Martinsville High School Student Chokes to Death at School (Teacher prevented 911 call)

WISH Channel 8 TV ^ | 3/10/06

[Samwise]

Several Martinsville High School students say teachers stopped their calls to 911 while a fellow student was choking, because cell phones aren't allowed on campus.

Witnesses tell police the victim was rushing to finish his lunch before leaving the cafeteria, because you can't bring food outside. That's when they say he started choking, went into cardiac arrest, and died at the hospital.

Multiple 911 calls went out from Martinsville High School.

Witnesses say Jesse Tucker choked on a hamburger. Paramedics rushed the 15 year-old freshman to the hospital, where he later died.

"It's really hard to grasp the fact that you witnessed someone's death," says one student, "It's really hard to take in."

24 Hour News 8 spoke to another student witness who also wants to remain anonymous. He says one of his friends tried to call 911 with his cell phone, but just as he reached an operator, he says a teacher closed his phone saying cell phones aren't allowed on campus.

"She just closed his phone. She didn't do much to help the situation. She was panicky, she didn't go to the nurse's office," says one of the students.

Martinsville Police Chief Frans Hollanders says the investigation is still in preliminary stages, and at this point, investigators aren't pointing fingers.

"We've heard rumors to such an effect, that a cell phone was slapped out of a kids hand," Hollanders says, "We haven't been able to determine that at all whatsoever."

School officicals wouldn't talk on camera, but we caught up with an assistant superintendent and he issued this statement, "We are still in shock. We do believe the teacher did everything she could in the situation."

The police chief is encouraging witnesses to share their stories with investigators.

24 Hour News 8 did speak to Jesse's father Friday night. Understandably, he says he's still in shock and just wants to know exactly what happened.

An autopsy is scheduled for Saturday morning.

[Yaelle]

One thing that Stossel had shown however was that in the Belgian system, the education budget money is not attached to the school (determined by some head count), but to the student, and it was up to the schools to compete for the student.

Brilliant. That would be a huge step in the right direction for public schools here. And what if you had to be legally in the country to get the taxpayers' money? And what if receipts could be turned in, up to a certain amount, for curriculum for homeschoolers?

[wintertime]

The poor child died because his airway was blocked and oxygen was eliminated to his brain

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I bet these kids know how to put a condom on a cucumber, but not the Heimlich.

Also...I bet this government school discourages and denigrates scouting where first aid is taught.

[Amelia]

I bet these kids know how to put a condom on a cucumber, but not the Heimlich. Also...I bet this government school discourages and denigrates scouting where first aid is taught.

You'd be wrong.

His friends tried to do the Heimlich on him, but he was so large they couldn't get their arms around him.

Then nurses tried to clear his airway, but they couldn't either.

See post #155.

[wintertime]

You know, in actual practice it's a bit more difficult perhaps than you might think

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Ah Ha! An epiphany! You must work for the education-industrial complex ( appologies to Ike Eisenhower). The only way for you to know about actual practice is to be one of the workers.

Please tell me. Are you paid by the NEA or the Democratic Party to troll on message board defending government indoctrination camps ( mis-named schools)?

[xJones]

Even a Heimlich improperly done is better than leaving the poor person to die.

Thank God, indeed, that the little 2-yr-old was saved. Little ones can scare the fire out of you quicker than anything else.:)

If it's true that some students were busy on their cell phones calling 911 instead of rushing over to help the poor kid, it's bizarre. I have to believe that the boy was at least writhing, and making choking noises; it couldn't have been missed. Even if you didn't know the Heimlich, you could at least grab him by the legs and turn him upside down! Anything, but sit there and watch. Of course, we weren't there and who knows how all that unfolded....

[wintertime]

My thoughts went immediately to my dear friend [now tragically dead of a brain tumor] ... who homeschooled her 8 brilliant children when home schooling was rare or even almost unheard of ...

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$4

This woman's homeschooling children were likely NORMAL. It is government schooled children who are educationally and socially retarded by being institutionalized.

My three homeschoolers were finished with all their college general courses and all three levels of college calculus by the age of 15. The two younger were finished their B.S. degree in mathematics by the age of 18. The oldest of these two just finished a masters degree in math at the age of 20. The oldest of the three studied accounting. He is nearly finished at the age of 21. He is a nationally and internationally ranked athlete and also volunteered for his church for 2 years in Eastern Europe. He returned recently complete fluent in Russian.

My kids are NORMAL and so are other homeschooling achievers. It is government schooled children who are delayed and retarded in their development.

[wintertime]

or moderation [by not allowing their child to become unreasonably obese ... from eating too much, too fast ... and too many hamburgers] ...

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I have never met an obese homeschooler who has been homeschooled from the beginning. In fact, I can't even remember a chubby one.

[Amelia]

Ah Ha! An epiphany! You must work for the education-industrial complex ( appologies to Ike Eisenhower). The only way for you to know about actual practice is to be one of the workers.

Oh my gosh! Do your friends call you Sherlock Holmes?

It's no secret that I'm a high school teacher. There are a number of FReepers who are or were public school teachers, and still more whose spouses, parents, or children are.

Please tell me. Are you paid by the NEA or the Democratic Party to troll on message board defending government indoctrination camps ( mis-named schools)?

Sorry, don't belong to and am not paid by either organization.

By the way, what's with the annoying characters separating the quotes from your posts? I'll bet a bright person like you could learn a bit of HTML in no time, and then you could format your posts like the rest of us do.

[caryatid]

My kids are NORMAL and so are other homeschooling achievers. It is government schooled children who are delayed and retarded in their development.

Oh, you are probably so correct ... but what an exemplary NORMAL they are! My hat is off to you and all the others who homeschool their children. Words cannot express the admiration I feel ... or the debt owed to you by anyone with sincere interest in the future of this country.

[wintertime]

Amelia,

I am fully capable of using HTML. It is slow and irritating to use it. The characters are to separate the quote from my response.

Oh....and thank you for the compliment. I am bright. Bright enough to know that government schools would have turned my NORMAL child into blithering, drooling institutionalized idiots.

[wintertime]

Oh, you are probably so correct ... but what an exemplary NORMAL they are!
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Thank you, caryatid. Hopefully as normal homeschoolers like mine enter the adulthood, it will become widely known that that government school institutionalization HURTS children.

[Galveston Grl]

This same exact thing happened to an eldery woman at a table near us in a resturant. She was choking and could not cry out for help. My dad looked over and saw her, ran over and picked her out of her chair and treated her. A piece of meat popped out of her windpipe and hit her daughter in the face. You should have seen the looks on the family faces as this big man runs over and grabs grandma. It was hard not to laugh at the scene.

[Uri’el-2012]

And no one used Heimlich?

I guess there were no Boy Scouts there.

[caryatid]

I have never met an obese homeschooler who has been homeschooled from the beginning. In fact, I can't even remember a chubby one.

Even though I have never had a child in the local schools ... I have complained loudly and bitterly to all who will listen about the garbage fed to children in the cafeterias of the public schools. Fried this, fried that, chicken nuggets, everything heavy on "starches" [carbohydrates] ... pizza, hamburgers, sugary sweet rolls and/or desserts, sodas or other sweetened drinks instead of milk ... no fruit, no vegetables [french frys do NOT count] ... and, in this poor county, I know that some children eat both breakfast and lunch at school and go home to indifferent parents and no proper meal at night.

All my ranting has accomplished only one thing. The local newspaper has stopped publishing menus for the schools.

You are not seeing obese/chubby homeschooled children because those are children of engaged parents who put a great deal of thought into managing their children's lives. Many parents of children in public schools see their children only as an inconvenience to be fobbed off on the schools.

[caryatid]

I'll bet a bright person like you could learn a bit of HTML in no time, and then you could format your posts like the rest of us do.

For shame, Amelia ... I'll bet you are bright enough to understand that when logic and reason fail ... many have no alternative but to resort to snide remarks and to try to change the subject.

I have noticed that a surprising number of FReepers choose not to use html coding. I am not a computer whiz and had never heard of html, myself, until 6 months ago ... but, just because I tend to like gimmicks, I took to it like a duck to water. html coding is not essential to communication.

---

Try to keep your eye on the substance of the thread instead of mere symbolism!
LOL

[Amelia]

Bright enough to know that government schools would have turned my NORMAL child into blithering, drooling institutionalized idiots.

You & they seem to have been very successful with homeschooling. I know many homeschooled children who are extremely well-educated, and a joy to be around. I'm sure yours are as well.

I'd guess that your children are much more resilient than you give them credit for, however, and probably would have done just fine in any school they attended. :-)

[wintertime]

You are not seeing obese/chubby homeschooled children because those are children of engaged parents who put a great deal of thought into managing their children's lives.

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Homeschoolers have plenty of time for PLAY. Homeschooling only takes 2 to 3 hours a day. They rest of time can be spent, skating, running, building forts, biking, skateboarding,jumping, climbing, swinging,,,and many other large muscle and strong bone building activities.

Homeschooling IS the most natural and healthy way to raise a child to responsible and educationally and emotionally secure adulthood.

[SerpentDove]

>> Do you have a source for that?<<

Not at the moment, and I'm headed out the door...maybe later I can do a little research.

[wintertime]

I guess there were no Boy Scouts there.

^^^^^^^^^

We know what government schools teachers and officials think of the Boy Scouts.

[Clara Lou]

I'd like to ask you to do just one thing. Post the article that comes out in a few days or a week that contains all of the facts derived from a police investigation. This article didn't post facts. It posted hearsay from a lot of students.

We just had a student killed in a horrible auto-pedestrian accident this fall. The rumors that went around through the students were terrible and wrong. The first one was, "None of the drivers who hit her called 9-1-1." That was completely wrong. "No one stopped to help her." That was another rumor that was wrong.
I want to read the police report facts.