Horrible example for needing one handed opener

C

chet

Joined
Jan 21, 1999
Messages
167
Members in KC will know about this and others may also, I do not know if it made the national news. A few weeks ago a woman pulled up in front of a sandwich shop, got out and went inside. She had left her young son buckled into the back seat. As she was walking up to the counter another customer noticed that someone was stealing her vehicle. She raced back out the door and at this point it is unclear who opened the door of the truck but the child became entangled in the seat belt strap outside of the vehicle. The woman pleaded with the car jacker to allow her to get her son out of the car but in her panic she was unable to disengage the seat belt. The car jacker, and I offer no excuses for this, evidently paniced himself and took off with the vehicle. The boy was hanging out the door by the seat belt. Eight miles later witnesses used there trucks to stop him by blocking him from the front and ramming him from behind. The child was dead.
People, carry a knife. Make your wives carry a knife. Keep your knives where you can reach them. Keep them sharp.
They have this animal in custody. BTW he was released from one of the local jails that day even though he had outstanding felony warrants. Nobody checked him.
chet
 
This is a horrific example. They are everywhere. I even have one from when I was a kid (it was horrific to me at least). I was playing under my tree-house, swinging on a length of rope designed for, well, swinging. There was a knot at the end to keep it from fraying. Swinging, swinging, slip... the rope shoots up and the knotted end somehow loops around and wraps around my wrist, and I'm hanging about 6 inches from the ground, waiting to be 'degloved.' Anyway, after the panic subsided, I used my free hand and took the weight off and the loop undid (thankfully). A clipit in my pocket would have defused this more effectively, and lessened the bruising.

I still remember this stupid accident vividly. My $0.02.

[This message has been edited by RLR (edited 03-10-2000).]

[This message has been edited by RLR (edited 03-10-2000).]
 
"They now have this animal in custody."
In custody?! Why do they have him in custody?
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He should have never made it to the jail! He should be dead!

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iktomi
 
The mother in question left the truck running, and the doors unlocked. This, in my mind, is the most egregious act of the entire sad affair.

Sorry, but I have raised /or am raising four kids, and I have never been so busy that I have had to leave my 10 yo child alone in the car. For any reason.

Walt
 
I agree folks carry a sharp knife all the time,just yesterday my 6yr old daughter was at the neighbors playing and somehow she found an ty-wrap type of nylon band and wanted to use it as a bracelet,one of her friends pulled it and it cinched down on her wrist,she comes running in the house screaming holding her hand which had started to turn blue,i didnt even think i just reacted and out came my large sebenza,i got her to calm down and be very still i got the tip of the knife under the strap and with just a little pressure it cut it right off to my relief and hers,there were no after effects from this thank God,except that now she makes sure i have my sebenza with me all the time,because it is her favorite knife now of all of them i own and mine too.
 
See also this thread over in the Spyderco Forum: http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum20/HTML/002132.html

One-hand opening wasn't a factor, but mom having the knife handy was the reason the kid won't be called "Nine-Fingers."

Nobody who is old enough to understand cause and effect, and who is not in prison, on parole, or on probation, should be without a knife.

Even in a perfectly peaceful world.



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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
 
I posted this story once before, I think it warrants repeating. An episode of Rescue 911 had a small child at a school. On the playground, the kid goes down the slide. The string on his coat for the hood got caught. The kid was choking. He was positioned in such a way that the teachers could not get the weight off to keep him from choking. One of the teachers finally started screaming to get a knife. Another teacher ran to the cafeteria and returns with one of those stupid plastic knives. Of course it was worthless. Somebody finally got the kid loose, but a good knife sure would have been handy about then. A knife to me, should simply be another article of clothing that you put on everyday.

Richard
 
How about- People carry a gun and shoot the carjacker dead in this situation.

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Tim

 
Umm...ok, yeah,...then YOU go to jail for using undue extreme force for killing a man who was stealing your car (despite the fact that your kid was in it). Now I'm not saying the crook wouldn't deserve it. And I'm also not saying any juror with a family wouldn't take your side. However, that crook's grieving grandmother is gonna whine and shriek about HER poor innocent baby. In a world of sheep, my friend, you are not likely to find the law in your favor. With a knife handy, you might be able to cut your kid free of that belt. If not, you could have cut the crook's arm open, blinded him, etc. You'd probably have better luck in court than if you just wasted the bastard. Seriously now...
 
Originally posted by Walt Welch:
The mother in question left the truck running, and the doors unlocked. This, in my mind, is the most egregious act of the entire sad affair.

Walt
Click to expand...

Guys - I have to agree with Walt - no one in his right mind should leave a child in a car with unlocked dors and the engine running.

Dave Barry wrote once about a father that heard strange sounds from the roof of his car - while doing 55 MPH on the highway - when he stopped he found out he forgot his 18 month sun in his safety seat on the car when he was "loading" his kids for school.

could this have happened to any women?

NO!!!!

 
Some people are totally unconscious when it comes to the safety or even the presence of their children.

Two tragic incidents last summer: in the first, a man thinks he has dropped off his baby on the way to work, at the child care. In several hours, it occurs to him that he may have actually forgotten to do so. The child, in the locked car, parked in the sun, is dead.

In another, a woman leaves her baby in a car in the sun intentionally, goes into a building to play video poker. Comes out '15 min.' (actually hours) later, child is dead.

There was another incident locally a few years back. A mother leaves her infant in a car seat in the locked car, runs an errand, and comes back, only to find that she has locked the keys in the car. It is a hot day, the car is in the sun, and the police finally have to break a window to gain entry; the child was OK.

I simply cannot envision leaving a child of mine, unattended, in a car. After all, you wouldn't leave a pile of money there would you? Isn't your child worth that or more?

Walt
 
I also live in MO and this story was all over the news. I remember hearing the lady actually was able to grab the child as the truck was speeding away but could not get him unstuck. Like A lot of you I thought " I wish she had A knife" To think it would have maybe saved A childs life. At least maybe this will raise awareness about leaving children in the car. Brian
 
Walt et al., that first example of a child being forgotten in the van occured here in Detroit, to a highly regarded professor at a local university, so it was quite a big story at the time. Who knows what the man was thinking about, or where his mind was during that time, but I'd like to think that most of us would remember if we left our child off at day care.

The stories heard about the woman playing video poker, or the seat-belt dragging, or a couple of recent "car-jackings with child" are, IMHO, totally inexcusable. What the hell were they thinking, anyways? "Oh, I'll just be a minute..." How hard is it to turn the damn motor off?

I still don't understand the video-poker incident. Another good one is a recent arrest for "neglect" of a couple (I can't recall where.) who left their 3 or 4 kids at home so that they could go off and enjoy Mardi Gras. Huh?

I guess I jsut don't get it.

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Don LeHue

Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings...they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
 
The most egregious fact is that the mother left the engine running and the child inside?!??!?!!

I guess the poor unfortunste carjacker just couldn't help himself. (Pardon me while I puke!)
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Another case of blame the victim.
mad.gif
Give me a break!
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Dennis Wright
Wright Knife & Sporting Goods
1-800-400-1980
("Have a knife day!")
wrightknife@ixpres.com
 
Dennis,

I don't think that the statement was intended to turn blame at the victim (at least not in the way you seem to have taken it). More, it points out that, perhaps, if the person had turned their car off, it would not have been such a tempting target.

Thus, by spending five minutes, she could have saved not only the child's life, but even possibly prevented the carjacking altogether.

While the skeins of time and life are, ultimately, beyond my (and, I would hope, anyone else's here) ability to view, it is very probable that there were many points at which a few simple precautionary steps might have led to a much happier outcome for this tale. IF she'd had a knife...IF she'd turned the car off...IF she'd been paying more attention...IF she'd waited twenty minutes before going to the store...IF, IF, IF...

Perhaps the greatest tragedy to be viewed here is the fact that nothing ANYONE can do will bring that child back. Punishing the offender, while of course necessary, will probably be lost on him. And punishing the mother would be superfluous, compared to the grief that she will have to live with now.

As I have often seen espoused here, these kinds of happenings only serve to reinforce the absolute necessity of ENGAGING YOUR BRAIN BEFORE YOU DO THINGS. Whether you lose your child or your hands, the loss is horrible to suffer, terrible to live with, and utterly irreparable.

So please, folks, be alert. Pay attention to the little things. And play with your kids today. Regardless of why, they are gone all too soon.


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An optimist thinks he lives in the best of all possible worlds...a pessimist is sure of it.
 
Kalindras; thank you for clarifying what I meant. I certainly agree with you that the poor woman is suffering a horrible loss.

What she lacked was situational awareness. She was totally unaware of her surroundings, and failed to take into account the possible logical consequences of her actions. True, the carjacker committed a heinous crime, but IMHO, leaving a car running with the keys inside borders on being an 'attractive nuisance.'

If you build a swimming pool, and then do not adequately protect the neighborhood children by building a fence around it, you have created an 'attractive nuisance,' and would be found at fault if a child should enter the pool and suffer harm. Yes, the child has done wrong by getting into the pool without your permission. However, the law will hold you at fault, as it is logical to expect that sooner or later, some kid is going to jump into the pool when you aren't looking.

I cannot believe that this woman has never heard of a carjacking. IMHO, she was grossly negligent, and contributed to her child's misfortune. I suspect that of all the people in the world, she is now the most cognizant of the degree of her culpability.

Walt
 
Putting on my Asbestos jump suit
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I have to add my opinion.(worthless though it may be)

I am a proud parent of a beautiful baby girl and there is no way on this God forsaken planet I woud leave her unsecure in any fashion.
This woman who left this child in her car is just as guily as the carjacker(again in my opinion only). Any person who would leave their child in that type of situation is guily of negligence at the outside least.
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The only true victim there was the child.

I can not even fathom the rationale one takes when leaving one's young children/babies in those precarious situations.
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I may be young but I will be damned if that is any type of excuse.

Rant mode off
I apologize if I stepped on any toes but I felt the need to vent as I feel very strongly about this type of thing.

Roy
 
If I were a father in that situation,
I can tell you what I'd do.

You do what it takes to secure an existence
for your kids, and then you worry about
your next problem, ie the actions of the
State.
 
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