Stunt Riding Gone Bad
#1
10-14-2008, 04:59 PM
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Indianapolis and Toledo
Posts: 5,599
Stunt Riding Gone Bad
This a long stroy and I know some of you hate that, but it tells an important lesson and is very sad.
By ERIN WOOD
of the Journal Star
Posted Oct 06, 2008 @ 01:29 AM
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PEORIA — Just after learning his 4-year-old son was dead and just before he was taken into police custody, Michael Wells cried in his mother's lap.
"He said, 'Mom, I just want to go home to my son, but he's not going to be there,'" a sobbing Crystal Wells said Sunday evening of her 21-year-old son.
Michael Wells was performing a wheelie on his motorcycle in the parking lot of Hundman Lumber, 2601 W. Altorfer Drive, about 5:30 p.m. Saturday when he struck his son, Ashton, who was riding a bicycle nearby.
The East Peoria man, a forklift driver by trade, was arrested later Saturday evening for aggravated reckless driving and operating a motorcycle on one wheel, among other charges.
He said goodbye to his dead son while wearing handcuffs, Crystal Wells said.
"He looked at me and said, 'Mom, this was an accident. I would have traded places with him and taken my own life before I let my son be hurt,'" she recalled.
Michael Wells, a recreational motorcyclist, and friends occasionally got together with friends to perform stunts on their bikes, Crystal Wells said. They were given permission months ago to practice their tricks in the parking lot of the lumber yard near the Allen Road Wal-Mart Supercenter, she said.
Ashton, who looked up to his dad, always wanted to come along, but Michael Wells hadn't allowed it before Saturday. The boy's mother, Holly Blanch, and several other spectators tagged along to watch Saturday's practice. The energetic 4-year-old was given a bit of free rein on his bike.
According to Crystal Wells, her grandson was riding his bike at the opposite end of the lumber yard parking lot while his dad performed his stunts. Excited to finally be free of training wheels and even more excited about being with his dad, the boy darted toward his father before Blanch could catch him - and before Michael Wells had a chance to react.
His first instinct, Crystal Wells said, was to rush his injured son to the nearest medical help he could find - Methodist MedPointe on North Knoxville Avenue, 2 1/2 miles away. When they arrived, Ashton Wells had a pulse and was breathing but was immediately transported by ambulance to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m.
Police went to the hospital and escorted Michael Wells back to the scene of the accident for questioning. He was arrested at the scene shortly thereafter and was driven back to the hospital in handcuffs to view his son's body.
The two were inseparable, Crystal Wells said. Six months ago, Michael Wells had "Ashton" tattooed on his wrist, which he nervously rubbed at the hospital while waiting to hear his son's condition. A protective father, Michael Wells wouldn't let his son ride his bike outside the yard.
"He was a grieving father who didn't have time to comprehend what happened," Crystal Wells said while dabbing her eyes with a nearly empty roll of toilet paper and smiling at a sea of pictures spread across the kitchen table in her Peoria home. Crystal Wells, said Saturday was the first time the boy was allowed to watch his father and his friends practice motorcycle stunts. She told police Ashton darted away from his mother and rode toward his father so quickly that Michael Wells didn't have time to react. "My son needs to be with his family. He is a grieving father, not a criminal."
Michael Wells will make his first appearance before a judge today. An autopsy on the boy is also scheduled for today.
By ERIN WOOD
of the Journal Star
Posted Oct 06, 2008 @ 01:29 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PEORIA — Just after learning his 4-year-old son was dead and just before he was taken into police custody, Michael Wells cried in his mother's lap.
"He said, 'Mom, I just want to go home to my son, but he's not going to be there,'" a sobbing Crystal Wells said Sunday evening of her 21-year-old son.
Michael Wells was performing a wheelie on his motorcycle in the parking lot of Hundman Lumber, 2601 W. Altorfer Drive, about 5:30 p.m. Saturday when he struck his son, Ashton, who was riding a bicycle nearby.
The East Peoria man, a forklift driver by trade, was arrested later Saturday evening for aggravated reckless driving and operating a motorcycle on one wheel, among other charges.
He said goodbye to his dead son while wearing handcuffs, Crystal Wells said.
"He looked at me and said, 'Mom, this was an accident. I would have traded places with him and taken my own life before I let my son be hurt,'" she recalled.
Michael Wells, a recreational motorcyclist, and friends occasionally got together with friends to perform stunts on their bikes, Crystal Wells said. They were given permission months ago to practice their tricks in the parking lot of the lumber yard near the Allen Road Wal-Mart Supercenter, she said.
Ashton, who looked up to his dad, always wanted to come along, but Michael Wells hadn't allowed it before Saturday. The boy's mother, Holly Blanch, and several other spectators tagged along to watch Saturday's practice. The energetic 4-year-old was given a bit of free rein on his bike.
According to Crystal Wells, her grandson was riding his bike at the opposite end of the lumber yard parking lot while his dad performed his stunts. Excited to finally be free of training wheels and even more excited about being with his dad, the boy darted toward his father before Blanch could catch him - and before Michael Wells had a chance to react.
His first instinct, Crystal Wells said, was to rush his injured son to the nearest medical help he could find - Methodist MedPointe on North Knoxville Avenue, 2 1/2 miles away. When they arrived, Ashton Wells had a pulse and was breathing but was immediately transported by ambulance to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m.
Police went to the hospital and escorted Michael Wells back to the scene of the accident for questioning. He was arrested at the scene shortly thereafter and was driven back to the hospital in handcuffs to view his son's body.
The two were inseparable, Crystal Wells said. Six months ago, Michael Wells had "Ashton" tattooed on his wrist, which he nervously rubbed at the hospital while waiting to hear his son's condition. A protective father, Michael Wells wouldn't let his son ride his bike outside the yard.
"He was a grieving father who didn't have time to comprehend what happened," Crystal Wells said while dabbing her eyes with a nearly empty roll of toilet paper and smiling at a sea of pictures spread across the kitchen table in her Peoria home. Crystal Wells, said Saturday was the first time the boy was allowed to watch his father and his friends practice motorcycle stunts. She told police Ashton darted away from his mother and rode toward his father so quickly that Michael Wells didn't have time to react. "My son needs to be with his family. He is a grieving father, not a criminal."
Michael Wells will make his first appearance before a judge today. An autopsy on the boy is also scheduled for today.
#2
10-14-2008, 05:09 PM
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 12,584
So whats the point of the story? to say stunting is bad? no its not, it was just an accident... can always point fingers... maybe the mother should have been watching him.... but bottom line, accident. Very Very sad.
#4
10-14-2008, 05:27 PM
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Indianapolis and Toledo
Posts: 5,599
Yeah, theres really no point other than it was a sad accident. I just wanted everybody to be aware that if you are going to do wheelies or stunts, keep your kids in a safe place. Things like that can easily be forgotten and then bad things can happen. You just never know!
#6
10-14-2008, 05:50 PM
While I'm not a big fan of stunting or stunters, I have to point out the inequity of this country's legal system...or the inequity between different states' legal systems anyway.
Not that long ago, a woman driving her SUV killed her own child while returning home from a shopping trip. Crushed him in her own driveway. To my knowledge, she was not charged.
So tell me how this is fair: While I agree that the stunter in the above story was doing something he 'wasn't supposed to be doing", (but at least he wasn't doing it on the street), wasn't the woman in the SUV being equally as careless? Nobody was keeping track of the kid and he was allowed to be run over by his own parents' vehicle because she's basically a negligent dumbass. Why isn't THAT a crime??
Accidents happen, and most can be avoided, but putting a grieving father in prison is not going to help anyone or anything. The loss of a child was enough....now they lose everything.
Not that long ago, a woman driving her SUV killed her own child while returning home from a shopping trip. Crushed him in her own driveway. To my knowledge, she was not charged.
So tell me how this is fair: While I agree that the stunter in the above story was doing something he 'wasn't supposed to be doing", (but at least he wasn't doing it on the street), wasn't the woman in the SUV being equally as careless? Nobody was keeping track of the kid and he was allowed to be run over by his own parents' vehicle because she's basically a negligent dumbass. Why isn't THAT a crime??
Accidents happen, and most can be avoided, but putting a grieving father in prison is not going to help anyone or anything. The loss of a child was enough....now they lose everything.
#7
10-14-2008, 05:58 PM
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Indianapolis and Toledo
Posts: 5,599
Just a clear case of cops that only go by the book, and do not look at the human and emotional side of the story. They should have known that this guy would never intentionally hit his kid. And stunting on private property normally only hurts the stunters. This is just another reason I dont like cops. I know that society has to have them, and most things they do are necessary, but wheres the latitude to just do whats right in special cases like this?
I gues being a die hard Rebel, I will never understand!
I gues being a die hard Rebel, I will never understand!
#8
10-14-2008, 06:00 PM
Join Date: May 2008
Location: West By God Virginia!
Posts: 6,656
+1,,,, its not fair for the young father,, not far at all,, and it down right pisses me off because me and my boss was just talking about this,, if your in a cage and hit a cage in the state of WV and you kill another guy in the other cage then its an accident but if this was to happen here he would have gone to jail also due to the fact hes a stereotype younge punk,,, according to most not all but most authority figures such as the police and court systems... its not fair and im pissed
#9
10-14-2008, 06:41 PM
the point? the police system is in a state of malfunction.
he was on private property so I don't think "operating a motorcycle on one wheel" even applies. the accident was hardly an agravated assault.
system abuse used to punish the guy for doing an activity that others don't aprove of.
personally I'm not big on stunting, not really a fan, but he doesn't deserve the treatment he is getting. other than him riding a wheely at the time of the accident it is no different than if the kid rode his bike out int othe road as the father was pulling into the driveway with his car or truck.
**** like this pisses me off
he was on private property so I don't think "operating a motorcycle on one wheel" even applies. the accident was hardly an agravated assault.
system abuse used to punish the guy for doing an activity that others don't aprove of.
personally I'm not big on stunting, not really a fan, but he doesn't deserve the treatment he is getting. other than him riding a wheely at the time of the accident it is no different than if the kid rode his bike out int othe road as the father was pulling into the driveway with his car or truck.
**** like this pisses me off