Parkour Being Blamed for Teens Death...

[Mark Toorock]

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.

[Alec Furtado]

Yes, everyone simply calm down and wait for the final report. Jumping to conclusions like this doesn't help anybody.



All to best to his family.

[Trevor McDowell]

I didn't read most of your responses so I am just gonna go with my personal opinion.

They are blaming parkour, yes, but do they have a right to? No. They do not. And the reason for that is because parkour is not a physical being that can cause you to die. It is he (or she) who practices parkour that puts everything at risk. As David Belle said: Life is always a risk. So if people are going to blame parkour as if it were a sin that purposely causes someone to fall and die, I believe they are in the wrong. It isn't something to blame. If you don't train regularly and have very basic training, you shouldn't be in parking garages trying super dangerous stunts. Sure you want to push your limits but not far enough to where you will fall like that. So basically my point is that those who blame parkour should understand it before they point a finger.

And my condolences to his family and may he rest in peace.   

[Elet ET]

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.

[Jeremy Osborn]

I feel as if everything has been said. I am truly sad to hear this news, and i hope that his family can recover from a loss like that.
May your spirit move forever freely Kenny.
 

[BlazingHawk]

Man this makes me mad im said that he died but that mom on the video and all his friends are making all of us look like bad people "IDIOTS!" i live right by Sacramento but come on just because one kid f's up the news has to make us look like dumbasses for doing parkour how do we know the kid didnt suicide


this just makes me mad sorry

[NikAs]

Man this makes me mad im sad that he died but that mom on the video and all his friends are making all of us look like bad people "IDIOTS!" i live right by Sacramento but come on just because one kid f's up the news has to make us look like dumbasses for doing parkour how do we know the kid didnt suicide


this just makes me mad sorry

I agree with you on the friends and mom part, that really annoyed me especially the lady. But from there perspective it seems like it because someone they now died. But they cant just something of one case.

[Rebecca Myers]

My condolences to the family and friends of Kenny. It's never easy to bury a loved one, especially when they're young. They will all be in my prayers.

I'm with Alec, everyone needs to chill out and wait for the final conclusion. However, we do have to remember that deaths happen in most sports, albeit that they are uncommon. I saw a Cornell lacrosse player die from getting hit with a ball right under his helmet. The same thing happened in Rochester. But people still play lacrosse. This is not the end of the world.

[Zander G]

It sucks to know that we have lost one of our own... I really feel for his family and friends.

I dont like the fact that the media is portraying us all as "thrill-seeking teens" however. 

[Jake Chess]

How else are they suppose to see us? When there is a detrimental scenario the most logical thing to do is blame it on something else.

What would you like them to say? "Our son was an idiot and he died because of it."?
Of course they are trying to put blame on our community. They don't fully understand what we are about and they aren't just going to put the blame on a loved one.

I for one understand why the family and media is after us. We have the right to defend ourselves but, first we must defend the fact that we are saddened of a loss of a brother traceur.
Humanity and others first. Our own 'benefit' later.

[Brett Mitchell]

I agree that the parkour community should wait for the final report before acting up. However I think that any respectable news agency should do the same.

I read a lot of news, and that was some of the shoddiest reporting I have seen in quite a while. The police officer that was in the video said that they were certain it was not a homicide, but were still not sure if it was accidental or something else.

However the news team just took parkour and went with it. It's obvious they asked leading questions to that traceur (?) they interviewed then just took a few second clip of him saying it could be lethal to some extent.  Their friends were led into saying that he could have been doing parkour. The entire report is basically saying, "We don't know what happened to Kenneth Ta, but it's definitely parkour and it's lethal and deadly."

I'm not saying he wasn't doing parkour, I'm not saying he was. I have no clue what happened, but am just upset at the way the news team handled this story. I would be very saddened if my death were used to destroy something that I loved.