Skateboarding teen pulled by pickup falls and dies

Associated Press ^ | June 21, 2005

[Paleo Conservative]

[NautiNurse]

yep--sadly.

[dangus]

DIED at 5 MPH???

[Spruce]

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.

[the_devils_advocate_666]

I guess wearing one of these just wouldn't be "cool"...

[SandyB]

Michael J Fox did it in Back to the Future without getting hurt.

[beltfed308]

Ban skateboards! If it saves just one dumba$$ it is worth it.

[South40]

It's happened before, and recently.

[GovernmentShrinker]

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.

[sourcery]

"There just isn't any safe speed to be pulling a skateboarder behind a vehicle," Hanlon said.

Perhaps not. But perhaps that's just because safeboarding itself is not "safe at any speed."

[theDentist]

Why do I suspect that estimated speed will be found to be much lower than actual?

[WilliamWallace1999]

This dude didn't pay attention in kindergarten...

[No Blue States]

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.

[1L]

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.

[South40]

Dr. Atkins (the diet guru) died this way while walking to his office in NYC.

Ever heard of Chick Hearn, the voice of the LA Lakers? He died after walking through his back yard, falling and hitting his head.

[Sundown2005]

Stupid is as stupid does.

[Fierce Allegiance]

He had to escape Biff quickly.

[South40]

Sad, just a kid havin fun. We did a lot of stuff like that.

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.

[Fierce Allegiance]