In fatal crash that killed 7 year-old, dismissing claims of Fire Department misdeeds without consideration is racist!!!
It seems to me that a great many people in the mainstream media are going out of their way to exonerate the Kansas City Fire Department in a recent crash that killed a 7 year-old kid.
In less than 24 hours propaganda in this town was circulating regarding Fire Department claims that their sires were blaring at the time of the crash. The "evidence" that was offered was merely the 911 tape AFTER the crash had taken place with sirens in the background. Most lazy newsies simply regurgitated the details that public officials had put out there while only thoughtful newsies like Larry Moore noted the timing of the 911 call.
Get it straight . . . I'm not claiming the crash had any racial motivations whatsoever. It was obviously nothing more than a tragic accident.
HOWEVER . . . Kansas City's racially divisive instincts have become increasingly apparent in the aftermath of the crash that killed a child.
A great many comments on this blog and on The Star's site have been insensitive at best and downright hateful at times. For all intents and purposes:
A FEW INTERNET COWARDS ARE EMPLOYING RACIAL OVERTONES AND BLAMING A 7 YEAR-OLD FOR BEING RUN OVER BY A FIRE TRUCK!!!
Also, taking a glance at the chatter in this town it's obvious that the claims of the grief stricken father regarding a cover-up and alleged Fire Department lies in this case are being unfairly dismissed by the same kind of people who can only offer a reactionary and hateful response WHENEVER a person of color speaks out no matter what the circumstances.
It's nothing more than classic Kansas City racial divisiveness that ignores a few facts:
Nevertheless . . . I'm seeing nothing more than the typical unsubstantiated and cruel accusations about the family "winning the lottery" and other callous and seemingly racially motivated talk that doesn't really value the life of a dead Black kid. Sadly, this story is one of many instances where the disparity related to the value of human life that Kansas City holds for people of color is apparent.
Links:
Forget race. Forget the law. And forget the sirens. The kid obviously didn't look both ways before crossing the street. And if he did, he seriously misjudged his ability to beat the truck. It's tragic and sad. But yes, the poor kid contributed to his own death. A crosswalk is just paint, it has no magical protection powers.
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right on Kansas City's disposition to accept the government's way of doing things.
ReplyDeleteAnd a subtle, racially motivated, choosing of sides between minority citizens and white establishment.
Both whites and people of color do it, but take opposite sides. The OJ affair should have taught us all that, if nothing else. People's sense of (in)justice pretty much focused straight down racial lines.
So with this. And most of the 'police caught on tape' stories that surface from time to time. And in fact, a great deal of the Obama presidency. I STILL get racially motivated emails from the same people who've been sending them to me for a year!
We have far to go.
Good point T.
ReplyDeleteactually, to the guy who suggested crosswalk paint is just that... well kids are taught that it IS magical...and you obviously don't know any 7 year olds.
ReplyDeleteDrill to have them cross at the walk, where cars are supposed to yield.. well, kids think just that way.
I expect speed is what killed that child. And the driver was probably driving exactly as he was trained to do. It's THAT policy we need to focus on, not whether a 7 year old understood that firetruck law overrides crosswalk law.
I never heard what 'call' this firetruck was going on. Has anyone asked, for fear it was just a routine 'difficulty breathing' call or an automatic short circuit alarm?
oh let me feed the pig one more moment. Could it be that the fire department races Mast to scenes because RESPONSE TIMES in a LOGBOOK are more important that the lives of people in traffic?
ReplyDeleteMost ambulances slow down at busy intersections for safety... and most fire trucks don't, at least not enough to compensate for their weight and inertia.
This is one reason why firemen do not belong at medical calls. Did a 7 year old give up his life to end this folly to give the MAST work to the Union?
Maybe we should stop the policy of sending a 30-50,000 pound pumper to do what a rescue squad van should be doing?
Radio man makes a good point too.
ReplyDeleteA FEW INTERNET COWARDS ARE EMPLOYING RACIAL OVERTONES AND BLAMING A 7 YEAR-OLD FOR BEING RUN OVER BY A FIRE TRUCK!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd here you are, being one of them.
And radioman, it was an MVA, dipshit. Some reporter.
Those damn firemen (probably mostly white)ran that little black child over on purpose. It is definitely racial.
ReplyDeleteCall Jesse and Sharpton immediately and see if someone can make money off this event.
--Tony and Alonzo, Race Baiters
Ok, Radioman, time to set you straight with some FACTS about the Kansas City Fire Department. You say, "Could it be that the fire department races Mast to scenes because RESPONSE TIMES in a LOGBOOK are more important that the lives of people in traffic?" and I have to tell you that this idea simply is not possible. Mast and KCFD are two seperate entities and do not compete with "response times". They simply do not interact in that way. Mast asked for KCFD to respond on EMS calls that are "life threatening" in nature because there are many more Fire Companies in the city then there are ambulances in a given day. The "response time" issue is purely a Mast issue. That is a clause in their policy to meet certain benchmarks when responding to an incident. FD doesn't have policy set for response times for various reasons. Next issue, "Most ambulances slow down at busy intersections for safety... and most fire trucks don't, at least not enough to compensate for their weight and inertia." Oh really Radioman?? This is a fact? You KNOW that firetrucks don't slow down? I guess thats why you see firetrucks wrecking EVERY SINGLE DAY? Your statement is simply ridiculous at best. You have no idea at all how a fire apparatus is operated. You say, "This is one reason why firemen do not belong at medical calls. Did a 7 year old give up his life to end this folly to give the MAST work to the Union?
ReplyDelete", Radioman you are ignoring FACTS about KCFD and their responses to EMS calls. Do you simply forget that KCFD actually helps and saves peoples' lives 99% of the time?! Their good far outweighs the tragic. You Radioman, are simply a hateful POS who simply wants to "pile on" in a tragic incident and spew YOUR hatred and shallowness, ignoring the facts.
Maybe a racist firetruck will run over your fat ass Tony
ReplyDeleteI drive this way every day with my own seven year old daughter. When we arrived at 9th and Woodland at 4:25, it was a circus. What happened to the boy is tragic, and we shouldn't immediately assume that the fire truck had it's siren on, because the accident happened less than two blocks from the fire station, and I've seen them pull out without turning their siren on immediately.
ReplyDeleteThat said, the children that live in that area are not supervised by their parents. I've seen children as young as seven dart across four lanes of traffic on 9th street, and on Independence Avenue, which is only a few blocks North. I witnessed a little girl almost get run over last summer.
The morel of the story is if you're going to trust your child to walk home from school unsupervised, you need to educate them on traffic laws, and what to do when approached by a stranger.
Good discussion. I am suspicious of KCFD claims on this one.
ReplyDeleteAnd I see the racism in some comments here already.
Yes, fireman, I KNOW the public policy and the reasoning behind it.
ReplyDeleteBut also, as all firemen know, racing through city streets with big heavy trucks is a policy that's been established by government.
They know very well that there WILL be fatal wrecks (dont' call them accidents) as a consequence...and they will happen from time to time. it is ONLY a matter of time when fire trucks will slam into people who didn't hear, who froze like deer, or, well when bad visibility crosses paths with bad luck.
This isn't even an UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE... it is an ACCEPTABLE consequence. Deliberately accepted by those who place us all in harms way to give EMS assistance and keep the firemen from falling asleep between now very rare fires.
Times have changed in the 30 years I've covered firemen... wiring's safer, fewer smokers, fewer fires. But more dead people when firemen slam into them.
I'm suggesting before you name call, you chill out and raise the policy question now that a 7 year old's body is not yet cold.
Are we doing the right thing? If you're a fireman, it's not really your call as a fireman. It's OURS as citizens. You work for US! You do what we tell you.
Are we as a community willing to sacrifice people in traffic from time to time as a consequence for this? Trade one 7 year old coming home from school for ten old people who get CPR a little faster from a fireman before EMS gets there?
That's a value judgment that WE will make, not YOU, fireman! And we're discussing. Either be civil or get ready for your next alarm and we'll let you know what we decide when we're done.
While you're trying to calm down, here's something you can read on the world's most common cause of death:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unintended_consequence
Let the fireman do their job and get out of their way. Is that too much to ask?
ReplyDeleteniggas don't matter in dis fucked up shithole of a city...ded niggas be ded and niggas don't count cause we make most of de shit. po little nigga boy be ded cause another whitey kilt him and de tv ho's say dats ok!
ReplyDeleteWhy are you not employed by any media outlets anymore radioman?
ReplyDeleteNo talent hack!
Your opinion is worth what you get paid for presenting it on the internet ...... nothing. I know who you are and your trash reporting is the reason why you can't keep a job.
Let the investigation run it's course and your insinuations are an insult to anyone who has ever put on a uniform for public safety, yours included!
ReplyDeleteTony, I've got to disagree with you. I don't think race matters one bit in this case. No matter what color the child was, IF the truck had hit the child and was to blame by not having the sirens/lights on, the KCFD would go into PR/Save Our Ass mode regardless of the child's race. It would still be just as wrong for them to do so.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of anything else, the first question I had was why the child crossed the street without holding someone's hand.
I know in first grade I absolutely HAD to hold someone's hand in parking lots and when crossing streets.
I was always taught to look both ways before I set foot off the curb.
Regardless of the lights/sirens being on or not, it's pretty hard to miss a fire truck barelling down the street.
So, I'm sorry, the parents are somewhat to blame for not making this an absolute rule. To me, that it is just as important of a rule as buckling your seat belt and not touching a hot stove.
This is a horrible, tragic accident but it should remind parents to teach their children basic life saving common sense.
So response times are not used in the arguements that KCFD should take over MAST duties?
ReplyDeleteDo you realize how much firetrucks weigh ? Do you have a simple grasp of physics relating to weight and velocity and the space required to stop. Fire trucks cannot stop on a dime. This is a tragic accident and should not be blamed on the KCFD. My problem with this lies in the fact that the father was the first one to layout any racist claims. He didn't waste anytime typing out his warning to blacks about white fireman. If I remember right I think there are a few black firemen. What was a 7 year old child doing running around without supervision after school ?
ReplyDeleteSmokey and the KCFD UNion sez.....jus another nigger killed in lovely Kansas City! Now, how about us taken over the ambulance service in this here city???
ReplyDeleteHave you nig nogs got this debate settled yet?
ReplyDeleteFuck this shit I blame the white man for everything. Where's my check?
ReplyDeleteTHose trucks can accelerate faster and stop better than most ambulances. I have driven both. THe brakes are insane. They can stop pretty damn fast. Look at the pics from the helicopter. That yellow sheet is probably the deceased. It's immediately behind the truck, meaning that they were able to stop VERY quickly.
ReplyDeleteDon't make this into something it's not. This is typical TKC race baiting and trolling on a grand scale. To drag up the MAST issue is to make a straw man argument. Focus on the issue at hand and leave the union games and city politics out of it.
Radioman, you will learn someday. Until then, just keep hating firefighters and what they do. Someday it'll be YOU that they will be racing to save. And while you lay there, dying on the floor, the firefighters that you hate will STILL be there to give you CPR and save your body from going cold.
ReplyDeleteA guy doing his fucking job to go help people who call for it. I know the guy he's as carefull and safe of a driver as they come. Radioman you don't have a fucking clue what it is like to give, time, blood, sweat, tears and maybe even your life for anything but a cheeseburger. You're a big tough guy on here but I don't see your fat candy ass showing up to a firehouse and talking your shit. You're a coward hiding behind Tony's fucking blog. Tony you're a jackoff, I know I'm not getting the cherry on that one, but to suggest there is anything fishy going on here solidifies your place in the world as a douche bag. Both of you should nut up and try saying some of this shit to some guys faces and see what happens, I can tell you for sure firefighters, black, white, brown or however else you want to clasify them would let you know how wrong you are. I'm damn proud to be a fireman in this city and we don't see anyone's color, we see them as people we are trying to help and for you to suggest otherwise proves you for what you are........ A DISGRACE TO THIS FINE CITY. FUCK YOU BOTH YOU POSER BADASS WANNABES.
ReplyDeleteWhat ever happened to looking both ways before you cross the street?
ReplyDeleteHave you been outside as a firetruck with sirens blaring races by? It's loud and hard to miss.
Someone needs to ask if this child was ever taught the basics of crossing a street & the basics of emergency vehicles. All the drivers who witnessed it say the sirens and lights were on. It is much harder to hear sirens inside cars (as these drivers all did) these days than it was for those kids on the sidewalk. The kid should not have run out. It's as simple as that. It is a tragedy but it is in no way the fault of the fire department.
When a kid darts out like that, it's hard for any driver to stop in time, much less the driver of an emergency vehicle -- which tends to be heavier and traveling faster than a normal car.
BLAME THE BOY
ReplyDeleteTKC is the greatest race baiter since that fatass Whitlock. Hang off his shriveled cock Botello. You are used to it. You are the beaner version of Uncle Tom.
ReplyDeleteWas the driver drunk or smoking weed????? Kansas City wants to know.
ReplyDeleteIt's BO's fault. It happened on his watch. He didn't get his edumacation plan in place soon enough.
ReplyDeleteI don't hate firefighters at all... I KNOW they're mostly like 06:37 in maturity.
ReplyDeleteDoens't take maturity to be a fireman or a soldier. They have older men to keep them in line and otherwise, they can dress up and ride around in their trucks.
The problem with kids like this is that they get all defensive. The killing of this boy has nothing to do with firemen. MOreover, they do as they're told.
It has to do with a policy that government has allowed that accepts the loss of innocent lives to get men to the scene of medical calls.
The police departments would love to play cops and robbers on city streets but enough people have been killed in high speed, TV like police chases that they aren't allowed anymore.
Kill a few more kids and then reason will prevail... no more pumpers and hook and ladder trucks will be bullying their way through city streets doing what a smaller rescue squad could do.
Where's Squad 51? What we're doing is having the same kind of policy that scrambles F16's everytime an airline passenger loses his cool on a jetliner.
That is no less ridiculous!
As to you name callers, well you've reflected much worse on your profession than you have on mine. You're basically telling us all that you're more important than the city's children are. And I'm suggesting to you that it's not your call to make. It's ours.
You need to pour some cold water on yourself, sonny. You've spoken for your department and while your friends may slap you on the back, to the rest of us, you sound like a hot head kid we keep our daughters away from. Like Marines, too much testosterone in one uniform! We must be patient for SOOOO LONG for you to grow up!
RADIOMAN, WOW, ARE YOU SURE YOUR LAST NAME ISN'T "WASHINGTON" OR "BROOKS" CAUSE YOU SURE SOUND LIKE IT. EVERYTIME SOMETHING HAPPENS AROUND HERE IT IS MADE ABOUT RACE. THIS IS NOT ABOUT RACE. JUST A TRAGIC ACCIDENT. I AM NOT SAYING THE FD WASN'T OR COULDN'T BE AT FAULT ON THIS ONE, BUT AS FAR AS NOT HAVING THEM RESPOND TO CALLS BECAUSE WE ARE TRADING A FEW LIVES....PLEASE. MY SON WAS SAVED BY A FIREFIGHTER AND THERE ARE MANY, MANY MORE LIVES WHO HAVE BEEN TOUCHED AND SAVED BY THESE MEN AND WOMEN. I AM WILLING TO TRADE A FEW LIVES TO SAVE HUNDREDS RATHER THAN LET HUNDREDS DIE BECAUSE WE "MIGHT" SAVE A FEW. IF THE FD IS AT FAULT THEN THEY SHOULD HAVE TO ANSWER FOR THEIR MISTAKES, BUT I FOR ONE AM NOT WILLING TO "CHANGE THE LAW" AND HAVE THEM QUIT RESPONDING TO MEDICAL CALLS. MOST OF WHAT THEY DO IS MEDICAL CALLS (ACCIDENTS) AND IF I WERE IN A BAD ONE I WOULD SURELY WANT THEM THERE AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.
ReplyDeleteI'm fine with that. Good debate, even tho it would have read better had you not "YELLED" at us with capital letters.
ReplyDeleteYour voice made a good point. I'll repeat two points.. First, the FD needs a fleet of smaller rescue squads... so we use the RIGHT response rather than big trucks whose bellies are full of water and hoses. WRONG VEHICLE! It's like taking a semi trailer truck to quick trip on a bread and milk run.
Or flying a 747 to do traffic reports on morning radio. It's the PUMPER that killed the kid, not the fire department.
Did you see my blog pix from you tube on two fire trucks slamming into each other!
Fire officials know this. Why don't they act? Id rather have POLICE respond, then firemen!
NEVER BELIEVE A GUY WITH A BADGE.
ReplyDeleteRadioman. Do you know why they respond a puper to a car wreck? It's because of the chance of fire as many motor vehicle accidents hace fuel leaks that take a considerable amount of water to put out. Buying the smaller rescue squads you speak of would mean we would need have seperate apparatus for fire's and car wrecks. That's just stupid. When you are out at a crash and a fire comes in you would need to go back to the house to get the other rig. Before you start throwing your 2 cents out telling people how the fire department should be ran, you should educate yourself. That's right put down the slurpee and turn the computer off.
ReplyDeleteRadioman. Do you know why they respond a puper to a car wreck? It's because of the chance of fire as many motor vehicle accidents hace fuel leaks that take a considerable amount of water to put out. Buying the smaller rescue squads you speak of would mean we would need have seperate apparatus for fire's and car wrecks. That's just stupid. When you are out at a crash and a fire comes in you would need to go back to the house to get the other rig. Before you start throwing your 2 cents out telling people how the fire department should be ran, you should educate yourself. That's right put down the slurpee and turn the computer off.
ReplyDeleteRadioman. Do you know why they respond a puper to a car wreck? It's because of the chance of fire as many motor vehicle accidents hace fuel leaks that take a considerable amount of water to put out. Buying the smaller rescue squads you speak of would mean we would need have seperate apparatus for fire's and car wrecks. That's just stupid. When you are out at a crash and a fire comes in you would need to go back to the house to get the other rig. Before you start throwing your 2 cents out telling people how the fire department should be ran, you should educate yourself. That's right put down the slurpee and turn the computer off.
ReplyDeleteNot to diminish this last tragedy because it is a terrible tragedy, but the real story here is the number of people who have been killed or seriously injured in crashes involving KCMO Fire Department vehicles. If somebody spent some time digging they would find multiple crashes over the last several years, including at least one with one of their own dying. Yet they continue to drive the trucks like they are driving Porsches. I doubt they have ever been found at fault in a single crash.
ReplyDeleteLights and sirens do not mean you have no responsibility for others safety.
Yes, there have been accidents involving fire deparmentment trucks, but they do respond to over 50,000 calls a year. When your on the road that much, accidents will happen. Just something to think about.
ReplyDeleteI am in utter shock that people can blame a 7 year old, in the slightest. Are you kidding me? Come on. The media and city of Kansas City have stated that the child ran into the side of the fire truck. If you idiots have studied psychology... which i am sure that you haven't, because most of you are uneducated citizens that want their 2 cents to be heard. A child, no matter the age, does not run into the side of a fire truck. It's unlikey. Not only that, people try to sugar coat this situation by saying its the child's fault. The fireman are supposed to be protectors, and instead you have to keep your kids locked up because they travel at speeds that should only be seen on the highways. Its also an issue of education. The same instance happened in Leawood kansas. A young girl was hit and killed by a speeding fire truck. Her parents were well educated, and high on the social ranking. Guess what? They sued the city. Not in this case...In most cases, state patrol is called in to investigate these cases. Guess who was this time? The city of KANSAS CITY... yes.. why would the go in favor of a man of a different race, when they would surely have to pay him? Why would the city of KC go against... hmmm, the CITY OF KC?
ReplyDelete