A juvenile prank

[dcarver]

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Updated: Jun 16, 2010 11:53 PM

A juvenile prank lands an Atascadero man in the hospital.

It happened on the westbound side of Capistrano Ave. in Atascadero a little after 1:00p.m. Wednesday. John Ackerson of San Luis Obispo was riding his motorcycle when he saw something on the road. "I saw a reflection and said, 'Oh! What was that?' and the next thing I know I'm on the ground," said John Ackerson. But that wasn't any glare from the sun he saw on his motorcycle ride down Capistrano Ave.

"The rider encountered what we later determined to be clear packing tape, in a zig zag pattern across the roadway around waist high," said Atascadero Police Commander Steve Gesell. Ackerson hit the tape while driving just under 30 miles per hour. The tape forced him to spill off of his bike. He left the scene pretty hurt. "I have a road rash on my back, both my shoulders, both my arms," said Ackerson, who also broke three bones in his right arm. "I've been in several car accidents, I've had some pretty crazy injuries, but today I've never been in so much pain."

Witnesses say they saw two teenagers, about 15-years-old, running from the crash scene. One may have even recorded the crash on his cell phone.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Plum at the Atascadero Police Department, at 805-470-3226.

 

[rushes]

I hope they catch the little bastards.

 

[flying junior]

Was the tape stretched across the road? How was it stretched "in a zig-zag pattern" if it was waist high?

I guess we have still another thing to be looking for out there.

 

[cruppelt]

A juvenile prank lands an Atascadero man in the hospital.

That's just sick. Bastards.

From the description you can tell the rider wasn't wearing ATGATT, or he wouldn't have had all the road rash. So one more reason to wear it - in case you encounter tape across the road.

 

[dcarver]

Was the tape stretched across the road? How was it stretched "in a zig-zag pattern" if it was waist high?
I guess we have still another thing to be looking for out there.

Don't know for sure, my guess is it was strung from knee level to waist level?

A juvenile prank lands an Atascadero man in the hospital.

That's just sick. Bastards.

From the description you can tell the rider wasn't wearing ATGATT, or he wouldn't have had all the road rash. So one more reason to wear it - in case you encounter tape across the road.

Agreed. On another tv video he said he was 'scarred for life'.. too much in IMHO..

I remember back in the day, riding desert, someone had strung a single strand of barb wire neck high. My cousin was point, saw it just in time. Got cut pretty bad though..

 

[Tree Doc]

Un-fookin'-real!!

We just did a group ride through the area last night!

About a year ago, we lost a local rider down in Nipomo to some *********s that layed a tree limb across a main road late at night and the poor dude came up on it and went down after hitting it and was killed.

WTF is the matter with people these days? Twisted ******' minds, I guess.

I think our local group needs to go hunting teenagers real soon. I'm thinkin' drunkin posse might be in order.

 

[FJRBluesman]

Stuuuuupid! I can't believe those dorks.

 

[dcarver]

I think our local group needs to go hunting teenagers real soon. I'm thinkin' drunkin posse might be in order.

LOL - Get the militia on it, eh?

Can you imagine being the parents, watching the news.. 'no arrests, *yet*' and wondering where your son was yesterday afternoon? And the potential liability, law suits, possible loss of all you've worked for?

Sometimes I think how lucky I am to be a 'child free nation!'

 

[RavFJR]

I had something similar happen to me many years back, except it was with fishing line. 'Whomever' strung it across a residential street. It hit me at the base of my throat as I was going 25 mph. The line broke, left a hell of a (bleeding) welt and almost took me off the bike. I feel his pain...

 

[RenoJohn]

.....later determined to be clear packing tape,

Sticky situation

 

[kaitsdad]

Keep any eye on Youtube. Might show up there.

 

[exskibum]

Can you imagine being the parents, watching the news.. 'no arrests, *yet*' and wondering where your son was yesterday afternoon? And the potential liability, law suits, possible loss of all you've worked for?
Sometimes I think how lucky I am to be a 'child free nation!'

Not in California, Don. There's a statutory limit on how much the parents are responsible for, unless the parent was somehow involved in the commission of the tort, encouraged it, enabled it, etc.:

[SIZE=10pt]Calilfornia Civil Code Section 1714.1. [/SIZE]

(a) Any act of willful misconduct of a minor that results in injury or death to another person or in any injury to the property of another shall be imputed to the parent or guardian having custody and control of the minor for all purposes of civil damages, and the parent or guardian having custody and control shall be jointly and severally liable with the minor for any damages resulting from the willful misconduct.

Subject to the provisions of subdivision (c ), the joint and several liability of the parent or guardian having custody and control of a minor under this subdivision shall not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) for each tort of the minor, and in the case of injury to a person, imputed liability shall be further limited to medical, dental and hospital expenses incurred by the injured person, not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000). The liability imposed by this section is in addition to any liability now imposed by law.

(b ) Any act of willful misconduct of a minor that results in the defacement of property of another with paint or a similar substance shall be imputed to the parent or guardian having custody and control of the minor for all purposes of civil damages, including court costs, and attorney's fees, to the prevailing party, and the parent or guardian having custody and control shall be jointly and severally liable with the minor for any damages resulting from the willful misconduct, not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), except as provided in subdivision (c ), for each tort of the minor.

(c ) The amounts listed in subdivisions (a) and (b ) shall be adjusted every two years by the Judicial Council to reflect any increases in the cost of living in California, as indicated by the annual average of the California Consumer Price Index. The Judicial Council shall round this adjusted amount up or down to the nearest hundred dollars. On or before July 1 of each odd-numbered year, the Judicial Council shall compute and publish the amounts listed in subdivisions (a) and (b ), as adjusted according to this subdivision.

(d) The maximum liability imposed by this section is the maximum liability authorized under this section at the time that the act of willful misconduct by a minor was committed.

(e) Nothing in this section shall impose liability on an insurer for a loss caused by the willful act of the insured for purposes of Section 533 of the Insurance Code. An insurer shall not be liable for the conduct imputed to a parent or guardian by this section for any amount in excess of ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

Therefore, since $25K is not likely to be adequate compensation for serious injuries, the minor is unlikely to have much money to go after, and since intentional acts are not compensible from the insurance (e.g., homeoners policy) of the parent or child, the plaintiff's attorney (for the injured rider) will likely be looking at some kind of argument that the acts of the brat(s) were somehow "negligent" and not intentional or willful, thus potentially invoking an obligation to pay from the parents' homeowners insurer. (The parent won't be responsible for the negligent tort of the minor, but if the minor is living under the parent's roof, he's an insured under the homeowners policy of the parent, and that puts the insurer's indemnity obligations on the line to pay damages resulting from that minor's negligence liability.)

So you typically allege 2 causes of action -- the first is for negligence, and the second (in the alternative) incorporates all the 1st's allegations but also then alleges intentionality, willfulness and malice (intent and willfulness makes the parent liable for up to $25K and malice implicates punitive damages as an additional recoverable amount from the minor). That implicates issues of 1st party insurance bad faith between the insurer and the homeowner parent and minor child that you endeavor to make the insurer see will result if they hang the homeowner out to dry by denying negligence and relying upon intentionality to avoid paying indemnity obligations on behalf of the insureds. It's far more complex than just that and depends on what evidence you have to work with, but the game is usually played that way. Lacking that or some other defendant with liability, the injured rider is SOL for his injuries, except to the extent his own health insurance and med pay coverage on his motorcycle insurance policy provides some benefits.

Used to do this kind of work, and I can tell you that there are more complexities and esoteric issues than you imagine, and many ways for unjust results to be the case's conclusion that you never read about in the media.

 

[madmike2]

I just hope they catch the little...uhm...well...you know the word!

This isn't a practical joke, not when it causes the bodily harm and loss of property this prank did. The kids need to be held responsible, the poor misunderstood children.

Let's hope they are found and that the shadow of what they did follows them for the rest of their lives....like finding a job and their coworkers or boss are motorcyclists and find out what they did...or college professors...or doctor/dentist...or...

And that a good lawyer can open a case as outlined by exskibum and that it would go to trial.

One can only hope!

 

[oldryder]

they'll get caught. anyone stupid enough to do such a thing is also stupid enough to talk about it and, most likely, send the video around. I hope they get prosecuted, got to juve, and find new friends.

 

[Wee Willy]

Some will learn from a stunt like this. I don't know about you folks, but I did some really dumb things when I was a kid and they were mostly done out of curiosity. Wanted to see what happened when __________ (fill in the blank). No malicious intent, just real curiosity and a desire to push the envelope. If real potential for harm was the eventual result, then we walked away sobered with a "hmmm, interesting...hope we won't get caught" sort of attitude.

Some of these little dooseys even involved firearms or low-grade explosives. There were a few that produced results which could have really hurt someone, like filling a used C02 cartridge with smokeless powder and installing a 10 second fuse in the hole to create a po'boy hand grenade. We were always trying to be safe (blew that one up underground), but we were not "trained" in safe methods. We were literally learning on the job. All these were performed out in the boonies or a place like our backyard depending on the perceived risk. We didn't always get the risk right either.

There were a number of times as I look back now where someone (most always a member of the "research team") could have been seriously injured if we had been a little more careless or a little more adventurous. Fortunately though we all made it through and with all our fingers and toes. I still carry that curiosity and desire to push the envelope with me today. I use it routinely in my job as we go about building some of the weirdest and strangest aircraft that ply the skies.

Cheers,

W2

 

[Auburn]

what happened to the wallet on a fishing line laying in the road?

 

[RadioHowie]

There were a few that produced results which could have really hurt someone, like filling a used C02 cartridge with smokeless powder and installing a 10 second fuse in the hole to create a po'boy hand grenade.

Dang, W2, does THAT bring back memories!

But we didn't have access to black powder.....we carefully scraped the heads off several hundred "light anywhere" matches, packed the CO2 cartridges with the results, THEN dipped the CO2 cartridges in epoxy, then BBs, then more epoxy, then more BBs. Now THAT'S a po'boy hand grenade! Used the fuse from a Black Cat firecracker. We were young and stupid. TOO stupid to simply use the black powder from the firecrackers!!

When that sucker went off, windows around for a full block were shattered by the shrapnel.

We were impressed!

 

[Wee Willy]

There were a few that produced results which could have really hurt someone, like filling a used C02 cartridge with smokeless powder and installing a 10 second fuse in the hole to create a po'boy hand grenade.

Dang, W2, does THAT bring back memories!

But we didn't have access to black powder.....we carefully scraped the heads off several hundred "light anywhere" matches, packed the CO2 cartridges with the results, THEN dipped the CO2 cartridges in epoxy, then BBs, then more epoxy, then more BBs. Now THAT'S a po'boy hand grenade! Used the fuse from a Black Cat firecracker. We were young and stupid. TOO stupid to simply use the black powder from the firecrackers!!

That's not a grenade my friend...that, there's a claymore.

My kids were far more tightly controlled in their "formative" years. Things like using the living room as an indoor firing range and other "learning experiences" have been effectively denied them. They are poorer for it.

Thanks for the big grin.

W2

 

[CAJW]

There were a few that produced results which could have really hurt someone, like filling a used C02 cartridge with smokeless powder and installing a 10 second fuse in the hole to create a po'boy hand grenade.

Dang, W2, does THAT bring back memories!

But we didn't have access to black powder.....we carefully scraped the heads off several hundred "light anywhere" matches, packed the CO2 cartridges with the results, THEN dipped the CO2 cartridges in epoxy, then BBs, then more epoxy, then more BBs. Now THAT'S a po'boy hand grenade! Used the fuse from a Black Cat firecracker. We were young and stupid. TOO stupid to simply use the black powder from the firecrackers!!

When that sucker went off, windows around for a full block were shattered by the shrapnel.

We were impressed!

RH,

You grow up in Central California? If so, my old man is looking for you! ( I too was a hooligan, which lends itself for being a better father who raised kids that graduated high school with all their appendages and digits).