A sad story...basketball player accidentally maimed by fans (1 Viewer)

[Brian Perry]

Talk about going from euphoria to the pits of depression:

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/news/story?id=1732694

I wish the young man as full a recovery as possible.

 

[MarkHastings]

:frowning: Ouch! As much as I wanna believe that a pig pile is not an accident, who would ever think that someone could suffer a stroke and paralyzation from it?

Kudos to the family for not getting $$ in their eyes and suing.

 

[ThomasC]

That doesn't seem right for a "freak thing." I could see this happening at a football game where the players have lots of protection, but basketball? C'mon, something doesn't seem right here.

Hope he gets well soon.

 

[Paul_Fisher]

The parents aren't sueing because they already have plenty of money, they're both attorneys.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

It's tragic, he sounds like a great kid.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

indeed, you gotta be pretty special to get a full scholarship to a school, especially stanford. i wish him the best.

CJ

 

[MickeS]

I've never liked the phenomenon of fans rushing the field anyway for various reasons, and this news made me very sad. I'm glad they're not taking legal action as I don't think it's really anyones fault since this is very commonplace, but I hope this practice stops anyway.

 

[Mark Murphy]

I hate frivolous lawsuits as much as anyone but I don't think its out of line for the parents to take some sort of legal action. A player has to assume there is risk of bodily injury while participating in athletics but he wasn't injured playing or by an opposing player. This recovery is going to be very costly to this family, even if they are attorneys. Its not like the kid tore a knee or broke an ankle. He may never fully recover and may lose his scholarship to Stanford. How much is that worth alone? I wouldn't sue McDonalds if I got fat and I wouldn't sue a Tobacco company if I got sick from smoking (which I don't) but I'd have a hard time my son got injured permanently by a mob.

 

[Scott L]

Hope he gets well, being a 6'5" guy I find it weird that he's the only one that got hurt.

 

[Ryan Wishton]

Well, I would definately sue in this situation... I would have no choice... The long term medical bills would have to be paid some way... Not to mention if he loses his athletic scholarship??? Now what???

I certainly wouldnt go into $1000's and $1000's (possibly $100,000's of thousands) in debt to be a good guy...

He might not be able to do many of the things he once was able to do again... This would be a completely justified lawsuit if one was to happen... They would win too...

He seems very determined, so maybe he will recover most of the way... I wish him the best...

 

[MickeS]

Here's an article about him, the accident and how his family and friends are taking it, from Tucson Weekly, the local free independent weekly newspaper here.

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Cu...?oid=oid:53524

/Mike

 

[JustinCleveland]

That's why, as much as I love the enthusiasm of these sorts of incidents, people NEED to keep control of themselves.

http://www.rcfp.org/news/1993/1116f.html

I mean, what do you expect to happen? I always cringe when I see people rushing a court, tearing down goalposts, or anything like that.

 

[Patrick_S]

Fans should never rush the playing field; there is just no reason for it at all.

By the way, according to the location papers in the Bay Area he actually only had a partial scholarship. Stanford has already stated that they will do everything possible to honor their commitment.

 

[Keith Mickunas]

Back when I was in high school a local high school basketball player got his legs cut off while playing on some trains. He had a full ride to one of the Kansas schools, and they came through with another scholarship for him, although for what I don't know, clearly he couldn't compete on the basketball team and an academic scholarship seems unlikely for such an idiot. So it wouldn't surprise me if a school like Stanford will do something since at least in this case the kid is not to blame.

I just don't understand fans rushing the field, tearing down goal posts, and rioting to celebrate a victory. There've been several lawsuits due to goal post injuries which are clearly frivilous.

 

[Patrick_S]

I should explain that Stanford is going to try to hold his athletic scholarship (which was for volleyball) for him. There hasn't been any talk that they would offer him any other type of scholarship.

 

[Robert_Gaither]

Personally I hope his parents sue, let's face it the only time things seem to really happen in America is when companies, people, or idiots sue for either good or bad reasons. Maybe if a group of idiots get charged with assault, and then financially have to pay for it, and then the precedent will be set to stop such stupid behavior (I'm completely against rioting for celebration, and this was disrespectful to the other team that lost as well).

 

[Jeff D Han]

I'm glad to hear that the parents aren't suing. I hate
hearing about unnecessary lawsuits. People in general
just look for excuses to raise hell, like these
ridiculous after the game celebrations of rushing the
court or the pushing the goal post stuff. What can
schools do to prevent this? Maybe pay some cops to
ring the courts or fields of play. This was just a
freak accident caused by knuckleheads- you can't
pin the blame on the school. I wish him well, and
it would be great to hear that he makes a full
recovery.