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Manhattan Mom Fights for Life After Halloween Prank
A Manhattan mother is now in intensive care after being hit with a falling shopping cart during a trip to the mall to buy Halloween candy.
Two boys threw the Target shopping cart over the railing of a walkway at East River Plaza Mall, where it fell four stories, landing on Marion Salmon Hedges as her 13-year-old son watched. Witnesses say she collapsed as soon as the cart hit her head, and that her son lay on top of her crying. The New York Daily News reports Hedges is now at Harlem Hospital in critical condition, and her husband says that if she recovers she’ll be in rehab “for months.”
The boys who threw the cart, aged 12, were arrested after being turned in by a friend who was with them at the time of the tragic prank and tried to stop them. They have been charged with juvenile assault.
Ironically, Marion Salmon Hedges was shopping to support kids who come from the very same neighborhoods as the boys who nearly killed her. Hedges’ husband told the New York Post his wife was buying the candy for needy children: ”Every year on Halloween, 1,000 kids come to our block from less-privileged neighborhoods and we spend $500 to $600 on candy for them and that’s what she was doing — buying candy for those kids to do something nice for the community.”
Photo credit: via ABC News/Jimi Celeste
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14 Comments
goddess commented on Nov 02 11 at 11:23 amCouple more juveniles that need to be kept separated from normal society. @@
Mommyfriend commented on Nov 02 11 at 11:23 amOh my God, no!
Teresa commented on Nov 02 11 at 12:01 pmThis is so horrible.
Suzie commented on Nov 02 11 at 12:12 pmIt’s more than just a Halloween prank! Uber lib Atlantic editor Ta-Nehisi Coates even tweeted that shit like like makes him almost pro-death penalty…almost, but not.
Manjari commented on Nov 02 11 at 2:31 pmHow horrible!
mdhlaw commented on Nov 02 11 at 2:52 pmThe two perpetrators should be charged with attempted murder.
Nadia commented on Nov 02 11 at 3:37 pmWow. That is absolutely awful! That poor woman! People make me sick sometimes. What is society coming to?
http://www.fitandpreggers.com
Ri-chan commented on Nov 02 11 at 4:32 pmOn one hand, the kids probably weren’t aiming at her and probably didn’t think about hitting anyone, being 12 and all. On the other hand, that was really dangerous and they should definatly be sent to a juvenile corrections institute. I hope the poor lady pulls through and isn’t permenently damaged.
LogicalMama commented on Nov 02 11 at 5:12 pmso sad…
Denise commented on Nov 03 11 at 1:34 pmThere is a definite problem with society and morality when children think its ok to not only destroy public property but endanger the lives of others (they were in a mall, they KNEW people would be walking below them). It just shows they have no moral compass – where are the parents? They should be punished severely, especially if the woman dies.
Sanriobaby =^.^= commented on Nov 03 11 at 10:37 pmI have family who live in the area where this happend and the community is very upset over this. This mall has only been open for about 2yrs and this is the only Target in Manhattan, so the mall is full of shoppers most of the time. And this isn’t the first time the height of the railings was brought to question. Customers have complained about the possiblity of something being thrown over the railings or even a kid leaning over too far on it and falling. There are several schools in that area and most afternoons that mall is crawling w/kids milling about. Security at that mall isn’t the best and although there are a lot of good and hardworking people in East Harlem, there are a bunch of bad azz kids and young adults who think they can do whatever they want w/no consequences. What these two brats did was beyond horrible and while some may try and make some type of excuse for them, this woman was seriously injured and will most likely have permanent injuries b/c of thier stupidity. While the mall has cameras all over, what they really need is more security on the ground, so their presence will hopefully discourage this type of reckless behavior, especially on days where there are a lot of shoppers. Hopefully they will hire more security as well as modify the railings so that it’s harder to throw something over them. I pray that this woman survives this horrible accident w/o suffering permanent injury.
Sarah commented on Nov 04 11 at 1:10 amThis womans entire life will be effected by this. No matther what you do or don’t see a year or two down the road, there are lasting effects from a traumatic brain injury. My heart goes out to their family, while I haven’t experienced this with my Mom, I have with my daughter.
ChiLaura commented on Nov 04 11 at 10:40 pmThere’s something sickly funny about this link appearing in the same box as the “You raise ‘em, we cage ‘em” shirts that cops were apparently wearing. Cage these kids, indeed. I hope this mother recovers okay. I can’t imagine the trauma for her family.
Lee commented on Nov 05 11 at 10:09 amChiLaura, I was thinking the exact same thing.
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