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Teen Too Busy Texting Falls Down a Manhole
If you’re thinking the worst part of this story is that an idiot teen was paying too much attention to her cell phone not to notice an open manhole cover, you’re woefully mistaken.
A Staten Island teen did indeed fall down an uncovered manhole while texting. But she’s OK. So what’s the problem?
Her parents have said they’re going to sue! Because that will make their kid less of an idiot?
The Department of Environmental Protection in NYC has stated that workers were about to put cones out when Alexa Longueira came along, her eyes focused on the message she was sending instead of the sidewalk in front of her. Their backs momentarily turned to get the cones, the workers didn’t see her in time to warn her, and the girl fell four or five feet.
She had minor cuts and bruises, but her parents are still talking lawsuit. Who, exactly, are they going to sue? The city I would imagine for daring to have a manhole uncovered. If the DEP story doesn’t hold water and workers had just forgotten to put up some warning, the sad thing is, they might actually win.
But what purpose will it serve? Will their kid learn to watch where she’s going? Will she tear her eyes away from the stupid cell phone? One of my colleagues once compared dodging the kids on cell phones and listening to headphones on a college campus to playing a game of Frogger. But where they can’t hear anything with something clamped over their ears, texting has proven equally if not MORE dangerous because kids are tuning out the world AND not looking around them.
But hey, at least they can earn Mom and Dad some fast cash for acting like a moron.
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6 Comments
[...] Texting and walking, texting and driving, even texting and babysitting — it seems like technology has a tendency to get teens in trouble. And as 16-year-old Australian Jessica Watson found out, that even applies to ambitious teens trying to break world records. [...]
Teen Sailor Crashes Into 63,000 Ton Tanker | Strollerderby commented on Sep 10 09 at 12:00 pmPlumbLucky commented on Jul 14 09 at 11:10 amSo much fun to walk on a college campus nowadays – I don’t alter course if one feels that their iPod/mp3 player is plugged in and cranked up, and they’re texting away. I’ll let them bounce off.
Kayt commented on Jul 14 09 at 2:55 pmI’m a huge reader. When I was ten, I was walking to school reading a book, stepped off the sidewalk, and was nearly hit by a car. My parents didn’t sue anybody, but they did spank me and take away my books for a week for being an idiot. I’m sure there could be a similar punishment here.
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Jul 14 09 at 4:03 pmA young man in my area was killed last week because he was walking along the train tracks when a freight train came along and creamed him. His headphones were turned all the way up and he didn’t hear it coming. Stupid is as stupid does.
evie commented on Jul 14 09 at 6:01 pmI wonder if she texted her friend from inside the manhole, haha
“brb, fell n2 manhole”
anon commented on Jul 14 09 at 11:02 pmI’ve seen people walking around with their noses in books as well. Blame not the technology, blame the person.
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