# Idiot teens jump from parking garages. Parents blame the garage. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 1, 2005, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446 "2005-03-01T16:16:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/41 "2005-03-02T00:55:42Z")
> [@](#): > > “I just didn’t make it,” Bargfrede said. [Trinity]Nobody ever makes the first one.[/Trinity] ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/42 "2005-03-02T00:58:27Z")
What you’re speaking of **pravnik** is regularly argued in the building construction industry. On one hand, the duty to prevent is spoken of requiring signage, fencing, and so forth. OTOH, it has been argued that fencing and signage makes the hazard _more attractive_, essentially daring the party to act in defiance of said signage and fencing. A DIYD,DIYD scenario is thereby created. ---
**Author:** ![Ninja\_Pizza\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f04885/32.png) [@Ninja\_Pizza\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ninja_Pizza_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/43 "2005-03-02T01:04:37Z")
\ Y’know, if one or more of these idiot children had managed to kill themselves, they’d have made the world a better place by removing one or more idiots. \ So the idiot parents think the garage is at fault? Guess the garage should just be razed to the ground (and the debris hauled away to leave a nice, smooth spot). After all, the idiot children might take it into their idiot heads to try skating down the in ramp while cars are entering, or decide to drink themselves into a stupor and pass out, drowning in their own vomit, or any of a number of other stupid, life-threatening things. Apparently (in the view of the idiot parents) this garage is too dangerous to exist. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/44 "2005-03-02T01:31:22Z")
The garage’s should sue the kid’s parents for their idiot offspring’s use of their facilities in such a foolish and irresponsible way which has resulted in serious bad press for their businesses. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/45 "2005-03-02T01:37:19Z")
Label found on the suit of a Superman costume: **Suit does NOT enable child to fly.** It all makes sense now. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/46 "2005-03-02T01:44:01Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Weaseling in my house only works if you have a nice coat of fur, four paws with sharp nails, a chin like Frank Burns, and the ability to be placed in a cage when bad without running afoul of local Child Protection Services. Word. Seriously. That’s a sig waiting to happen. Thing o’ beauty, that is. ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/47 "2005-03-02T01:52:41Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > Label found on the suit of a Superman costume: > **Suit does NOT enable child to fly.** > It all makes sense now. Christ on a cracker… How the hell could it come to this? The parents should be happy that the damn kid didn’t die. But no! They have to blame someone else. Anyone but themselves. I swear this country is turning into one huge clusterfuck. I mean this goes along with everything else. What the hell ever happened to accepting your problems and dealing with them. This is, by the way the same source of all of these fuckers going around getting offended at everything. You know, sometimes you need to be told when you are fucking stupid, or that you aren’t good enough. But we’d rather just be content with our make-believe world that tells us that everything is peachy. We go to great lengths to assure that nobody gets their feelings hurt, or that they get their bones broken. But the problem is that people need to get their feelings hurt sometimes, or they need to get their bones broken sometimes so they don’t move on to more ridiculous things. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/48 "2005-03-02T01:55:12Z")
> [@Siege](#): > > Actually, I have a sneaking suspicion A&E may be partially behind this. Yes, the television channel A&E, most noted for making biographies interesting. A few weeks ago I saw a program on something called “free running”, I think, which involves a team of young, trained athletes running, jumping, and performing various gymnastic maneouvers on public buildings, including jumping from rooftop to rooftop. I’ve got to admit, I’m 40 years old and female and I thought it looked pretty cool. The culmination of the show showed the team jumping over and around 7 buildings in London, including the Tate Gallery and St. Paul’s Cathedral. The show repeatedly stressed the importance of practice and training and that this could be a very dangerous sport. Indeed, one member of the team wasn’t able to participate as planned because he’d injured himself. I could see how that show could have inspired these young idiots. There’s a DVD out called [Jump London](http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/J/jump_london/), where these “athletes” run along the edges of buildings and jump from rooftop to rooftop. I’ve seen similar videos online, as well. Example [here](http://www.big-boys.com/articles/amazingjumper.html) (warning, link contains a video). So if kids saw this and thought it was cool (hey, even I thought it was pretty awesome), I can picture them trying it. But if the parents are itching to sue, why the parking garage? I’d think the makers of the videos would be a much easier target. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/49 "2005-03-02T03:10:50Z")
Didn’t this ‘free running’ thing start in France? I’m sure the French are behind this. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/50 "2005-03-02T04:05:39Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Didn’t this ‘free running’ thing start in France? I’m sure the French are behind this. [Yamakasi](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0267129/) ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/51 "2005-03-02T05:14:07Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > I’d think the makers of the videos would be a much easier target. Why the makers of the video? They are only documenting what takes place. They have told the truth. How could that make them liable? Why not the people who are actually running and jumping off the rooftops? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/52 "2005-03-02T05:16:28Z")
> [@](#): > > if the Brown Brothers can get $108 Million (later reduced to $25 million) for diving into shallow water What I dislike about that case is that it implied that we’re is required to post warnings for everything everywhere. > [@](#): > > Lawyers don’t do a damned thing that their clients don’t ask them to. Don’t blame them. Well, they do go along with it. There’s too many lawyers period. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/53 "2005-03-02T05:18:05Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > …these were teenages jumping between buildings at heights generally known by most rational persons (even teenaged ones) to cause serious injury or death when they are fallen from. Anybody who’s ever seen a Hollywood film knows that alleys are conveniently filled with one wino, a bottle in the foreground which can easily be avoided, suspiciously clean and dry newspapers which rustle and float impressively, and piles of cardboard boxes suitable for both stunt driving and stunt falls. Just don’t land on the bottle, that’s all. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BoringDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@BoringDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoringDad)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/54 "2005-03-02T05:18:31Z")
Someone’s gotta disagree with all this “Oh, we’re so smart, those people are so greedy and irresponsible” love fest. The article linked stated that the garage KNEW of at least one previous jumper who had fallen. They were aware that morons were using their garage to do stupid things. Based on the crappy photos from the local news program (and does local news ever produce any other kind of photos?) it appeared that one ramp was about 6 foot higher than the other ramp, with an 8? ft gap between. (Yeah local news! Don’t bother presenting us with this easily obtained and pertinent information!) So anyway, the garages knew this was happening. They knew that this apparently easy jump was attracting morons, and that one of them had already fallen. And yet, they failed to do _ **anything** _ to stop the jumping. Now, if I was in charge of maintenance, and I found out that someone died by this stupid action, my first response would be “What a fricking idiot!” But my second response would be guilt, as I would know that had I bothered to chunk up a lousy $5000 to put in a lousy chain link fence, a dumb young kid might be alive still to grow up and learn not to be so dumb. If the garage owners were not going to take any action themselves, a lawsuit is a reasonable action to take to focus the attention of the garages on the problem. Them being the target of a lawsuit is not the fault of greedy lawyers. It is not the fault of people failing to take responsibility for their own actions. It is the fault of the garage for failing to take reasonable, simple, common sense action when the problem was presented to them prior ot this kid’s fall. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/55 "2005-03-02T05:40:16Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Lawyers don’t do a damned thing that their clients don’t ask them to. Don’t blame them. Sorry, but I find that to be profoundly flawed logic. If I apply your standard, then I could erect an addition on your house that was structurally unsound, because you asked me to do it. Your physician could perform an operation on you that might have severe side effects, because you asked him/her to do so. The list goes on from there, but in the two examples I’ve cited, neither your doctor or I would go along with your request, because we are professionals. Those who practice law can’t claim to be acting at the behest of their clients and expect that to exculpate them from the societal price of their wrongdoing. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/56 "2005-03-02T06:35:17Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > … Your physician could perform an operation on you that might have severe side effects, because you asked him/her to do so. Er… speaking as someone who has signed more surgical consent forms than tax returns, this is almost always the case. Almost any invasive surgery _might_ have serious consequences, including infection, internal bleeding, and death. That is _why_, in fact, you sign the consent forms: you are acknowledging that the likelihood of the various risks has been explained to you. Just a nitpick of your choice of analogy. Do carry on with your argument. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/57 "2005-03-02T07:10:10Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > Er… speaking as someone who has signed more surgical consent forms than tax returns, this is almost always the case. Almost any invasive surgery _might_ have serious consequences, including infection, internal bleeding, and death. That is _why_, in fact, you sign the consent forms: you are acknowledging that the likelihood of the various risks has been explained to you. > > Just a nitpick of your choice of analogy. Do carry on with your argument. You are correct-my bad choise of phrasing. Perhaps the analogy would be more sound had I stated that a physician will not simply produce a release form and indulge the patient in whatever procedure they request. Some requests could be medically unsound, and as such a competent clinician would decline to perform them. ---
**Author:** ![High\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8797f3/32.png) [@High\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/High_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/58 "2005-03-02T07:19:53Z")
> [@Mr. Moto](#): > > I’m amazed, frankly, that the parents in question didn’t blame video games or Road Runner cartoons. Wait until the lawsuit fails. ---
**Author:** ![JerH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@JerH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerH)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/59 "2005-03-02T14:43:40Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Lawyers don’t do a damned thing that their clients don’t ask them to. Don’t blame them. You’ve obviously never heard of “class action lawsuits”. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446/60 "2005-03-02T15:10:53Z")
> [@Mr. Moto](#): > > [From here.](http://www.local6.com/money/4239256/detail.html) > > But parents are called to do the hard thing sometimes, and the right thing here would be to educate the brain-dead little creep somehow. > . At this level of stupidity, it would probably be easier to try and educate the garages. I can’t believe teens do such amazingly stupid thing nowadays. I mean, it’s not like we were climbing up electrical poles and in abandonned stone quarries when I was…err…I meant… Forget about it… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teens-jump-from-parking-garages-parents-blame-the-garage/292446.md?page=4)