Saturday, January 13, 2001

Accident

Yesterday, as Jean was on the road to pick Kelly up from daycare, she witnessed an accident. On the sidewalk parallel to Boone's Ferry Road, which is a busy road, not a neighborhood side street, a kid was riding his skateboard. He darted out across the street right in front of the car in front of Jean! The driver didn't have time to stop, and hit the kid. Jean actually saw the kid's feet above the driver's windshield



Jean was able to stop, and after a few moments, she saw the kid get up, amazingly enough. He was very pale, but appeared unharmed. Of course, you never know in this sort of situation. Jean had to go get Kelly, so she gave the driver her name and phone number, telling him that she could witness that it wasn't his fault. Then she went to get Kelly, promising to come back and give a statement to the police.



Kelly was difficult, wanting to stay and play with some new toys that Kid Connection had gotten. She pushed things so far that Jean finally threatened punishment. I said she should have punished her, by putting a toy in Toy Jail, but Jean said "next time."



When she got back to the scene of the accident, the police were there, and they took her statement, which consisted of stating that:




  • The driver was doing 25mph
  • The kid did not use a crosswalk
  • The driver's skid marks would show where they both were when the accident occurred


The police seemed satisfied and sent her on her way. I told Jean that the evidence seemed clear, and there were enough other witnesses to corroborate that they probably didn't need more than confirmation from her. So now we wait, to see if the kid's parents try something stupid like suing the driver for hitting their son.



I told Jean that if the kid had died, there would have been a trial for manslaughter, but that in reality, it should have been more like an investigation into a suicide. Jean remarked that there's a legal term for this, 'death by misadventure.'



We've taken to holding Kelly's hand in parking lots because she still forgets and runs in the lot. So I think that kid's parents should be just as responsible, and take away his skateboard until he can learn to stay on the sidewalk. Or at least take him to the Tualatin Skate Park.

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