LIRR Death

[nycemt728 49]

I don't know if somthing like this has been brought up before but here goes...So a kid dies while running across railroad tracks after grafittiing signal equipment. Now in today's paper, the family is vowing to sue the city and LIRR for negligence. Before people start calling me cold and hard hearted: the death is very tragic and regettable and I wish his family peace. However, at what point do we take responsibility for our actions? Could there have been more fences? I'm sure. But, its illegal to tag up, its illegal (not to mention dangerous) to be on the tracks, how fair is it for us to pay for this, when unfortuantely this senseless death was 99.9% the fault of the victim??? I know nothing can take away from this family's pain, but is this really the course of action to pursue? Would it be more effective and do more honor to this childs memory by advocating or organizing volunteers to raise money for and help build fencing? I am anxious to see what other people think.

Edited January 8, 2007 by nycemt728

[mikerabbit 2]

You are absolutly right. It is sad, however the youth was tresspassing and conducting a crime. Anybody with common sence knows not to be near train tracks. It is a frivilous lawsuit that the tax payer is paying for in the courts, and im sure the LIRR will settle for a nominal fee to make it go away.

[steve shryock 0]

I agree with you however the media reported that there was a 6 foot hole in the fence near where this incident occured and LIRR immediately repaired it soon after this incident.

They will probably argue that there was a defective condition, improper security and the tracks were an attractive nuisance.

LIRR will probably settle to avoid litigation expenses.

Sucks but that's life in lawsuits. Thats where these pig lawyers exploit the system and the public. There could be laws to strengthen negligence of the the injured party but that will not happen in NY because the legislature is full of ambulance chasers like S. Silver.

[BIGRED1 71]

how about if when these incidents accure, the city fine the family for the crimes that the person did. Now if the family decides not to sue, fines will not be applied. their son was doing something illegal. how can they think that they are the ones who have the right to sue. it is horrible that the person died but thats his fault. it's not like he was taging a building and then something fell off the building and killed him. he put himself in a dagerous situation on his own. it is like a firemen sueing cause he got burned.

[Guest WolfEMT]

Great, yet another frivoulous lawsuit to clog up our courts system. Personally, I don't care how great a kid he was, or what his family says about him; he, and he alone, contributed to his own demise. Not the city, not the MTA, not the LIRR, and certainly not anyone else. Common sense says (along with the signage in every single train station and along the rights of way) that walking along the tracks is dangerous. He was old enough to know that danger, but he chose to disregard it. Maybe if his parents paid a little bit more attention to the things he was doing, he wouldn't have ended up on the tracks and they wouldn't have to sue. Culpability is not on the city; it's on the kid and his parents.

[IzzyEng4 427]

Sucks doesn't it??? He we have a kid that was trespassing and illegally painting graffie on private property and caused damaged to private property. OK the parent vow to sue and what does the leagal system do, back the parents!! In my opinion the parent should be held responsible for their son's illegal actions by them not doing anything to stop him. More than likely this kid did it before, somewhere else maybe, and got a slap on the had by law enforcement and the parents probably "took care" of the situation them self but didn't! H-E-Double Hockey Sticks, if that was me and I got caught doing that, my old man would have tanned my a$$ back to the stone age!

Death is tragic yes and unnecessary death is worse but the problem is this, like many have said no one takes their own responsibility. This kid did something wrong, and consciously did so, he premeditated to go int and damage property and got himself on the Darwin Awards Honorable mention list of killing himself doing something stupid, it harsh but he deserved it and caused it only by himself, he shouldn't have been there in the first place.

But then again just because there was a hole in the fence, they'll blame the LIRR for leaving it that way. People should know to stay away. You all remember the electrocutions with the third rails on the New Haven line years ago right? If memory served me right, no one saw a dime from those cases because they were illegally on the property and ignored the posted warnings (I'm not including the accidents where workers were injured in this statement. Just the morons in the public that jump the fences.) Its just like the old crossing the railroad track when the warning lights and gates are down and someone gets walloped. Who's at fault??? The train doing 50 to 100 MPH that take 10 city blocks to slow down or the idiot who crossed it?

It just aggravates me to see stupidity like this. Especially when he basically knowingly "committed suicide" (figuratively speaking) when he made the decision to do something "cool".

Edited January 8, 2007 by IzzyEng4

[PFFA 0]

This family should have taught this kid something about obeying the law.Everybody is quick to say that this is a tragic accident...BS This kid was there illegally and he got killed.If the fence did have a hole in it, too damn bad.If the fence at the top of the Empire State Bldg had a hole in it would you climb through?I doubt it.If any law suit should be filed,it should come from the LIRR against the parents.The LIRR had to clean up the grafitti and the kid's body,not to mention the shutting down the train line which adds delays.Its the parents problem now...

Edited January 8, 2007 by PFFA

[capt36 9]

This family should have taught this kid something about obeying the law.Everybody is quick to say that this is a tragic accident...BS This kid was there illegally and he got killed.If the fence did have a hole in it, too damn bad.If the fence at the top of the Empire State Bldg had a hole in it would you climb through?I doubt it.If any law suit should be filed,it should come from the LIRR against the parents.The LIRR had to clean up the grafitti and the kid's body,not to mention the shutting down the train line which adds delays.Its the parents problem now...

←

It is tragic that this young man lost his life. But, I too agree that he was breaking the law and another lawsuit gets filed. Only the lawyers get rich. That what our society has become. People will sue for anything.

[CPAGE 2]

The LIRR and the MTA should sue the family of the perp who was killed by the train for damage to equipment and tresspassing and for delaying goverment operations ( delay of trains). COUNTER SUIT and for damaging a fence to gain access to the tracks.

[Guest]

The LIRR and the MTA should sue the family of the perp who was killed by the train for damage to equipment and tresspassing and for delaying goverment operations ( delay of trains). COUNTER SUIT and for damaging a fence to gain access to the tracks.

←

I like this one!!

A smart judge would throw this outta court in a second!!! F the silly LIBERALS!!

[BmSmall92 1]

When you go on the Hellgate line in the Bronx, Amtrak gets dozens of kids during the summer who break through the fences and wait for the trains to come. These trespassers are either going play chicken with the train or they start throwing rocks at the train. These trespassers cut holes in fence and the company can't go out there everyday to make sure the fences are in proper condition because these maintence crews have other duties.

If this lawsuit does not get thrown out, there is precedence where the railroad is at fault and the trespasser is in the right. Pardon me if I'm cold on this, but all my sympathy goes to the engineer who has to live with this, not to the victim.

[Shantz02 0]

The article also printed this boys "tag" name. So to me, he must have been well known, or at least had been doing this for some time. Find every other place he "tagged" and send the family a bill to pay for all the clean up. I also think it is rediculous that the courts will let this lawsuit go forward seeing as the kid was knowingly committing a crime and his parents agree to that fact.

[JetPhoto 626]

my sympathy goes to the engineer who has to live with this, not to the victim.

←

I totaly agree, look at the nightmares he will have the rest of his life! He should sue the family for thepain and suffering that he has because of this.

(Like that's gonna happen)

[Billy 68]

I got a laugh from The Journal News article on this incident in Sunday's paper. The headline was "budding graffiti artist" killed.They made it sound like he was the next Picasso! What ashame!!

[Guest]

I agree with you all, and not to be cold, and yes this is a tragic and unnecessary death, but i find it a bit hard to sympathize for someone who was knowingly breaking the law. As far as the parents go i think that they really dont have the right to sue anyone, they should be the ones getting sued.

Just my two cents

[Skooter92 7]

From Billy's post: "I got a laugh from The Journal News article on this incident in Sunday's paper. The headline was "budding graffiti artist" killed.They made it sound like he was the next Picasso! What ashame!!"

So, could we say this one got nipped in the bud?

Edited January 9, 2007 by Skooter92

[Guest partyrock]

Every year the city lists the results of the suits filed against it. I don't know if its inspiring or depressing. The next time you suffer an injury on city property no matter who much it was due to your own stupidity you too can make a few hundred grand with the right ambulance chaser by your side. I have no clue where I found it, but if I can find it again I'll post it. The list includes things like tripped over curb, injured by train door, injured by turn style, and many many more.

[eckyphats 0]

Great, yet another frivoulous lawsuit to clog up our courts system. Personally, I don't care how great a kid he was, or what his family says about him; he, and he alone, contributed to his own demise. Not the city, not the MTA, not the LIRR, and certainly not anyone else. Common sense says (along with the signage in every single train station and along the rights of way) that walking along the tracks is dangerous. He was old enough to know that danger, but he chose to disregard it. Maybe if his parents paid a little bit more attention to the things he was doing, he wouldn't have ended up on the tracks and they wouldn't have to sue. Culpability is not on the city; it's on the kid and his parents.

←

couldnt agree more!!... take responsibility for your own actions!!!, sorry im gonna be cold too but sometimes i believe in this thing called population control... the world gets rid of stupid people