Girl Hiding In Leaf Pile Dies After Father Parks Car On Top Of Her

WFTV.com ^ | 11/4/2004 | AP

[TChris]

METHUEN, Mass. -- A 10-year-old girl was killed when her father parked his truck in a pile of leaves in which she and a friend were hiding, the family said. The other girl was seriously injured.

Family members said 36-year-old construction worker James Gravel did not know he had run over the girls until he got out and heard daughter Natalie calling him.

"She said, 'Daddy, I can't breathe,"' said Gravel's sister, Jennifer Gravel.

Natalie died at a hospital of head and chest injuries. Eight-year-old Meredith Reid was in critical condition Thursday.

Police said no charges were planned.

Gravel's two other children, ages 11 and 7, were in the truck at the time.

[camle]

stupid is as stupid does. if i cause harm doing something stupid (as we all do from time to time) then it is only right and proper to call attention to my stupidity if only to remind others that it WAS stupid.

this was tragic also.

[Protagoras]

pray for the child.

That is a waste of time. The child is with God already.

I'll pray for your wretched soul, for the time being there is still hope for you.

[LincolnLover]

"Exactly, Parking on top of a bunch of leaves? there's something wrong with this situation."

Who knows? It may be a situation where it's a multi-car home with a narrow driveway, meaning the dad, in this case, parks on a section of the lawn adjacent to the paved driveway.

If that was the case, then, you'd think the kids wouldn't be hiding in those leaves, but then again, they are children and possibly just didn't think...

[Protagoras]

it is only right and proper to call attention to my stupidity if only to remind others that it WAS stupid.

OK, your post and it's reflection on this site, WAS STUPID.

I'm just reminding others that it was stupid. It's right and proper.

[WildTurkey]

Really? I did a search on "truck" and nothing came up. Was this title the same as the original? Apologies to all.

Why truck. Car is in the title. The search works on titles. That is why it is important (as you did) to post the exact original title, although it is helpful to add a comment if you like, as in below.

Girl Hiding In Leaf Pile Dies After Father Parks Car On Top Of Her [MA]

[beezdotcom]

i have more sense than to park on a pile of leaves.

In your car, perhaps. My truck is high enough that it's not going to catch anything on fire, unless it's exceedingly high, and that need not be the case here. And, if I'm just pulling the truck from the front to the back to do yard work, and it's not even hot, I won't even have that concern.

In short, I can think of a number of different scenarios where this was a perfectly reasonable action. The distressing lesson here is that if you don't know where your children are 100% of the time (and sometimes even if you do), tragic accidents can happen.

You want to ascribe this to malice or stupidity? Go for it - but there's not enough evidence to support it, given all the perfectly reasonable scenarios that ALSO fit the limited facts we have at our disposal.

[camle]

if you drive in an open field, hit a chuckhole, and ruin your front end it's a stupid thing to do. if you pitchpole and get hurt, it is still stupid. if you die, then you get a darwin award.

i am sure this poor guy feels bad, but if he had thought a bit more he wouldn't have to. too many people act before they think. this time it yielded tragic results.

if his pickup had caught fire and burned (and the girl wasn't in the pile) we'ed be laughing at the stupidity.

[beezdotcom]

Yes, but it's either a poorly-titled or poorly-written article, since the article clearly says truck. Nonetheless, I know that's why we're supposed to keep the original titles, to avoid duplications.

[missyme]

What's a matter with you? no one has been saying the father is not hurting and prayers for his family in what they are going through are not warranted, but being a bit more responsible would be taking in account that when you have small children you might want to take extra measures like not running over a bunch of leaves because children like to hide and the man did not know the where abouts of his daughter...

[Freepdonia]

When I was a kid, we used to do the same thing with the leaves, but we would have never done so near the driveway. My father never wanted us near it. That was drilled into our heads at a very young age. He was always paranoid about running over one of us.

[camle]

thanx, i think;-)

seriously, I hope that he finds peace someday. I remember how awful I felt when I was asleep onteh couch and stretched suddenly and caught my kid in the eye with my elbow. kid and momma weren't even home when I laid down.

and yes, it was a stupid thing for me to do.

[Protagoras]

What's a matter with you?

What a question.

Pray for yourself, you need it more than him.

[camle]

now ya gots me confused...tellya what, you can have the last word. cheers, my friend!

[missyme]

I will pray for you and your anger...Telling people to Go to Hell shows a real godly person...

[Darth Gill]

This one brought me to tears.... :(

[beezdotcom]

man did not know the where abouts of his daughter...

The problem in these cases is usually not the "not knowing", it's usually the "not KNOWING you don't know". He may have had every reason to believe they were somewhere else; do you have evidence to the contrary? We all have this need to prove "it can't happen to us, WE'D be FAR more responsible".

And maybe it can't - but we know so few of the facts, it's hard to speculate. Here's one scenario: maybe the little girls told Dad they were going into the house, maybe even actually went in, then slipped around to hide in the leaves to jump out and scare him.

[cantfindagoodscreenname]

I am not saying the dad is not suffering but out of stupidity when you have little kids and you can't account for all of them maybe you shouldn't park on a bunch of leaves that are large enough to cover a human being...

What??? Was the guy supposed to call home before he arrived and ask if his other children were all accounted for before he parked his car? Yeah, right. We all do that when we come home.

[azhenfud]

Tears of grief and prayers of comfort for that man and his family.

Incredibly sad...

[TChris]

At the time, I didn't understand that the body of the story wasn't also searched. Yes, I have since noticed that the search option clearly says "Title", so please accept my apologies. I'll try harder not to duplicate in the future.