Monster truck debris kills 6-year old boy at Tacoma Dome
Debris from a Friday night Tacoma, Washington monster truck show flew into the crowd, killing a six-year old boy. The tragic accident happened during the Monster Jam at the Tacoma Dome while trucks were competing in the event's freestyle competition.
Evidently, something on the monster truck Natural High (seen above) broke and became airborn while the truck was doing donuts, and the debris flew over a safety barrier and into the crowd of 10,000. The debris, described as a "metal ring weighing 7 to 12 pounds," hit Sebastian Hizey (above, left) in the head while he was watching the show with his family. Hizey died early Saturday morning from the injury. At least one other spectator was injured, but their condition and identity has not yet been released.
Despite cries from the audience to stop the show, the show continued while medical attention was administered to the boy and the other injured party. An investigation into the accident is underway.
[Sources: Associated Press (via Yahoo); News Tribune; Newsday]
Get a WordPress.com Blog
_opt_thumbnail.jpg)
_thumbnail.jpg "2011 Audi A8: Live from Miami")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
PaulPaul 11:02AM (1/19/2009)
:(((( that is terrible
Reply
Chris Carey 12:47PM (1/19/2009)
You know what though, had they shut down the event people would have started streaming out of the event keeping emergency vehicles from exiting.
I would have canceled the event the next day and put up larger barriers though...
Rich 1:04PM (1/19/2009)
Chris, are you saying they don't have emergency vehicles on site already? Are you saying they don't have a planned "escape" route?
It took me longer to write that than to think it, and it wouldn't take much longer to implement it, and still not that much longer to write it into a legal proposition. Now add something more meaningful: a simple series of event-readiness checks. I don't know what they would be, so I'm not going to make stuff up -- but a metal ring weighing 6-7 lb. should not be able to fly off and kill someone in an event where such checks are done. They should fail safely.
I'm not talking about regulation from "on high" -- I'm talking about self regulation, with legal backup to prevent the fly-by-nights from undermining their efforts.
Evidently, the event organizers for *all* such events are the fly-by-nights we should seek to be preventing from doing business.
Not that any of this would have changed what happened to the poor boy. It's tragic, and very little could have been done to prevent it (a heavy chunk of metal isn't going to be stopped by netting). Personally, I don't think this type of event (monster truck, rodeo, circus, etc) is particularly inviting -- in fact my gut reaction would be to have them banned -- but in reality, they should be regulated in a fair way that encourages safety. They're businesses after all, and bring variety to some shitholes.
Randy 2:27PM (1/19/2009)
My thoughts and prayers are with him, the family and the driver. It's not good for anyone!
I think events like that should have full dome screen. Like mosquito netting but made of much stronger materials. Just a thought...
xspeedy 11:03AM (1/19/2009)
I read about this on Yahoo. Supposedly spectators started throwing cups down to the floor to get the attention of organizers to call attention to the injured and to stop the show.
Don't think I'll ever (not like I would have anyway) take my kid to one of these events. Not because of the risk, but because of the response (or lack thereof).
Reply
James 11:04AM (1/19/2009)
How very tragic for motor sport accidents like this to happen to such a young fan...my prayers go out to the Hizey family...
Reply
ack154 11:07AM (1/19/2009)
That is ridiculous that they didn't stop the show. I could see if someone maybe got a bump on the head from something, but if something flew OFF OF THE TRUCK into the crowd, you shut it down.
Reply
Jj 11:18AM (1/19/2009)
They also went ahead with a show on Sunday with no changes to the safety barriers or anything.
esteva03 11:24AM (1/19/2009)
yes. if a truck is the reazon why there have been any kind of injurys on the stands you cant just fix it and bring it back out. more people could get hurt. i always thought that monstertrucks were stupid but now i kno that there are people who are more stupid than the trucks. sad to think this would happen to anyone. i pray the parents can find some confort on anything.
Gary Blomquist 3:20PM (1/19/2009)
You are "Right On" with your comment.
I think it is a travesty that the show continued that day, and even continued the venue for the next few days thereafter.
Seems like human life is real expendible for the almight dollar........"Let The Show Go On".
By the way, the boy's dad collapsed at the stadium from shock, as he probably knew his 6 year old son was possibly mortally wounded. If it had been one of my sons, I might have collapsed in shock myself. Just thinking of what happened to that boy and the impact on the parents just hit's me like a freight train.
I have three grown sons now, but when they were little guys, I took them to a Mickey Thompson outdoor stadium offroad racing event at Candle Stick Park(49'er's play there), involving mostly motor cycle racing, but Ford's Big Foot was there to do some jumps and spin some donuts for the crowds.
The worst we encountered from Big Foot was lots of dirt clods flying on/at us from quite a distance. Never the less, we had no screening, in front of our area, and we had seats close to ground level! Some of the pieces of dirt were pretty big and were flying at us at a pretty good clip. Never thought, but one good sized, hard piece of dirt could have really hurt me or my sons, or put an eye out.
Anyway, this 6 year old's death brought back memories of that time with my boys. Definitely a freak accident, that might never happen again, yet the potential for it to happen was there. It's going to take some metal screening and not netting to stop several pound pieces of metal flying at the crowd.
My heart really goes out to the family, and especially the parents of that little boy. I have a 6 year old grandson, who is so precious to me. The news of that terrible loss of life, hit me hard as a grandpa and dad/parent.
I think that if this happened 20 or more years ago in America, the ethical choice would have been very clear: Stop the show!!!! Times have really changed in our country. Ever so-often our country gets a wake-up call, and we start to rally together, and become a community, as fellow American citizens, but unfortunately a tragedy usually has to happen again. We start to get out of our infatuation with money, 4 wheel toys, entertainment, and begin to realize what really matters in life, and it can't be bought, or replaced with material things or money. Self, fame, are just the skewed routes that we seek out to establish some kind of identity for ourselves, yet we are all on a flat playing field when in comes to life. Rich or poor, we all have about 3 score, and 10 years on average, and we've either spent our life serving ourselves, or giving of ourselves.
This little boy's family needs a lot of love, and attention from us fellow Americans right now.
One little 6 year old's life is more important than all the money spent on tickets for the event, or the potential pay checks that would have been smaller or gone if they cancelled the event for the next few days after.
This wasn't a professional driver being killed in front of the spectators. Those things can and do happen (Dale Earnhardt Sr.), for example. When an innocent spectator is killed or maimed, who came to be entertained, and assumed that their safety, and security was assured, then that's a whole different thing. IMO
denton 7:24PM (1/19/2009)
I agree. That's terrible. My heart goes out to the poor boy and his family. The fact that the show continued on and didn't skip a beat is only a slap in the face to the family. What a shame.
Frank 11:16AM (1/19/2009)
Wow that's redic. That's something I've always wanted to see. Not anymore.
Reply
MTU 5.0 11:30AM (1/19/2009)
The story was linked on Drudge the other day. Gut wrenching story when you hear some of the details. The poor parents. :(
timoloco 11:30AM (1/19/2009)
I'm a die hard fan of the sport of monster truck racing and must say that it is very safe sport. This is probably the only 2nd death in monster truck history (that I've ever heard)and as stated in the article, " it was a freak accident" My prayers go out to the families of those injuried and the Natural High team.
Reply
Stevo 11:48AM (1/19/2009)
It sadly isn't the second...I did some searching and found 4 just now in the past 10 years. Just like Chad said it's like an air show where something could go wrong but at the very least stop the show not only just out of respect but to also examine EXACTLY what went wrong.
I've never went to a monster truck show and have been wanting to but not after seeing something like this!!
info 12:39PM (1/19/2009)
Oh yes, only two deaths. No reason to cancel the show. Maybe they should add some gladiator fight also. After all, the masses must be entertained. Panem et circenses.
Jason 5:53PM (1/19/2009)
Do you know how many monster truck shows there are each year around this country? There are two alone in my town this year and it's a small town. (140k people) To have spectator deaths is not acceptable, agreed. But the odds are VERY small that you will get hit by something. The article is right, this was a freak accident. Sounds to me like it was probably the brake disk from the rear of the truck. Small part, but definitely deadly.
Chad 11:28AM (1/19/2009)
I bet a new safety law is on it's way from somewhere. Not sure what they could do to prevent this in the future though. Might be like going to an air show, you have to assume there is a danger in going.
Reply
srivendel 11:29AM (1/19/2009)
It is unconscionable that they didn't stop the show. The promoter should be put out of business for us callousness (or cluelessness, doesn't matter). Motorsport events always carry an element of danger for the audience for precisely this lesson. This is a tragic reminder. Those poor parents.
Reply
slicecom 11:39AM (1/19/2009)
While this is a terrible tragedy and my heart goes out to that boy's family, some of you people are just ridiculous! This was a freak accident and nothing like it has happened in the history of Monster Jam events. Calling these events dangerous is as stupid as calling a tennis match dangerous because the ball could hit you in the head at 200km/hr and kill you. Yes, it could happen, but you're much more likely to choke and die on whatever food you're eating while watching the event.
I find your lack of perspective astonishing, and people like you are the reason America is the most fearful country on earth. The news full nothing but hyperboyle and fear mongering. If you don't want to go to these events, don't! But don't ruin it for the rest of us.
Reply