Ruminations

Blog dedicated primarily to randomly selected news items; comments reflecting personal perceptions

Saturday, July 02, 2011

"A Van On My Waist"

Why don't the parents of 15-year-olds know where their children are, in the wee hours of the morning? Why don't they care enough to know what their kids are up to? Why haven't we figured out that if the parents of these kids are held to account for the damage that their offspring cause to society through fines and even prison terms for failing to hold up their part in the greater social contract, it might convince them to care?

How is it that a 15-year-old boy, in the company of another three teens, out and about before the crack of dawn, driving unlicensed, in a stolen vehicle on a lonely stretch of highway, is there at that time, in that company? Exercising an assumed freedom to steal, to endanger, to kill? How is it in a civilized society young boys bent on mischief and finding their place in the world around them, are absent the checks and balances of caring parents?

How is it that another young man, married with two infant children, who assumed the maturity of responsibility by following his father's career as a police officer, is now dead? A unfortunate confluence of circumstances, most certainly. But certainly avoidable; an accident of fate. Two children left without a father, a woman left without a life partner, an extended family devastated by irremediable loss.

"I got a van on my waist ... It hurts" Constable Garrett Styles radioed in to the 911 dispatch centre. "I got these people inside the van. I don't know how they're doing." His response to the dispatcher's questions for clarification was that it was a "long story", and he desperately needs help: "Just get somebody to get this thing off of me, please."

'This thing' just happened to be the 2005 Dodge Caravan that the 15-year-old driver whom Constable Styles had stopped for questioning, and who had, as the Constable reached toward securing the van keys, stepped on the gas, dragging the man with it, before spinning it out of control and rolling it over and pinning the man securely under it.

And so, one man did not live to see his 33rd birthday. A 15-year-old boy is in hospital being treated for serious injuries caused by a crash he committed during the operation of a criminal act, and York Regional Police are in the throes of a deep mourning phase.

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