head hard on the sidewalk, and sustained a fatal brain injury. Having a skateboard slide out from under you when you're already travelling at 5 mph, would be very comparable. The human head is not designed to survive high impact with hard surfaces.
Perhaps not. But perhaps that's just because safeboarding itself is not "safe at any speed."
Why do I suspect that estimated speed will be found to be much lower than actual?
Sad, just a kid havin fun. We did a lot of stuff like that.
The problem with a skateboard is on small piece of gravel can lock the wheel up.
I've crashed on my bike (and doing other stuff) going a heck of a lot faster than 5 mph without any protection, and the worst I got was some pretty serious road rash. I'm surprised I still have skin on a couple of places. I guess I was lucky.
Heck, I even jumped off an out of control "hayride" being pulled by a tractor. I don't remember how fast he was going, but it was fast enough to be out of control -- probably 10-12 mph. It slammed into some cars right after I jumped and a couple of people were injured, but I was OK.
Ever heard of Chick Hearn, the voice of the LA Lakers? He died after walking through his back yard, falling and hitting his head.
Stupid is as stupid does.
We used to ride on an inverted hood off a 1957 Ford Fairlane that we pulled down the street with a 1949 Plymouth. It was more fun at night because of the shower of sparks and yes, it did heat up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.