As we noted there was some sledding mayhem in Prospect Park on Martin Luther King Day and a child ended up being injured. Here’s the rest of the story and the outcome from a Park Slope Parents email. As it turns out, it wasn’t a teen that injured the child, but an adult, who then walked away without so much as saying “I’m sorry,” which is an utter outrage:My son was the one driven away by an ambulance. He was thrown into the air and landed on his face, flipped back from there and then hyper extended his back into a bridge. Luckily he appears to have `only’ sprained his back. We are hoping this will not have any long term consequences for him. He did not get run over by an unsupervised bigger kid, but that does not mean we shouldn’t remind our big ones to be considerate. My son got run over by a dad who not only did not seem to know how to control his sled on a crowded slope but instead of offering an apology or showing any concern for the child lying in front of him in pain and unable to move, he could only remark that my son should have moved since he had called out to him to get out of the way! And then he disappeared! I cannot believe how inconsiderate people are and find the reaction of that dad outrageous. So again our son appears to be o.k., although he has not been in school the last two days. The lesson learned, other then watching out for each other, is clear to me and unfortunately disappearing in our society rapidly, that we need to take RESPONSIBILITY for our actions- no matter what it is. So I on behalf of my son will still accept an apology (man who ran into my kid if you are reading this) in case you would like to leave the “dark side”.
GL ANALYSIS:
The mother of this little boy is far too kind. As much fun as we have poking fun at kids in Park Slope, someone should find this vile adult–allegedly a father no less–who hurt a kid and do more than make him apologize. Surely, someone who was there knows who this “dad” is. The Mad Sledding Father of Park Slope owes the entire community an apology and it sure sounds to us like there may be serious legal liability if the events are accurately described. He’s probably one of those people who won’t even slow down when he turns a corner even if he’s going to hit you. And, he’s a father? Maybe as an encore, he could kick a puppy out of his way on the sidewalk and curse the owner because the little dog dared get in his way. What a sickening story about someone who sounds like he could stand some quality time with a therapist. We’ll leave it to your imagination what we really think someone should do to this dude.
15 responses so far ↓
1 AY // Jan 22, 2009 at 9:50 am
Oh lord, what a stereotype. Bunch of fanoiks.
2 these nuts // Jan 22, 2009 at 10:28 am
Whatever you want to do to this guy you need to do to this sappy blog. SO, GL is all about PSParents now? Ewww.
3 cpj // Jan 22, 2009 at 10:48 am
why wasnt the mother watching her child…its always someone elses fault
4 bjfe // Jan 22, 2009 at 10:57 am
Seriously? Lighten up everyone! All of a sudden a sledding mishap is a call to arms. If your kid can’t get out of the way then s/he shouldn’t be sledding. Injuries happen. Life ain’t fair. The guy probably left cause he thought you’d sue or he thought your kid was faking. Park Slope is filling up with a bunch of pansies for crying out loud.
5 Attack of the Park Slope Parent // Jan 22, 2009 at 11:01 am
Good question, cpj! The mom writes that “we need to take RESPONSIBILITY for our actions,” but she allowed her son to sled on a “crowded slope” where this kind of thing could happen? Granted, the guy was a jerk, but jeez.
6 willbilly // Jan 22, 2009 at 11:29 am
its never the kids fault, or the mother’s.
7 kris // Jan 22, 2009 at 1:08 pm
So cpj, how exactly do you expect a parent to “watch” a child who is in the middle of sledding down a hill? Are they supposed to run down and snatch them out of the way? Magically levitate them? Get real. You all complain when parents are concerned about their kids and then complain that they’re not vigilant enough. I wonder who you think is going to be removing your gall bladders, diagnosing your Alzheimer’s, investing your pension funds and designing your retirement communities. It will be the stable, well-educated and competent children of us over-protecting, spoiling and obsessive PSParents.
8 Tiger // Jan 22, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Actually, given I was there at the time of the emergency, maybe the Mom should speak to the Dad (David) about taking off with the Dog (Zabo) not leaving her little boy unattended. She really should thank the kindness of strangers for finding dad when he did a houdini with the dog. Given what I know about the disappearing Dad, maybe little boy was in the wrong on the crowded hill given that adult supervision was lacking on all points.
9 petunia // Jan 22, 2009 at 5:17 pm
I was one of the seekers of David and Zabbo during this incident (though I was not the finder), and Tiger is right in that the Dad of this poor kid shouldn’t have taken off with his dog for so long. But give me a break, the Dad who sledded into this kid is an adult, with an adult’s reflexes and, supposedly, common sense. It was pretty chaotic that day (many parents standing on the hill were totally unaware there was even an injury until the ambulance showed up), and an adult should have the sense not to go full-bore down the hill and just assume kids will leap out of the way in time. Yes, kids should go up the side, but that’s a separate issue. There were way too many 5 and 6 year olds who were standing mid-slope and not even looking up the hill that day, but still, you can’t just mow them down like bowling pins!
10 mag // Jan 23, 2009 at 7:38 am
Petunia makes a great point. Bottom line: this guy is an adult, and acted irresponsibly. I’ve been there many times with my kid and have seen these jerk adults fly down that hill regardless who is in front of them. It’s an extenstion of the Park Slope Master of the Universe attitude and no common sense. Let the kids have fun, and yes supervise your kids, make sure they are wearing a helmet too (I just read on PSP that wearing a helmet “robs their child of their childhood”). Goes both ways, I guess.
11 D // Jan 23, 2009 at 5:22 pm
If the Secret Service couldn’t stop the Vice President from accidentally shooting his friend in the face, how can a parent stop a sledding accident? On the other hand, any parent who walks off while his child plays in a NYC park is out of his F-ing mind.
12 Janet // Jan 23, 2009 at 8:34 pm
It happened to be an adult sledder, but with the crowding on the hills in the park Monday something was bound to happen. There are jerks of all ages without adequate control of their sleds flying down the hills.
I’ve also noticed that on school holidays like this one, when not every parent has off from work and the parent who is watching his/her kids and maybe even other people’s may not be used to being out and about with them, poor supervision is obvious in the playground and elsewhere.
13 ChickenUnderwear // Jan 23, 2009 at 9:10 pm
I was there with my 8 year old twins and left when my son got a little banged up. There was a lot a chaos.
14 Ajlouny // Jan 31, 2009 at 10:49 pm
No matter who’s fault it was, it would have still been a good idea to stop and to see if the child was okay. It wasn’t okay to assume everything was good and walk away. The possibility of the boy being injured was big if he was hit and landed on on the ground.
15 james // Nov 16, 2009 at 1:53 pm
JUST WANTED TO GIVE A HEADS UP
watch out for the fence at the bottom of the sledding hill just to the left of dog beach in prospect park
the hill looks pretty flat there but sleds hit it with speed
my daughter struck the pole with her head while on her sled
had MRI–she is fine but we were beside ourselves with anguish over it