Parkour Being Blamed for Teens Death...

[BobTheKing]

There was a tragedy recently here in Sacramento. A teenager took a fatal fall from a parking a structure. Although we need to keep in perspective how tough it is for the family to loose a young life, and be sensitive to the issue that a life was lost here, it is important to understand exactly what happened before rushing to blame. Please view our local news' perspective of what happened: http://www.kcra.com/video/21503608/index.html

It is important to be prepared for the criticism that parkour is going to take for situations like these. I am torn as what to say, what to do, I just want to share my thoughts and feelings with my fellow traceurs.

[Christian Greene]

  RIP friend..

 ...did anyone here know him?

[Westafur Ward]

I feel very sorry for the family for there loss. But I really want to know more about the kids involvement with parkour. And if he actully knew about what parkour was or if he was just copying what he saw on Youtube. Also im not trying to sound disrespectful I know he just died im just very curious.

My condolences to the family of the poor kid

[Brett Robert]

A few members of SFPK (including me) met him at a 5K he ran with us for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, other than that I don't think he regularly trained with the active and close-knit community in Sacramento, who are some of my closest friends in the world and a great group of dedicated and safe practitioners who freely give their time to teach newcomers the right way. We're all very upset by this tragedy.  Though this loss is tragic no matter what the cause, we remind everyone that at this time there is little evidence and the cause is unknown.

My thoughts are with the family.  It is never easy to bury the young and the worst thing I've ever seen is a father eulogizing his teenage son.

[Ozzi]

Awful sad. So sorry to hear about this.

I hope this doesnt go further than to just emphacize that parkour it is not to be jumping or doing anything type of training at such high risk level places.

My thoughts and condolences to the family.

[Charles Moreland]

This topic is one that the community at large can discuss, so I have moved this to the General Discussion section. Please be courteous and respectful when replying to this thread.

[Matias]

No one knows me here, I'm Matías from Argentina. First of all my condolences for the kid's family and friends.

I just want to add my 2 cents and tell you that we have (unfortunately) already experienced a similar situation in our community a couple of years ago. It is a tough time to endure and a very difficult situation to be handled properly.

Some considerations that I hope to be useful for you.
1) This is a tragedy and the first thing that should be done is give respect and space to the family. This is really important, as anything that may be said or done (even with the best intentions) might be taken wrong by the family.
2) The press handling is difficult. What happened in our community was that reporters and journalist somehow got the personal phone numbers of random traceurs (my guess is that from our very own forum) and contacted them (some of them very young and/or novice) asking questions and stuff and publishing that in the newspaper or TV News programs. In my opinion all traceurs should derive Press to a single group of spokepersons, so they are handled with the proper seriousness and respect
3) Do not rush and try to go out and talk defensively about Parkour. I think that you should wait until the circumstances of the death are determined.

It is somewhat lame that the press in different countries act with same insensitivity, eager to have the exclusive instead of "inform" properly . We had to endure the same accusations about Parkour being a reckless and dangerous discipline, accusations made by people that weren't even aware of what Parkour is all about. But, for some people it is better to sell a piece of news about a "reckless" sport than one of an unfortunate accident  . In the end, the tragedy didn't have anything to do with Parkour, but thanks to the press the damage to our image was done...

Regards

May Kenny Rest In Peace.

[Charles Moreland]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience, Matías.

[Adam C]

We've just gotta be careful on them rooftops guys. There goes my good mood. 

[Charles Moreland]

We've just gotta be careful on them rooftops guys. There goes my good mood. 

Or not be on them at all. That's always an option, and also happens to be the safest!

[Jake Chess]

I am saddened hearing this. I can't even imagine what it was like for Kenny...

If anything there has to be more information before anything is said. The reporters can say whatever they like, it is their job.
But, I think that we should just wait and see for more information.

[Alex frogger Brown]

my opinion, the SFPK should go to his funeral. even if it turns out his death had nothing to do with Parkour, he was a Traceur, are brother in movement. Possibly a misguided Traceur, but still a Traceur.

[Jake Chess]

Only with the consensus of the parents. If it causes them to much pain for them to be there then it would be best to just to send condolences.

And if it is a Parkour related death, I really don't know how the parents are going to take it. Any time they see a person doing it... I can't imagine it.

But, I agree with you Alex, if they do get the permission to go it would be a great thing to do.
 

[Alex frogger Brown]

well, yes. of course with parents condolences. also, SFPK fund raiser for the family, just an idea

[Daniel Kelley]

I've tripped and face planted more times than I have face planted while doing parkour.  Really sucks that he died.


Regardless of whether it is parkour's fault or not the damage has already been done.  Parents will go nuts just because the notion has been presented.

[M2.]

Matias, thanks for sharing, your insight is very valuable and I suggest that we all take it to heed.

[Yow]

Wow I am sad to hear this. But the way everything has been described there seems that something doesn't fit. What was he doing in the parking garage alone? Doesn't seem right.

My condolences to the family

[Ionslash]

I still feel uneasy about them using my videos in their story, and giving specific information relating to the Sacramento team(which I am a part of) without contacting any of us. He had only been training 6 months, and I honestly don't think that he would have been up there for the sole means of doing parkour, especially when he's alone. But my grandma told me they found "all his stuff" at the top of the parking garage, not sure what she means by that, but who knows..



Rest in peace, Kenny.

[Rafe]

Whenever a kid falls of a roof it seems like two things happen which make me sad.
The media assumes it had something to do with parkour.
The parkour community rushes to try to shift the blame somewhere else.

The media always looks for someone to blame and what is not well understood or unfamiliar is always and easy target. I do not believe even one death has yet turned out to be directly attributable to parkour. Its sad the media jumps to these conclusions.

To me it is sadder though that we as community react defensively instead of supportively. Before we get defensive can we not take a moment for a fallen brother a practioner of our discipline and a fellow human.

At the same time let us acknowledge that parkour is dangerous, it may be less dangerous then many other activities like team sports and gymnastics but it is dangerous and eventually people will die while practicing our sport as a result of injuries from falls, prepare yourself for it. Understand you are taking a risk everytime you go out to train. Don't fall into the trap of thinking because we train for safety our training is always safe and nothing can happen to us or any of our fellows.

I know many of us that teach and preach safety have taken risks that could have resulted in death have suffered falls that might have had far worse consequences if this or that variable had just been a little different. Logically and statistically parkour is safe as sports go but life has risks and we all have the freedom to make choices about how we confront those sometimes our choices result in the tragedy. Lets not rush to judge the why something like this happened.

Rest in Peach Kenny my best wishes to your friends and family.

[Sezon]

I'll pray for the future betterment of this family.
Anyway, Parkour isn't a sport, and it's thinking it is one that can lead to serious misfortunes.