Posted on 11/05/2004 6:39:04 AM PST by TChris
Edited on 11/05/2004 6:45:36 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
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.
"Yes but I am sure that when you are going to park in your driveway you would be able to see a person hiding under the leaves, it taks alot of leaves to cover a entire person."
Ah, but you don't live in the MidWest. I now have 30 bags of dead leaves by the side of the street, waiting to be picked up. And those are 33-gallon bags. Before I put them in the bags, I had a pile of leaves about 12 feet across and 5 feet high.
Darned Silver Maple. The thing drops an enormous amount of leaves in the fall.
This is a horrible tragedy, and I don't know how the father's going to be able to get over it.
I almost lost my grandson, 6 mo. old at the time, because his father pulled over to the side of the road and the grass caught on fire. They had a hard time getting him out of his car seat in the back seat, but finally managed to get him out. The car burned completely up. It still sends shivers down my spine to even think about it.
"They had a hard time getting him out of his car seat in the back seat, but finally managed to get him out. "
Another reason to always carry a SHARP pocket knife. I'd have had that car seat out in 2 seconds. Everyone should have a sharp knife on their person at all times.
Yes
Sad stuff - I'll pray for this man and his family.
This is absolutely heartbreaking. My heart hurts for the father. He certainly will need our prayers and the prayers of others to get through this. May God comfort him and lead him into peace.
No it isn't strange or wrong. I have parked in our driveway on top of freshly raked leaves before. The girls in this case were innocently playing and the father, not knowing they were there, parked on top of them. It is wrong in that it is so horribly tragic.
I have never even thought of this being a danger until now.
Cut her a little slack, they don't get nearly as many leaves in San Diego as we do in other areas. It is probably too mind-boggling to understand how readily we accept them.
My Explorer caught on fire while driving down the road. My youngest son was in the back seat asleep. It was terrifying to see how fast the car filled with smoke. The firefighters told me that cutting off my car saved me massive damage. When the car was towed to the Ford dealership they told me that it wasn't an electrical problem but that leaves had gotten into the heater. It was a frightening experience. So, you don't have to park on them to cause a fire. They can also fall on your car and get under the hood as well. But, according to some I would be to blame and be called stupid.
Oh Lord.
The poor kid. And the father will never get over it.
Tragic.
This is a real heart-breaker, but I don't think that anyone was trying to say that the dad did it on purpose. If he drove a truck into a pile of leaves large enough to hide two children it was a stupid (and tragic) mistake. When I was learning to drive many years ago, someone local ran over a cardboard box in the road. Unfortunately a child was in it! The lesson is that you, the driver, have to think - kids (and too many adults!) do dumb things. If you have no reason to drive over that box, pile of leaves, snow bank, etc, DON'T!!!! If you THINK about a kid running out into the street from that blind corner, etc, you will likely be ready when it really does happen. My heart goes out to the entire family.
This is so heartbreaking, yes. It really brings into
sharp perspective that there's nothing as important in
life as people, our family, or friends, our neighbors
(relationships with the Lord and people). President Bush
said it when he stated that politics and nothing else is
all really quite low on the list of priorities of what is
real in life.
Prayers for these families, especially for this poor man
who has to be suffering above all; for healing, for the
Lord's help in this situation.
The question is, what the heck do you think is accomplished by making the comments that were made. Please re-read them before commenting. One poster talked about "something going on there" or the like.
My bust as I DID miss the "One poster talked about "something going on there" or the like."
There was likely NOTHING going on here but a tragedy! There but for the grace of God go I!
Amen.
A couple of things (and i'm just observing,so don't reply with any insults, please):
The pile of leaves could have been raked close to the garage door,forming a leaf "tent" of sorts The kids were probably small in size,and it is feasible that they could indeed hide in a pile of leaves.
Evidently, dad wasn't big on bagging,and the leaves were simply raked up and forgotten.He'd probably backed up to it,or over it,a number of times,and if it's in a damp area,they wouldn't hhave caught fire so easily.
He could have had his windows up & radio playing when he backed up,so he wouldn't hear the kids yell.Too many variables in this situation. Just a terrible tragedy.I pray the family can get through this.
The father is probably suicidal right now. If he doesn't kill himself, he will probably suffer from depression for the rest of his life. He may turn to alcohol or drugs to try to make the pain go away.
I understand that it's natural to try to blame someone in a situation like this. I've done it myself on more than one occasion. As others have said, we do it because we want to assure ourselves that we would never do the same thing. But life is unpredictable and we can't know for sure that we won't end up in his situation at some point.
This man doesn't need to be blamed by us. I'm sure that he is doing just fine blaming himself. His guilt will last him a lifetime.
I pray that he somehow finds peace and I hope that the other little girl survives her injuries.
you're reading an awful lot into it. the guy didn't think. he did a dumb thing. his kid paid the price. pray for both of them. but don't forget the other kid in the hospital.
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