# Boyfriend dies in Youtube prank/stunt video, girlfriend charged with manslaughter **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 28, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080 "2017-06-28T19:33:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/121 "2017-06-29T11:49:26Z")
Damn. Seems he practiced with the book, then did it for reals with the kindle edition. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/122 "2017-06-29T11:57:35Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I can’t believe some of you. You think she deserves no sentence? She shot someone in the chest! What if she’d missed the book? She committed a felony, and should do time. > > She should also be charged with criminal stupidity, but since that isn’t a recognized crime, we’ll have to let that one go. People - test first! How hard would it be to try firing though the book with nothing behind? You can afford a desert eagle, but can’t afford two books? > > eta: fast moving thread! Criminal stupidity that kills someone is a crime, usually some sort of manslaughter. It seems likely that her story is true, and she’s not guilty of murder, but is guilty of manslaughter. I don’t see any benefit to incarcerating her, but I’d like her to loose custody of the children and lose the right to own a firearm. Some sort of community service is probably adequate as actual punishment, or a very short sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/123 "2017-06-29T11:58:34Z")
Stupid isn’t against the law, but it might as well be. The danger is that there are probably some thousands of YouTube watchers who are saying to themselves, “OK, one book doesn’t stop a .50 caliber bullet. But two books will!” And then several thousand more who will say, “OK, two books don’t stop a .50 caliber bullet…” Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/124 "2017-06-29T11:59:11Z")
Today’s earworm… _♪♫♬Shot through the heart And you’re to blame Darlin’, you give love a bad name♪♫♬_ ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/125 "2017-06-29T12:07:58Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Highly unlikely with that powerful rifle. And at that distance. I doubt two copies of War and Peace could have stopped the bullet. It’s a handgun, not a rifle. It’s not a [.50 BMG](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.50_BMG), it’s a [.50AE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.50_Action_Express). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/126 "2017-06-29T12:08:55Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Another story in the media today is of a group of Dutch teenagers on a trip to Spain. They were doing bungee jumping and one student was strapped in when the Spanish-speaking guide told her, “No jump” because the harness hadn’t been secured yet. She heard this as, “Now jump” and did so. They had been telling them several times, do not jump until the instructors say to jump. That the student misunderstood is a guess on her teachers’ part, as the Spanish Judiciary doesn’t employ mediums. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/127 "2017-06-29T12:18:41Z")
[No one is to leap from this bridge until I blow this whistle. Even - and I want to make this absolutely clear -if I say “Jump”.](http://www.mit.edu/afs.new/sipb/user/ayshames/Python/STONING.PYTHON) Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/128 "2017-06-29T12:30:37Z")
Clearly this stunt would have worked properly with the right book. Robbins’ “Pathologic Basis of Disease” might well stop a howitzer. In med school, a disgruntled classmate blasted his copy with a shotgun at close range. It was wounded but not penetrated (the last 500 pages or so were still clearly readable). ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/129 "2017-06-29T12:30:41Z")
If she had better aim, the bullet would’ve stopped at the appendix. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/130 "2017-06-29T12:37:17Z")
I wouldn’t be surprised if the difference between the test and the real thing was that the test shot was done with the book against a hard surface like a cement floor and the real shot was done with him holding it. With him holding it he might have been unable to withstand the force of the blow and it caused the book to move out of the way of the bullet. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/131 "2017-06-29T12:48:03Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Why must there be? What purpose does it serve? She killed someone she loved. She already knows she messed up. And the story has already been published that shooting someone through a book can kill them, so the public already knows. What purpose is there in throwing in a criminal element? > > I wouldn’t do it, either. Because I know that the stuff that blocks bullets on TV doesn’t work in real life. This girl very obviously didn’t. She didn’t intend to kill, and I very, very much argue that it is wrong to punish someone for something they didn’t intend to do. > > So all that’s left is making it where she doesn’t do it again. Which is why I recommend gun safety training, so she can learn the basics. That plus the natural consequences of having killed the man she loved is enough. > > And it is also enough of a deterrent. Knowing that you may kill the guy is enough. Throwing her in jail isn’t going to make anyone reading the story less likely to do this. And it definitely won’t affect any other situation, since, by definition, naive people don’t make those connections. I’m not sure she should do time, but what she did is _at least_ as reckless as drunk driving, and we prosecute for that. It sounds like you’re arguing there should be no such crime as manslaughter, which is killing someone through reckless action without intent. Are you arguing that? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/132 "2017-06-29T12:54:15Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > If she had better aim, the bullet would’ve stopped at the appendix. _Ba-dum squish_ ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/133 "2017-06-29T12:58:32Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Clearly this stunt would have worked properly with the right book. Robbins’ “Pathologic Basis of Disease” might well stop a howitzer. > > In med school, a disgruntled classmate blasted his copy with a shotgun at close range. It was wounded but not penetrated (the last 500 pages or so were still clearly readable). Undergrad, a classmate was reading her Organic Chemistry tome while taking a bubble bath. She dozed off and the book submerged briefly. She couldn’t afford a new copy, so she dried the book, which swelled to many times its original huge size. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/134 "2017-06-29T13:14:19Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Well, I’m someone, and I’m saying it now. Gun safety is no joke. But I’ve never heard you say it before, about previous armour tests. It’s after it’s gone wrong that everyone is sure it should never have been done in the first place. You may have heard of Sawstop. If not, it’s a system for stopping a table saw blade more or less instantaneously if it contacts something with capacitance (like a human). The owner has tested it on his own finger. Not once have I heard anyone say he should be charged with something (attempted GBH maybe?). ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/135 "2017-06-29T13:16:44Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Criminal stupidity that kills someone is a crime… . No shit, Sherlock. Also, wet water is wet, and next week a story about how tall people are tall. The issue is whether or not the conduct rises to the level of criminality. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/136 "2017-06-29T13:20:45Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I’m not sure she should do time, but what she did is _at least_ as reckless as drunk driving, and we prosecute for that. No, recklessness, as already explained, is where you know you are doing something with a stupid level of risk but still do it. It’s basically knowingly taking an unacceptable risk. And as has already been explained, it’s a subjective not objective test. Drink drivers know that drink driving causes great risk. If she genuinely thought the book would stop the bullet, then she was not being reckless. Also, to complete the moral picture, for drunk driving to be comparable, it would have to involve the potential victims _telling the driver to get drunk then drive near them_. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/137 "2017-06-29T13:25:01Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > YouTube stunts are a problem. > > Some idiot bought a parachute off the Net and jumped off balcony. > He survived. > [https://youtu.be/zQqV9MHjCE4](https://youtu.be/zQqV9MHjCE4) That wasn’t just some mook who bought a parachute off eBay. He was obviously experienced. Why on earth should Perez go to prison? If the story is accurate and they planned it together, then it’s just two stupid people doing stupid things. What I can’t understand is the thirty spectators…it didn’t occur to any of them to intervene? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/138 "2017-06-29T13:29:49Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > No, recklessness, as already explained, is where you know you are doing something with a stupid level of risk but still do it. It’s basically knowingly taking an unacceptable risk. And as has already been explained, it’s a subjective not objective test. Drink drivers know that drink driving causes great risk. > > If she genuinely thought the book would stop the bullet, then she was not being reckless. > > Also, to complete the moral picture, for drunk driving to be comparable, it would have to involve the potential victims _telling the driver to get drunk then drive near them_. Couldn’t you argue that by nature of it being a ‘‘stunt’’ on YouTube, they both knew there was a stupid level of risk involved? The whole point of a stunt is doing something risky and pulling it off. I don’t have a lot of knowledge in the legal arena, but it seems to me the latter point - telling the drunk driver to get drunk and drive near them - would probably not result in leniency for the drunk driver. My interest is not in morally castigating the woman, here. It absolutely sucks when the price of stupidity is this high. It’s in preventing her from hurting other people through her stupidity, up to and including her children. This is a very practical consideration from my end, not a ‘‘rawr rawr burn the witch!’’ reaction. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/139 "2017-06-29T13:35:44Z")
In case anyone is wondering how much book is necessary to stop a Desert Eagle round,[here’s a video I found of Desert Eagle vs phone book](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFKotz4ur50) from about 10 feet away. (Apparently, judging by the comments, in light of the recent news, I’m not the only one to have though of looking on Youtube for a video.) The bullet basically goes through 2 1/2 phone books, each about 4-6 inches thick. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/140 "2017-06-29T13:38:56Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > In case anyone is wondering how much book is necessary to stop a Desert Eagle round,[here’s a video I found of Desert Eagle vs phone book](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFKotz4ur50) from about 10 feet away. (Apparently, judging by the comments, in light of the recent news, I’m not the only one to have though of looking on Youtube for a video.) The bullet basically goes through 2 1/2 phone books, each about 4-6 inches thick. Which suggests that his claim that he tested it before is probably bullshit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080.md?page=8)