News & Events 'Skitching' gone very wrong

[HARPSichord]

Teen (17), dies after 'skitching' accident

News story from my town, may have been on national news.

Skitching is skateboarding while hitching a ride.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/skateboarder-dies-after-hitting-head-while-being-towed-in-wagga-wagga/story-e6freuy9-1226246629892


Is manslaughter too much?

 

[Illinois Nazi]

Re: Teen (17), dies after 'skitching' accident

Is manslaughter too much?

For idiotic behaviour resulting in a very predictable death? No, it's not.

 

[Suspense]

 

[Full Wingspan]

The driver may have some degree of contributory negligence if the parents of the deceased decide to sue. Bit unsure what penalties will arise in a criminal sense. Very possibly manslaughter but with a very lenient penalty. A judge has to somehow acknowledge and discourage the driver's behaviour and show that it is unacceptable. We can't have people doing this. Both the 17 year old and the driver are at fault to some extent.

 

[Illinois Nazi]

Very possibly manslaughter but with a very lenient penalty.

Why a lenient penalty? It's not like it should come as a surprise to anyone that doing this could go badly wrong.

 

[BarneyBent]

Charging/sentencing for something like this is always difficult. On the one hand, you have to keep in mind precedents. On the other hand, for the driver, his mate's death is a harsh enough punishment already, and putting him behind bars isn't going to help anybody.

I reckon a huge amount of community service, a lengthy drivers license suspension and a suspended jail term is probably the best way of handling in. Keeps him out of jail, keeps him in the community, but he still cops a decent punishment, and he has the jail term hanging over his head. Keeping him off the road goes without saying.

 

[Asgardian]

Absolute stupidity

 

[Ed_Gein]

done it a couple of times myself when i was 13 or 14 or so on the back of a delivery truck that delivered crates of juice to doors. had a bit of a stack doing it once on rollerblades and came up a bit worse for wear after trying to let go whist the truck must have been doing 30/40km/h. didn't do it after that. yes, stupidity, but a shame he lost his life instead of getting a nasty knock that might have put a bit of sense into him after such a stunt.

 

[Wallaby]

Interesting that it now has an 'official' name - in my day we called it 'being a stupid teenager' - and we did it. There was a scene of this in the classic surfing film 'Endless Summer'.

Teenagers (particularly boys) always do stupid things that are risky. It's in the psyche.

Occasionally, things go wrong.

 

[GPW1]

this has been going on since the 80's

 

[juggers]

I think these guys win


[youtube]RC1vPUFMysQ[/youtube]

 

[HarryTiger]

In my day we were so poor we had to wait until it rained and then hang onto a car and be pulled along the wet road sliding on our shoes.

Not true, but I have seen it done.

 

[Illinois Nazi]

I must admit I have been skiing (barefoot and on thongs) behind a car in sandhills.

 

[Dont be a lemon]

this has been going on since the 80's

Don't need no credit card to ride this train.