Thursday, July 22, 2010

"I'm Going To Slap A Train" and Other Not So Bright Ideas

Justin Helton, may not have been one of South Carolina's brightest, but at least he had big ideas.

According to the Associated Press, the 23-year-old South Carolina man died after he tried to "bitch slap" a passing train. As he got close to the speeding railroad cars he was apparently sucked off his feet and pulled on to the tracks.

Dorchester County Coroner Chris Nisbet told multiple media outlets that Justin Helton of Summerville was killed around 2 a.m. Thursday.

Nisbet says Helton had been drinking at a bar to celebrate his birthday, got into a fight and went outside. Helton then told someone he was going to "slap a train" that was passing by.

Helton was pronounced dead at the scene.

*****

In Columbia a man broke both legs, while trying to jump out of a third story apartment window. Police say they responded to a call around 1:30 Tuesday night of a naked man lying in the parking lot of North Columbia apartment complex. He reportedly was visiting a women in the complex when her husband unexpectedly came home.
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Authorities say a New Jersey woman told them she was carjacked to cover up the fact that her car crashed because she was having sex.

The 23-year-old had initially told police she got lost on Sunday and asked a man for directions. Police say she told them the man pulled her out of the car at gunpoint and threw her to the ground.
Police say she later admitted she picked up a man and let him drive, and the car crashed into a tree while they were engaged in a sex act. Officers say the car had been set on fire.

The woman is accused of filing a false police report. She has refused to identify the man.

*****
So lessons for the take away, slaping a train traveling more than 50 miles pre hour, is not a good idea. Messing around with married women is not smart, or ...... at least you should have a well thought out escape plan, and finally no biting.

1 comment:

Carissa said...

He wasn't trying to slap the train. He did not try to touch it. That's one person's account, one quote that unfortunately got picked up because it makes a sensational story.

I can tell you that he was not stupid, no more than any other 22 year old. (I mean 23...his birthday cake is still in the refrigerator). From the closest bystander's account, from my cousin the paramedic: he was drunk, he was fighting with his girlfriend (aforementioned bystander), the tracks are maybe ten feet from the bar's parking lot with no barrier from pavement to rail, and he stood too close. He was about 5'6" and less than 150 pounds, so when he walked to within a few feet of the tracks he was just sucked into it.

This is the first time I've commented on any of the stories--you may assume that as a family member I'm lashing out irrationally in grief. I am not angry at what people are saying; I know that isn't what happened and that the impression these people have of him is wrong, so their comments don't really hurt because they just don't know what they are talking about. I guess your particular post made me want to at least say that I hope people realize that they may not have the full story.

I don't expect any strangers to stop and try to process what this could possibly mean to the people who loved him. Death is hard to face, and a tragedy like this one is especially hard to understand.

He was not a dumb person. It was a horrible, horrible accident. I appreciate you providing a forum for me to put the truth out there.