I think kids are prime candidates; for the most part, they haven’t shared their genes yet.
I really don’t think that whacking someone in the head results in “unintended” death in any way.
At that age, you swing at someone’s head with a skateboard (something built to withstand a lot of punishment) and kill someone, you are not merely stupid. You’re a murderer.
That’s a little harsh, Troy. Obviously the kid didn’t think it would kill his friend. I like to reserve the word “murderer” for those who intentionally kill people.
That was terrible!
[sub] but I’m ashamed to say that I laughed myself silly[/sub]
Troy so you think the 14 year-old wanted his friend dead?
It sounded to me that he was planning on giving his buddy a goose-egg, after his friend demonstated how well his skull could withstand a hit and challenged them all to hit him hard. I doubt very much that the kid set out to kill his friend.
The kid was a total idiot who did’t think for a second that a skateboard could do the same damage as a bat. But I doubt his ultimate goal was to make sure his buddy would never get up again.
That’s why he’s been chargend with “involuntary manslaughter.” (Manslaughter itself meaning “accidental death which occurs without an intent to kill.”)
Total fucking idiot? Definitely. But “murderer?”
I hope none of your kids (assuming you choose to have them) do something incredibly stupid and, God forbid, die as a result and you have to hear people make light of the situation or crack jokes about it.
Yes, they were dumb but two families will never be the same.
That’s nothing to mock or laugh about. 
Sad story. It’s not just teens who do stupid stunts- Houdini died of something similar.
Well, yes. At that age, you have to know that cracking people over the head with hard shit can result in death. I don’t think there’s any way around that, barring a diagnosed mental disorder. The fact that he did so is intent, as far as I’m concerned.
“I hit him as hard as I could with a very hard, blunt object in the head… but I wasn’t trying to kill him.” I can’t buy that.
So, you’re saying every single action you undertook as a teen when screwing around with your friends, was completely thought out, with all regard to ALL possible consequences involved? :dubious:
Kids do dumb shit. It’s in the job description. You did it, I did it, they did it, anyone who didn’t do dumb shit occasionally either grew up in a box or was amazingly fucking boring and most likely didn’t have any friends. Thinking back on it now, I am constantly amazed most of us lived to see adulthood with no serious brain damage or trauma. Think about it a bit if you have to, but I doubt you fit into either category I just mentioned, and can bet you did or were involved in, even peripherally, at least one stupid thing that could have gotten someone hurt at some point in your teen exsistence. It’s ok, we all did it. 
It’s just a shame it turned out this way. Yes, of course the kid was dumb to do it. They were both dumb. He didn’t wish his friend dead, however, he just didn’t think it through. We all make foolish choices sometimes, we’re just lucky in that they don’t normally end in serious bodily injury or death.
At the age of 15 you don’t think they need to be “babysat” everytime they go out to play. They are old enough to know better by now and you hope you have instilled some good sound decision making skills into them. (My 15 yr old drives, cooks, cleans, does well in school)so I give him rope. Maybe these parents gave their child the same kind of rope.
“Where are the parents?” question leads me to believe that the poster thinks the parents are at fault. I disagree.
You can raise your kids with all the best intentions and they can still pull wierd stunts out of their hats. You can not control your child’s every move.
This is a stupid and senseless act but when you have assinine shows like “Jack Ass” playing for kids to watch what do you expect?
My problem is that most of the dumb shit we all did as kids might have hurt us seriously. We were all playing the odds, and since we’re all here talking about it, we won.
*If I skateboard down a railing, I’ll probably be OK, because I know how to skateboard, and if I fall, I can probably catch myself with my arms before I get seriously injured.
If I get the baseball I hit into the yard with the mean dog, I know I can probably be in and out of there before the dog seriously injures me.
If I have my friend hit me as hard as he can in the head with a skateboard, I can _________.*
Not a damn thing you can do, and there’s nothing particularly fun about it to boot, but I suppose that’s a matter of preference. Most of what we did, we knew we had some kind of defense, no matter how flimsy. That’s the difference. There is nothing you can do when you’re voluntarily being hit in the head, and any sane person knows it, especially at high-school-sophomore age. I have no sympathy for the little killer.
You’re just being a jerk now, Troy.
How so? By ripping a kid who bashed his friend’s head in with a skateboard and killed him?
Perhaps more accurately, for not feeling sorry for said kid?
No, for being completely unreasonable and rigid in your opinions. This boy is not a murderer and no court in this country would even accuse him of such a thing, much less convict him. I’m sure that dissapoints you, as you’d like nothing more than to see a 14 year old kid spend the rest of his life in jail for doing what all teenagers do: showing increadibly bad judgement and being miraculously stupid.
No ones asking you to feel sorry for the kid, but equating him with the likes of hardened murders who have intentionally killed with no remorse, is entirely jerkish.
My problem with it is that I can’t separate “intent” with “beating over the head.” If he didn’t intend to kill or seriously harm the kid, what the hell was he intending? For candy to fall out, much to the joy of the neighborhood children?
This is way past “boys will be boys,” and I don’t think my stance is particularly unreasonable.
It IS a little hard to believe that this doof didn’t know that cracking another kid pretty hard on the head with a heavy blunt object wouldn’t cause serious damage.
Being dispassionate is hard, but this child has served an evolutionary function: all those children who read the article or have it brought to their attention will now know what not to do.
And Troy, this is not way past ‘Boys will be boys’.
To be murder, it has to be intent to kill Troy, not intent to get your friend to stop bragging by doing what he’s asking you to do or by seeing if your friend really can withstand a blow.
There was no intent to kill. The kid is not a murder.
A freaking moron? Yes, no doubt. A murderer? No.
I’m inclined to agree with Troy’s statement, that this kid is a murderer. Not in the first degree, as in premeditated murder, but neglegent homicide at the least (a 2nd degree murder charge.) The kid who swung, through neglegence of thought, did assault and injure his friend, and did kill said friend. Like Troy said, it comes down to intent.
How can you say that he did NOT intend to inflict serious harm to his friend. If I read the article right, it went along the lines of “I can take a hit to the head whack See!? Try to hurt me!” The kid INTENDED, by way of being challenged, to inflict serious injury to his friend. His friend was a total doof and it’s probably better that he wasn’t allowed to breed, but then again, that’d be callous to say, right?