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

WISH Channel 8 TV ^ | 3/10/06

[Amelia]

See post 155 for more information. Apparently this TV station was going for sensationalism more than facts.

[caryatid]

(You didn't think that was shameful?)

Amelia, I have taken the time to read back through the exchanges between you and wintertime. While I did not find the exact quote rat troll ... I do agree that wintertime's accusation that a long, long time FReeper might be a paid troll was over the top and a bit unnecessary.

While I have nothing but contempt for what the public schools in this country have become ... I do recognize that some of the teachers are dedicated individuals ... who should probably be encouraged to practice their skills in a more useful environment.

[caryatid]

If we did away with public schools, what do you suppose would happen to those children?

The same thing that is happening to them right now ... they would still be feral children turning into feral adults. I cannot see that the public schools are making any difference now ... and cannot see that the abolition of public schools would make any difference either. Perhaps without pretending to "educate" some of these "children" ... some real attention could be given to turning them into functioning adults with life and work skills.

[ArmstedFragg]

The teacher didn't cause the student to choke

The teacher also didn't prevent 911 from being called. Note that the story says they got multiple calls. This reads like a novice flack's effort to create a story out of a non-story. Probably the work of someone who graduated from the "where's FEMA" school of journalism.

[George from New England]

"Nobody knew how to do the Heimlich maneuver? And nobody attempted CPR?"

Hell, they force the kids to learn CPR in sex ed class in all CT high schools. Must be more weight placed on the SEX in sex ed than useful medical treatments.

Just damn.

[Amelia]

"He seemed to be in a hurry, and roughly took a bite of that hamburger which was about half of that hamburger," Martinsville Police Chief Frans Hollanders said.

Tucker tried to expel the meat that was blocking his airway before friends attempted to perform the Heimlich maneuver on him to dislodge it. They were unsuccessful due to his large size.

Nurses who were at the school about 35 miles south of Indianapolis for a blood drive dislodged some meat from Tucker's throat and he was taken to Morgan County Hospital and Medical Center. A medical team worked for 45 minutes to revive him before pronouncing him dead.

From here. Other sources say the 15 year old weighed over 250 pounds.

[Samwise]

Another freeper pointed me to this article, which paints a different story.

http://www.reporter-times.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=31179&format=html

I will try to post the results of the police investigation when it is made public. I will also try to remember to ping you.

[dpa5923]

I don't want to be rude, so I am apologizing for this in advance.

I don't buy your story. Perhaps there is more to the story, perhaps you left out some important detail inadvertently, but I do not believe a first grader was suspended for the chain on a Tweety-Bird key chain.

I am not calling you a liar, but without a reliable source I can not believe your story.

[Amelia]

It was a sixth grader. See here.

[dpa5923]

As I suppected, there was a bit more to the story.

It was ten inch chain on her wallet used to connect her key rings to her wallet. This is not even close to the Tweetybird key chain that was previously mentioned.

Although 10 inches may not sound long for a chain, with keys attached to the end, it can become a significant weapon.

[Blue Jays]

Hi All-

Here are pictures of the TweetyBird wallet, chain, and keyring obtained from CNN.com archives:

~ Blue Jays ~

[philetus]

a teacher closed his phone saying cell phones aren't allowed on campus."

Stupid is as stupid does. This teacher should be fired for being to stupid to be responsible for anyone.

[dcwusmc]

I was at a VFW function a few years ago, after the Memorial Day observances, and a Korean War vet started to choke on a bite of burger... I stepped behind him, gave him the hug and out it popped. No big deal, everybody went home alive. It works. Maybe the 911 operator could have talked someone through doing it had the teacher not done what she did. Sounds like panic-ville to me, and when you panic you fall back on really STUPID stuff. If the investigation shows that to be the case, the kid's family should become the new owners of everything she has and ever HOPES to have.

[Galveston Grl]

You must be a public school teacher.

[Amelia]

A little more information:

(MARTINSVILLE, Ind.) -- A student who choked on hamburger meat during lunch died after would-be rescuers failed to clear his throat with the Heimlich maneuver, police said.

[Amelia]

You must be a public school teacher.

I am. What sort of fact-based rebuttal is that, though?

You said that "race baiting tatics...resulted in zero tolerance/zero justice policies".

I replied:

If you'll do even a cursory search about "zero tolerance", you'll find it was enacted not because of "race-baiting" or fairness issues, but because of fears of school violence, sparked in part by widely publicized school shootings.

You'll also find that most research shows that minorities are more likely to be punished under zero-tolerance policies.

In public schools, "zero tolerance" means that students are quickly suspended or expelled for breaking the law or violating school rules. These policies were initiated on the federal level by the 1994 Gun-Free Schools Act, which responded to several notorious school shootings across the country. The federal law required states to kick out students who brought firearms to school.

Yet this fear of random violence is clearly the prime motivator for the adoption of zero tolerance approaches to school discipline.

The report raised concern that zero tolerance policies were resulting in high levels of suspension and expulsion of minority students. In 1998, more than 3.1 million students were suspended from school; although African-American children represent 17% of the public school enrollment, they constituted 32% of the out-of-school suspensions.

It is true that currently administrators use the rules to show that they aren't differentiating between students, but it's unclear as to whether or not any of the potential lawsuits are race-related.

School administrators say many schools depend on inflexible zero-tolerance policies because officials fear being sued if they differentiate among students...."We live in a litigious society today," says Edward Kelly, superintendent of a 51,000-student system in Prince William County, Va., outside Washington, D.C. "In the old days, you could handle something on an individual basis. But today, parents are reluctant to accept a school's authority. They're quick to sue if they don't like a punishment."

[S0122017]

Ok that is pretty neat, most children would have panicked.

[wintertime]

If a person is obese, the Heimlich maneuver is done with the person lying on his back on the floor. If this is necessary, the person is already unconscious.

If the news report is true and only the technique of putting arms around the chest was used, then the teachers and students did not know how to the Heimlich.

If there were nurses at a blood drive, it is likely that they got there too late and brain damage had already occurred. Does it take you more than three minutes to run from the gym to a point farthest from there and back again. That is the time it would have taken students to run from the young man to the nurses, explained the problem to them and had them run back.

It is sad, but I hope the lesson learned from this tragedy is that some of those teacher prep days would be better spent in CPR and first aid training.

Hopefully, the health classes will stop pushing the condoms and start teaching basic CPR, first aid, and other sensible subjects as preventing dehydration, and safe food preparation.

[KoRn]

Government schools at their worst......

[Amelia]

If the news report is true and only the technique of putting arms around the chest was used, then the teachers and students did not know how to the Heimlich.

Have you ever been involved in a controversial event and then read or watched a news account of it? ;-)

From the news account, apparently the student's airway wasn't totally blocked in the beginning, and apparently some of the first responders were able to clear it, but either not in time or there were confounding factors.

I hope the lesson learned from this tragedy is that some of those teacher prep days would be better spent in CPR and first aid training.

IMO, that would be more useful than 99.9% of the "in-service" training they force on us, but who knows?

Hopefully, the health classes will stop pushing the condoms and start teaching basic CPR, first aid, and other sensible subjects as preventing dehydration, and safe food preparation.

With all due respect, you aren't in the schools and your children were never in schools, so you don't really know what they are teaching in health classes.

Here is the high school health curriculum for my state. I'm sure it differs state to state. Ours is a bit heavy on the sex & drug prevention education, but it does include first aid and CPR.