UPDATE: Seven Teenagers Killed in NC car wreck fleeing from police. (1 suspected of home invasion)

The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte.com) ^ | 30 DEC 03 | ERICA BESHEARS, ROBERT MOORE & KATHRYN WELLIN

[Political Junkie Too]

After reading yesterday's thread, and now this one, I don't think the kids were pushed into speeding because of a police chase. I think just the presence of the police car panicked them because they thought they were being tagged for the home invasion. It was probably just a coincidence that the police car was there, even though the kids didn't know it.

-PJ

[Age of Reason]

And let's not leave out the car manufacturer for being so negligent as to not place a warning sticker (in several languages) addressed to car thieves on the dasboard.

[BossLady]

The parents all showed up at the death scene to criticize everyone else......I am wondering where the parents were when the kids were stealing, joyriding and causing mahem on the road???

[Age of Reason]

The only good scumbags are dead scumbags.

Agreed. I enjoy news stories with a happy ending like this one.

[Walkin Man]

Obviously there is no way the police are gonna win these arguments.

What if they had let them flee, then another robbery was committed and people were killed? What if they had let them speed away and they slammed into a car full of innocent people?? Plus apparently one of them was named as a participant in an armed home invasion and was fleeing in a stolen car.

Thats two felonies right?

Yeah, lets just let felons bust into peoples homes and rob people at gunpoint (or worse) then give them a free get away.

The police were doing their jobs and the criminals, young though they were, paid the price of lawlessness.

Old saying: F around, F around, pretty soon you won't be around.

Young people aren't immune to death, they just think they are.

PS The parents of these kids sure did one fine job of raising them. /sarcasm

[Khurkris]

...toxicology report says....?

[vetvetdoug]

I weren't no cop basher. Maurice et al will burn in Hell.

[CyberCowboy777]

Thanks for the update.

New comments will be interesting.

[cubreporter]

That was our thought that even before Police saw them weaving and speeding that they could have hit an oncoming car with a family. Bad situation and very sad but the part that bothered me too was one article I read where it said they woudl borrow cars from friends and joyride? Why would you lend a car to an underage person with no license???? It's all just so senseless. I will pray for their souls and will pray for their familes as that is all that can be done. I will also pray for the policeman who was doing his job to protect all of us. He will most certaily feel this tragedy and it will stay with him for the rest of his life so...everyone suffers because of irresponsible acts.

[Bonaparte]

"You follow them, you don't push them to go faster..."

Right. An officer spots a car being driven erratically and just allows it to proceed. Makes sense to me. Afterall, what's the harm in letting one more potentially drunk or substance-impaired driver kill more people on the road?

[BlueNgold]

Thanks for the update.

Cop gets close enough to identify, lights em up, hits the cam, BACKS OFF, and now he's the bad guy .. what a bunch of Horse $#!& .... kids commit multiple felonies, panick, and crash while the cop does EXACTLY what he's supposed to do - and yet parents and 'community leaders' want to comlain that the cop is the criminal and the kids are the victims. You roll the dice, you move your mice, and sometimes the trap crashes down hard ...

[HIDEK6]

...toxicology report says....?

The headline in the Greensboro News and Record held a statement, "No drugs and (sic) alcohol) found."

I think they were trying to say, Oh my, what a tragic accident.

[ladyinred]

I was feeling such great sorrow and sympathy for the families of the kids as I began reading this story. Then all of that almost disappears when I see they are blaming the police, instead of the fact that these kids got into a stolen car and raced through the streets. Why not blame the kids for doing this, blame themselves for not knowing where their kids were? This sickens me. What a society we live in. Still, the death of these children is so very sad.

[DCBryan1]

LOL....liberal editorialist are already calling these "good kids"...

Check it out:
(Information, but not answers)

[Guenevere]

Agree....and how is this any different from Michael Jackson blaming the police and everyone else for his crime.

He and others like him set the examples for these young kids to emulate!

[kaboom]

It doesn't even look like there was really a chase in this case. The kids were already doing 80-100mph when the cop started following them. He eventually put on his lights and fell back after 15 seconds at high speed pusuit. 15 seconds would be enough to let the driver know that the party was over and it was time to pull over. The kid opted to run and killed himself and his friends.

[moehoward]

Not if the car is stolen.

[Not A Snowbird]

You beat me to it... Eugene Arnold seems to be the only parent mentioned who behaved like a parent. How many parents called the police the next morning after they discovered their kids hadn't come home? What the heck?

[ArrogantBustard]

Terminal Stupidity.

[moehoward]

Yes. Reminds me of a blond joke.
Blond gets her car stolen, cop asks for a description of the perp. blond's recollection is fuzzy but she DID get the plate number.