Topic: Parkour Being Blamed for Teens Death...

[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.

[Grant]

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.

[Shawn Meilicke]

i agree in the fact that we should be appreciative of the family, but i will NOT respect the media nor the way they word things, especially in this case. they may not realize how just a few things they say can influence MANY people and change their views on parkour, but it can and will happen. i wouldnt be surprised if that "i cant believe those teens think they can do that stuff!" chick goes out and starts a group against parkour; she may even go as far as trying to get laws passed against it.

the media got the definition of parkour right, but i would think if they got that, it means they got enough information to realize we arent "thrill seeking" teens who recklessly train on buildings, they would see that most of us (at least once informed by our peers if not from the beginning) dont take falls more than chest height until a year+ of training. plus, i would like to know who these reporters talked to that said "parkour hasnt been related in serious injury because its either not happening or no one is reporting it".... why wouldnt she mention the fact that it doesnt happen because we train with safety as a priority? that whole video irritated me, and i read through the article, and apparently the kid was known as a "genius" by his friends, so what would make someone smart do something stupid? im not trying to be mean and im REALLY sorry if i offended anyone but the point im trying to make is that MAYBE it was just an accident, or maybe he didnt just fall.....

whatever, that isnt my place to judge, and i will stop talking about it because i think its too early, however, i believe this news channel needs to talk to some experienced traceurs and and redo their video, because its a "top story" on their website and theyre misinforming a LOT of people.

plus they just so happen to not have a commenting feature on their videos so no one can set viewers straight...

RIP Kenny

*link to article*
http://www.kcra.com/news/21503335/detail.html


EDIT:

i also want to say that i google this incident and KCRA is the ONLY NEWS GROUP with this story! MSNBC just used theirs, and not only is this a popular story on the KCRA site, but the link to their article is popular on twitter as well, meaning its getting a LOT of views.

--just for those of you who dont know, APK is also coming up in the search so its even more reason to be courteous and well informed when posting in here because a lot of people are probably reading this too

[Sezon]

Yes, I also send my condolence to the kid's family, but that news video did sort of get to me -- labeling us as mere 'thrill seekers' and basically calling us reckless and mindless.

[Spencer Rich]

This is why i boycott television media, speculation and sensationalism.  I'm not sure when, but it seems to me that investigative and objective journalism died a long time ago.  They seek to put each story in the most attention grabbing light.  This is a tragedy and as such the instinct is to place blame on something, especially when something the general public doesn't understand is involved.  Best wishes to the family.  RIP

[Jake Chess]

Of course we shouldn't let the media stamp on us. When they are wrong, corrections must be made. I was merely taking the perspective of the family.
I have a lot less respect for the media because they can be very one-sided and still get people to agree with them.

If we are forced to defend our positions then we will. But, once again, for now let us just let the family breathe a little. We will have our say eventually.

[turtlekarma]

damn ... no real upside to this.

[AlexIsDesu]

the lady with the glasses really needs to get laid.

I feel sorry for him, he was so young... he died doing what he loved.

[Anguish12]

Yes it is sad to lose a life. There are millions dieing all over the world.
But if you watch the first vid. posted on this forum, the news cast,
The main thing even remotely showed is flips. there is literaly like only
three parts to the video that even well trained traceurs can barely
even do, let alone a newb, like the large majority of the newcomers
that think it is "easy and cool" just dont know what there getting into.
I have no love loss for anyone getting   INJURED   doing Parkour at a place
like an 8 story parking garage. Seriously, what extra training do you
get from the 100 foot drop?!

Also I'd like to say "injured" is the key word, not dead.

[Jake Chess]

Hey, Anguish12 here is a tip: Post respectively or Stop posting at all, your insensitivity and ignorance is really starting to bug me. We don't know the cause of him falling, he might have been training, he might of just fell. We don't know.

The least you can do is to keep your own insensitivity to yourself. We get that the media doesn't portray our community correctly, and when we get to defend ourselves we will. But, once again, just show some respect for now.

Great, you said injured, but, that matter is Kenny is dead. At least you can say something that is the least bit respectful.
Get your filth out of here.

[I'm sorry to anyone else that thought as this as rude. I'm going to cool down a bit. This kid is really bugging me, Sorry]

[M2.]

Anguish I have to agree.

Here's what I said on Facebook:

Please only say what you would say to someone's face (always a rule on APK)

Next, imagine this was someone you knew personally, your best friend even, then what would you be saying?


Imagine that Kenny's mother will read this, what would you say to her face?



These are the general rules for posting on APK and they apply even more so in a time and situation as serious as this.

[Jeremy Osborn]

I think most of us have forgotten what M2 has just said, APK is beginning to get a lot more trolls and disrespectful posts and users... Lets remember that rule please, i think it would help.