Police release videotape of teen's failed stunt
| NMU | KENTUCKY | Newsgathering | Apr 25, 2001 |
Police release videotape of teen’s failed stunt
- Several television stations accept and air footage from police in an effort to discourage children from mimicking a television program.
Police in Independence, Ky., across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, have taken the access-friendly step of releasing a videotape of a teenage boy who hurt himself attempting to jump over a moving car. According to CNN, the police released the video as a preemptive measure because the three teens involved wanted the stunt aired on the MTV program “Jackass.”
On April 25, several Cincinnati television stations and CNN played the confiscated footage, which shows an adolescent boy getting hit by a car. CNN edited the actual moment of contact. WLWT in Cincinnati aired the footage without sound to edit out some profanity. WCPO aired the incident in its entirety.
The boy, whose name was not released because he is a minor, broke a few bones.
The teenager was able to jump over the car in practice runs of the stunt, but was unable to move out of the way in time when the stunt was videotaped, according to the Associated Press.
The MTV program “Jackass” shows a group of men performing assorted reckless stunts. The program issues a warning that the stunts should not be recreated and MTV will not accept submitted footage of stunts.
MTV has issued a press release claiming that the stunt done by the Kentucky teens was not similar to any stunt done on “Jackass.”
This was not the first time the show has been blamed for a harmful incident. In January, a 13-year-old Connecticut boy suffered serious burns when he and two friends poured gasoline on his legs and set him on fire, according to the Associated Press. In the MTV program, a man dressed in a flame-retardant suit had climbed into a barbecue and set himself on fire.
The two teenagers in the car were charged with wanton endangerment, a first degree felony in Kentucky.
— CC
© 2001 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
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