Doing the right thing for a little girl hurt by a kiter
Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 3:13 pm
First of all, to the guy who was flying the kite that hurt Luz: do the right thing and contact the family directly. I'll literally stand by you if you do it in person as well. We need to own it, it could have been any one of us who made a mistake, at some point in our kiting career. You have to take the heat for not standing up then, but stand up now.
As a kiting community, we get to decide how we are going to show up to the community at large. Lets make sure we as a whole are creating the impression we are willing to be accountable in person for. I don't know why this guy ran, but I bet he was scared. We each need to make sure that never happens again. We stay accountable, or we get shutdown.
If you want to chip in for Luz as a caring concerned kiter, I set up a paypal at smallworldalameda@gmail.com. I want to send the message that we are a community, who stands up for doing the right thing, not just a bunch of rowdy fun lovers (we are that too).
Here's a link that gets you to a paypal donate button for the same account. Many thanks to Stone for setting up the webpage!!
http://sites.google.com/site/luzaccident/
This is from an email from Yvonne to me, I think it communicates what happened for the family pretty well, and where they are at now. I edited to remove any thing identifying.
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Miguel is the god father. He speaks perfect English. His cell is xxx-xxx-xxxx. His cousin is the father, who speaks only Spanish. His name is Jose --------. . The girl's full name is Luz Karime -------- and was admitted to the Oakland Children's Hospital around 5:00pm Sat. They left immediately from the scene because Jose called Miguel to ask him the following questions do I: 1/ call 911 or 2/ drive to a hospital, and if so, which is the closest? The Family lives in xxxxxxxx. Miguel suggested putting Luz in the car immediately because there was no address to direct the 911 call. Miguel suggested the Oakland Children's hospital because he is a professional trucker, and is familiar with the area. These are humble people. They are not seeking for punitive damages. They want the kiter to be confronted, so that he would see that the scar is mere inches from her throat. This is the reason to put the picture out, because "picture tells a thousand words".
I've known Miguel for 9 months. He is my partner in kickboxing. We recently discussed kiteboarding because his nephew was contemplating in taking lessons. His nephew bought a kite from an unknown person on Craigslist, who confidently told him that the 12M Griffin was 'perfect' for a 15 yr old teenager. I highly encouraged Miguel to put his nephew through lessons. That is how Miguel approached me on Wednesday night in class, because of my connection. He just wanted to know how to file an incident report.
I feel strongly about this issue because it is equivalent to a 'hit and run'. The kite is a moving vehicle. The kiter 'hit', and took off. The kite lines are approx. 30 feet. The scream of a child echoes beyond 30 feet.
If you'd like me to coordinate a meeting between you and the family, I'd be happy to arrange the meeting.
- Yvonne
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Do the right thing.
As a kiting community, we get to decide how we are going to show up to the community at large. Lets make sure we as a whole are creating the impression we are willing to be accountable in person for. I don't know why this guy ran, but I bet he was scared. We each need to make sure that never happens again. We stay accountable, or we get shutdown.
If you want to chip in for Luz as a caring concerned kiter, I set up a paypal at smallworldalameda@gmail.com. I want to send the message that we are a community, who stands up for doing the right thing, not just a bunch of rowdy fun lovers (we are that too).
Here's a link that gets you to a paypal donate button for the same account. Many thanks to Stone for setting up the webpage!!
http://sites.google.com/site/luzaccident/
This is from an email from Yvonne to me, I think it communicates what happened for the family pretty well, and where they are at now. I edited to remove any thing identifying.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Miguel is the god father. He speaks perfect English. His cell is xxx-xxx-xxxx. His cousin is the father, who speaks only Spanish. His name is Jose --------. . The girl's full name is Luz Karime -------- and was admitted to the Oakland Children's Hospital around 5:00pm Sat. They left immediately from the scene because Jose called Miguel to ask him the following questions do I: 1/ call 911 or 2/ drive to a hospital, and if so, which is the closest? The Family lives in xxxxxxxx. Miguel suggested putting Luz in the car immediately because there was no address to direct the 911 call. Miguel suggested the Oakland Children's hospital because he is a professional trucker, and is familiar with the area. These are humble people. They are not seeking for punitive damages. They want the kiter to be confronted, so that he would see that the scar is mere inches from her throat. This is the reason to put the picture out, because "picture tells a thousand words".
I've known Miguel for 9 months. He is my partner in kickboxing. We recently discussed kiteboarding because his nephew was contemplating in taking lessons. His nephew bought a kite from an unknown person on Craigslist, who confidently told him that the 12M Griffin was 'perfect' for a 15 yr old teenager. I highly encouraged Miguel to put his nephew through lessons. That is how Miguel approached me on Wednesday night in class, because of my connection. He just wanted to know how to file an incident report.
I feel strongly about this issue because it is equivalent to a 'hit and run'. The kite is a moving vehicle. The kiter 'hit', and took off. The kite lines are approx. 30 feet. The scream of a child echoes beyond 30 feet.
If you'd like me to coordinate a meeting between you and the family, I'd be happy to arrange the meeting.
- Yvonne
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Do the right thing.