Bible_Belt
Master Don Juan
Canadian Press
Nov. 28, 2005
TORONTO - A spur of the moment decision cost a 16-year-old boy his life after he decided to try to lower himself out of a high-rise apartment with bedsheets to avoid get caught in the home by a female friend's parents.
The boy plunged to his death from a 15th-floor apartment in the city's east end Saturday night.
The boy - who is not being identified by police - didn't want to get in trouble for visiting a girl while her parents weren't home.
"They weren't doing anything wrong. There was no illegal activity, no drugs, no alcohol. They were just hanging out," said Toronto police Det. Steve Peconi.
Investigators say the girl's parents arrived home around 7:30 p.m. Saturday and found the door deadbolted.
"I knew my daughter was in here. I was banging the door, yelling and screaming and no one is opening the door. So I went and called the super," said the girl's mother in an interview on Sunday.
When the superintendent couldn't open the door, the mother phoned the police.
The woman said she has talked to her daughter about the incident, but declined to speak about it any further and refused to give her name.
Police say while the girl's parents were knocking on the door of their apartment, the boy and another friend tied bedsheets together and started to make their way out a bedroom window.
Within moments, one boy plummeted to the ground. The other was unharmed.
"They are good kids from good families. They just made a very bad choice," said Peconi, calling the incident a "true tragedy," as his voice broke.
Police said reports suggesting the victim was the girl's boyfriend are false.
Neighbors on the floor where the accident occurred said the girl lives with her parents and a brother in the corner unit. The parents are strict with their teenaged children, a neighbor said.
Divya Garg, 19, who lives on the 15th floor at the opposite end of the building, said she'll never forget the sight of watching the boy fall to his death.
"I heard a loud scream, so I looked up and saw him falling to the ground," recalled Garg. "It was just horrible."
Garg, who called 911, and her mother, Kumkum, stayed with the boy until police and paramedics arrived.
"They're devastated," Peconi said of the victim's parents.
"They can't believe their son would do such a thing. They're in total shock."
Peconi cautioned other teenagers to think things through and avoid making perilous mistakes.
"Kids shouldn't be so scared of parents that they would risk their lives," he said. "And parents shouldn't be so strict that their kids are afraid to be honest with them."
http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/1128teen-fatalfall28-ON.html
Nov. 28, 2005
TORONTO - A spur of the moment decision cost a 16-year-old boy his life after he decided to try to lower himself out of a high-rise apartment with bedsheets to avoid get caught in the home by a female friend's parents.
The boy plunged to his death from a 15th-floor apartment in the city's east end Saturday night.
The boy - who is not being identified by police - didn't want to get in trouble for visiting a girl while her parents weren't home.
"They weren't doing anything wrong. There was no illegal activity, no drugs, no alcohol. They were just hanging out," said Toronto police Det. Steve Peconi.
Investigators say the girl's parents arrived home around 7:30 p.m. Saturday and found the door deadbolted.
"I knew my daughter was in here. I was banging the door, yelling and screaming and no one is opening the door. So I went and called the super," said the girl's mother in an interview on Sunday.
When the superintendent couldn't open the door, the mother phoned the police.
The woman said she has talked to her daughter about the incident, but declined to speak about it any further and refused to give her name.
Police say while the girl's parents were knocking on the door of their apartment, the boy and another friend tied bedsheets together and started to make their way out a bedroom window.
Within moments, one boy plummeted to the ground. The other was unharmed.
"They are good kids from good families. They just made a very bad choice," said Peconi, calling the incident a "true tragedy," as his voice broke.
Police said reports suggesting the victim was the girl's boyfriend are false.
Neighbors on the floor where the accident occurred said the girl lives with her parents and a brother in the corner unit. The parents are strict with their teenaged children, a neighbor said.
Divya Garg, 19, who lives on the 15th floor at the opposite end of the building, said she'll never forget the sight of watching the boy fall to his death.
"I heard a loud scream, so I looked up and saw him falling to the ground," recalled Garg. "It was just horrible."
Garg, who called 911, and her mother, Kumkum, stayed with the boy until police and paramedics arrived.
"They're devastated," Peconi said of the victim's parents.
"They can't believe their son would do such a thing. They're in total shock."
Peconi cautioned other teenagers to think things through and avoid making perilous mistakes.
"Kids shouldn't be so scared of parents that they would risk their lives," he said. "And parents shouldn't be so strict that their kids are afraid to be honest with them."
http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/1128teen-fatalfall28-ON.html
