I watched a court TV documentary the other night concerning a crime that happened not all that long ago. It concerned a group of teenagers, 4 guys and two girls, who were out one cold night, mildly partying, crossing an old railroad trestle to go to a spot beyond. Apparently they were going to party more.
Anyhow, here my memory gets a bit loose, on their way back, I think, this one kid pushes another kid off of the trestle as a joke/bet. The boy, 19 years old, plummets like 40 or 50 feet into the dark waters, calls for help, and is told by one to swim to the side.
He drowns. The pusher is tried for murder and convicted. He gets 20 years. This alone is not what got my attention, but something the trial never brought out, though mentioned. These were all ‘friends’. They had partied together. They knew each other.
Yet, when the one was pushed from the trestle, the rest walked back to their cars and drove off, leaving him behind. No one waited to see if he was OK, no one went down the banks to help him out. No one gave a crap that he might have gotten hurt, even though he was seen to hit a board sticking out on his way down.
The killer was punished. OK. My question is, just what the heck type of ‘friends’ were these of the dead kid who did not even wait for him to scramble up the bank? No one waited to ‘laugh’ at him and help him dry off, warm up his car, ask him about his swim, or make sure he was OK. It was quite cold that night.
What type of kids were these? They drove off and did not know he died until the next day. No one even called his house to see how he was.
When I was that age, if my friends pulled a trick on me that might piss me off or cause me bodily harm, they made sure I was fine. (None ever pushed me off of a bridge nor pulled anything on me that might be dangerous.) I mean, we looked out for each other. None of the group I hung around with would have pushed anyone off of a high trestle in the dark in winter, and if they did, they’d go down the bank to help whoever it was out of the water. At the very least, they’d not have driven off without making sure he was fine.
What type of kids these were was only lightly broached, and, of course, their defense attorneys made sure that they came out looking like a bunch of innocents.
I think that bothered me a whole lot. The one kid, who did the pushing, I could almost understand. High-jinks and all, plus just being a pain, you know the type which hangs in many groups. He did it as a bet. He initiated the bet. OK, I think I can understand him.
I cannot understand the ‘friends’ just walking on and driving off without waiting for the one pushed off of the trestle to join them or even checking on him to make sure he was OK.
The court did not charge them with anything, but, somehow, I wonder if they should have been for being so unfeeling.