Posted on 07/15/2005 1:39:35 PM PDT by TheOtherOne
Boy Who Fired Bottle Rockets Into Traffic Dies While Fleeing From Angry Driver
Published: Jul 15, 2005 SPANAWAY, Wash. (AP) - A 12-year-old boy who was firing bottle rockets at cars was chased into traffic Friday by an angry driver and killed by another car, authorities said.
The driver and his passenger, both 22, were arrested for investigation of manslaughter, the Washington State Patrol said.
The death came soon after midnight in this small town south of Tacoma, where the preteen and a 12-year-old cousin had been hiding in bushes while shooting the bottle rockets, trooper Johnny R. Alexander said.
A car stopped, and passenger Tyrone Sherrod got out, chased the cousin and started beating him, Alexander said. The driver, Mario N. Haley, chased the other boy, who ran onto the highway and was struck by a car driven by a 17-year-old girl.
Both men fled, but police found them at homes. Investigators determined the girl was not at fault.
Witnesses unsuccessfully tried to revive the boy struck by the car. His cousin was treated for injuries and released to his parents.
AP-ES-07-15-05 1528EDT
Agreed. He was being a stupid 12-year old boy, of the sort featured in popular literature for at least the past 4,000 years. He shouldn't have been doing it, but let's not pretend that he was some sort of aberrant psycho.
will someone tell this Brit what a bottle rocket is?
Does this qualify for a Darwin Award???
See link in post #29
when i was a "ute" in the NE it was snow balls.If those truckers caught us they beat the crap outa us utes....and we certainly didnt tell the ole'man....different times
Oh, please.
When I was about this very age, we used to shoot bottle rockets at the back of the younger kids' school bus as it left the bus stop on our country road.
It didn't hurt the bus, but definitely wasn't the smartest thing to do either.
Nowadays, we would probably be arrested on some sort of terrorism charge.
Should have been firing on cars in the daytime....no sparks left that will reveal your position. We always did it in the daytime. This instance though was really tragic.
Rachel Corrie's little brother?
The suddenly deceased white idjits with paint guns in Detroit were shot dead by armed drug pushers.
Negative. They did not beat the driver to death. They did beat him pretty severely, but he survived, as you can see from this image from a WSB-TV interview yesterday.
This happened about three miles or so from where I sit right now.
Since a truck driver was seriously injured due to this recently and it got much publicity, I can not believe these guys will be charged. How are they responsible for a criminal fleeing them into traffic?
No doubt that this is very sad as a 12 year old may not have the understanding of either the dangers of the fireworks or traffic of an adult. But it is not a crime in my view and no way I would vote to convict on a jury.
"I have a hard time feeling sympathy for a kid who behaved like a Palestinian." Give me a break a couple of 12 year old kids trying to have some fun. Highly unlikely that a bottle rocket is going to do any damage to the car and also highly likely the 20 something year old punks who chased the boys pulled the same stunts when they were 12 years old.
Shooting bottle rocks into traffic is way beyond a childish prank ... it ranks right up there with 'pranks' like tossing crap into traffic off from overpasses! Many innocent people have died or been maimed for life as a result of crap like this!
Frankly, I cannot think of any charge against the victims of these delinquents that would get a guilty verdict from me were a juror on this case!
A small firework rocket on a stick. They at least used to be commonly launched by placing the stick into glass pop bottle. Here's a pic of something you can buy in Britain (at least it's made in the UK).
"I feel bad for the dead boy's family but that doesn't change the fact that him and his cousin were little bastards."
Yes, the only good bottle-rocket launching 12-year olds are dead bottle-rocket launching 12-year olds.......
So, so far we've got Palestinian tactics, Hamas-like, and bastards.
You people have blood...a kid is dead, yet somehow that isn't good enough?
Just damn.
If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
Bottle rockets are not harmless if they have reports . Some have three or more and even the little ones travel at 100 mph+ > See how you would react if one flew through your open window while you were driving at that time of the night and exploded in your face .
And if the boys firing the rockets had caused a deadly accident they would have been released to their parents and would have gotten a slap on the wrist as punishment.
I stuck a potato in a school bus exhaust pipe when I was twelve. The driver noticed the idle was rough when he started the bus, goosed the accelerator and blasted the potato through a window across the street.
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