Teenagers arrested after "turkey toss"

[PneumaticTransit]

Stories like this just support my theory that we are in a period of de-evolution.

Is it just me, or does this gene pool need a little chlorine?

 

[Kallison]

Originally posted by robinb
I repectfully disagree. This is sad and and stupid but they did not throw the turkey to intentionally hurt someone. Exactly what would spending a long time in jail accomplish except to ruin 6 young lives?

I'm wondering how you would feel if that was your mother, daughter, sister, friend, etc. in a coma? Kids at that age should definitely know better and be held accountable for their actions.

 

[robinb]

Thanks for the link.

Ryan Cushing, 18, of 122 Willow Ave. in Huntington, described as "the ringleader" among the group, pleaded not guilty to charges first-degree assault, reckless endangerment, second-degree forgery, third-degree criminal mischief and fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property.

It seems to me that those are all fair charges for the action, although I'm not sure about first-degree assault. It seems to hang off the reckless endangerment.

 

[DutchsMommy]

I think, if it was found that this was a practical joke gone wrong and the teens are truly sorry, that the best punishment might be working with paralized kids or accident victims, or in a hospital so they can see the results of these thoughtless acts and realized that when they don't think they can ruin innocent peoples lives. If it truly was an "accident" then I do think that jail can do more harm than good as it exposes potentially "stupid/misled" kids to toughened criminals.

 

[gina2000]

The woman may have brain damage. They threw a frozen turkey at her car. What did they expect it to do....fly?

Prison time is appropriate.

 

[TheBellhop]

 

[WDWHound]

Originally posted by DutchsMommy
If it truly was an "accident" then I do think that jail can do more harm than good as it exposes potentially "stupid/misled" kids to toughened criminals.

I'm sorry, this was no accident. Just because they did not intend to hurt anyone does not make it an accident. Reckless endangerment carries stiff penalties for a reason. They were old enough to know the possible consequenses of their actions, and they should be prosecuted and sent to jail.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I have run over debris in the road before that could have killed me. It was a drive shaft of a garbage truck...the car in front of me swerved to miss it. I had no choice but to run over it--any other option would have resulted in injury or death to me, my passengers, and other drivers on the highway. This was a unfortuante accident--the driver was let off b/c it was a huge company and an oversight that the safety review of the truck was past due. So the driver wasn't sited for the accident. I wasn't injured--but my sister has had knee problems ever since. I was a bit miffed--but the company settled with us a paid for all repairs (her knee problem wasn't known until later).

TOSSING a turkey out of a window into traffic is a deliberate action. It wasn't like the teen was holding it out of the window and it dropped "on accident"...it was deliberately tossed.

The driver should face charges b/c he's resposnible for his passengers--and the turkey tosses should be charged and convicted for doing something wreckless that endangered the lives of other drivers. If the victim faces many medical bills, this teenagers future income should be "taxed" (can't think of a better word) to go towards the victims expenses. That would be a nice punishment. Kind of like the people who have to write a check for a dollar to their victims' family for LIFE so that they are constantly reminded of what their actions caused. Failure to miss even one payment--they go to jail.

 

[capthooksmom]

I'm not an expert on the law, but doesn't first degree mean there was intent? If so, then being charged with first degree assault is completely appropriate. The "ringleader" is not a child. He's an adult. I'm a believer in the punishment should fit the crime. If he willfully caused physical injuries or death to another person, he should be charged appropriately. Let's not forget who the victim is here.

 

[Beauty]

Dam it Gina I know you didn't mean that to be funny but the dam visual had me spewing Coke!!!

Seriously I will tell you a story of what we did as stupid teenagers. We never stole credit cards, never shoplifted BUT we did go around one Halloween and steal those great big pumpkins that you buy at the dollar tree and fill with leaves. There was a truck load of us. We put the big pumpkin leaves in the back of the truck and threw them out randomly on the highway.

Of course when cars would hit them leaves would go everywhere and we thought it was hystarical. We even saw a few cars swerve and of course we laughed.

We were sooooo STUPID. You know in our stupid minds leaves wouldn't hurt anyone it was just funny. Now that I'm an adult I can see how someone swerving could have caused a fatal accident. I am so thankful nothing like that happened and as my son gets older I fully well intend to tell him and talk to him about things like this.

I actually think Dutch's mommy has an excellent idea. I'm not ready to give up on these children. I think having one on one contact with their victim (if possible) or one on one contact with people that have been in accidents like this or even being on community service and talking to other teenagers. I don't think jail time is going to help anything.

 

[jrydberg]

Lock 'em up.

 

[tarmand]

Originally posted by Lisa loves Pooh
I have run over debris in the road before that could have killed me. It was a drive shaft of a garbage truck...the car in front of me swerved to miss it. I had no choice but to run over it--any other option would have resulted in injury or death to me, my passengers, and other drivers on the highway. This was a unfortuante accident--the driver was let off b/c it was a huge company and an oversight that the safety review of the truck was past due. So the driver wasn't sited for the accident. I wasn't injured--but my sister has had knee problems ever since. I was a bit miffed--but the company settled with us a paid for all repairs (her knee problem wasn't known until later).

TOSSING a turkey out of a window into traffic is a deliberate action. It wasn't like the teen was holding it out of the window and it dropped "on accident"...it was deliberately tossed.

The driver should face charges b/c he's resposnible for his passengers--and the turkey tosses should be charged and convicted for doing something wreckless that endangered the lives of other drivers. If the victim faces many medical bills, this teenagers future income should be "taxed" (can't think of a better word) to go towards the victims expenses. That would be a nice punishment. Kind of like the people who have to write a check for a dollar to their victims' family for LIFE so that they are constantly reminded of what their actions caused. Failure to miss even one payment--they go to jail.

A somewhat similar thing happened to me one day last month. I was driving Emily to the sitter's before dawn. I was on a back road and when I went around a curve there was this huge thing in the road. All I know is it had concrete on it and was wrapped in garbage bags and duct tape. I swerved to avoid it, but ended up clipping it with my right front end. It destroyed my tire, loosened my bumper and left a dent in my fender. However, Emily and I were both uninjured. I called the sitter and asked if she could come and get Emily since I couldn't move my car and we were sitting in the dark in a curve. Since she lived less than 1/2 mile away, she came. People were flying by us and I was so worried about my baby. There was really no safe place for us to go without walking down the road a ways. There were no driveways for some distance. When the sitter arrived and I was putting Emily into her car, a truck drove up, stopped and picked up what ever it was that I hit. They threw it in the back of the truck and hauled A$$. I still don't know what I hit, but there were concrete remnants on the road. The truck was gone so fast that we weren't able to get a liscense number and couldn't really tell what color the truck was in the dark. My Step Father had just driven past there about 10 minutes before and there was nothing in the road. So, I was put in danger and out $250 for repairs. (I didn't fix the dent since it is just a 10 year old car that I bought for my work commute.) All of this because of someone else's negigence. The fact that these teenagers did this on purpose does irritate me. And now that I think of it, I wasn't injured, but I was so mad at the owner of that truck that jail time for him definitely seemed like a good idea to me!

 

[ZachnElli]

This happened in Omaha a couple of summers ago. A bunch of teenagers were throwing large landscaping stones at cars off overpasses. It went on for months, no one knew who was doing it. Then a woman was killed. Months later when the teenagers were bragging about it, someone overheard and told. They gave themselves a nickname, something like the "Bridge Killing Crew". They deserved jailtime and I believe they got it. They thought it was funny and an innocent woman lost her life. The stones were sometimes so heavy that they needed more than one person to pick them up and dump them over the overpasses.

 

[poohbears5]

I tell ya what if it was my loved one in a coma, I would do everything in my power for jail time for it !!

 

[Serena]

They intentionally decided to steal a credit card, they intentionally decided to buy frozen turkeys for the sole purpose of damaging something. They intentionally decided to toss them over onto oncoming traffic.

What did they think they were going to do, bounce off. No, they knew it was going to do damage, did they intentionally mean to put someone in a coma, maybe not, but they intentionally created the situation that would cause it.

It's like someone firing a gun, oh, I didn't mean it to hit her. Just because I was aiming at her when I fired. It's a pathetic excuse. They need to go to jail and they need to do something for that family. Paying for the medical bills is just a start.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

This whole incident is from my area and makes me sick. What they just said on the news is that the ringleader already has a past charge of criminal mischeif, they didnt say what the incident was. I think this is a truly dysfunctional child who is now a legal adult. Obvious he didnt learn his lesson the 1st time. I am for jail time plus community service. The victims sister is being a very vocal advocate for her sister so I dont think they will settle for a slap on the wrist etc.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Originally posted by luvmarypoppins
This whole incident is from my area and makes me sick. What they just said on the news is that the ringleader already has a past charge of criminal mischeif, they didnt say what the incident was. I think this is a truly dysfunctional child who is now a legal adult. Obvious he didnt learn his lesson the 1st time. I am for jail time plus community service. The victims sister is being a very vocal advocate for her sister so I dont think they will settle for a slap on the wrist etc.

Ooooh--that makes me mad--I guess he already got his slap on the wrist the first time--now it's time to up the ante!!!

Very good for the sister!!! Stay Vocal--keep themselves in the public eye--b/c that will make it hard for the "criminal" to make the whole thing sound innocent and accidental. I have a very bad word for him--but I'll make it G-rated--TWERP!!!!!

Keep us posted luvmarypoppins!

 

[Lebjwb]

10 years ago a woman in her mid 20's was driving home at night, returning from a trip to finalize her wedding plans. 3 teens though it would be funny to heave a 30 pound boulder off a thruway overpass. The stone hit the windshield of her car,the steering wheel and then her rib cage. The force of the impact broke her seat and hurled her into the back seat killing her instantly.

The teens eventually were caught after one of them bragged about the incident. All were sentenced to prison where they remain to this day. Each received a 20- life sentence.

Lots of folks around here think they got off easy.

 

[Regina]

This has been a frequent news item. That poor woman had almost every bone in her face broken.

They did report earlier that she emerged from the coma and is breathing on her own. They're hoping that she continues to make progress.

All of these young adults now have lawyers one of which actually said that the kids planned on cooking the turkey for Thanksgiving and didn't know that the ringleader was going to throw it out the window. Yeah right, I believe that. I hope that they also stole some cranberries, potatoes and stuffing. It's not a holiday meal unless you pilfer all the trimmings.

That poor, poor lady. The pain must be unbearable and it's all so senseless.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Originally posted by dvcreg
This has been a frequent news item. That poor woman had almost every bone in her face broken.

They did report earlier that she emerged from the coma and is breathing on her own. They're hoping that she continues to make progress.

All of these young adults now have lawyers one of which actually said that the kids planned on cooking the turkey for Thanksgiving and didn't know that the ringleader was going to throw it out the window. Yeah right, I believe that. I hope that they also stole some cranberries, potatoes and stuffing. It's not a holiday meal unless you pilfer all the trimmings.

That poor, poor lady. The pain must be unbearable and it's all so senseless.

Nice--nothing says holiday like stealing your dinner and trying to KILL someone. Do these kids not live with their parents??? And when you buy your turkey--at least I put that in the trunk--who wants to carry a huge frozen bird on their lap for the car ride home. I didn't buy my first turkey until after I had my 2nd child! Yeah, I believe they were buying their dinner--a whole week early!

This is one of those times--where if they are let off--civil litigation is in order!!! Betcha they'll try for a trial in a different location too--if we are hot about here--I can only imagine what that community is feeling towards these hoodlums!