Plastic-wrap prank injures cycle rider
Saturday, July 02, 2005
By Ed Ronco and Barton Deiters
The Grand Rapids Press
WYOMING -- Jim Anderson had run some errands and was riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle home when he rounded a bend on Canal Avenue SW and saw what looked like fog ahead.
But what he encountered was work of three teenagers pulling a prank, police said -- not Mother Nature.
About 1:20 a.m. Friday, Anderson's cycle crashed into a swath of industrial-strength plastic wrap stretched between two sign posts north of 56th Street. The bike skidded, and Anderson, 48, suffered a fractured rib and internal bruising.
The Wyoming-area boys -- two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old -- told police they put the wrap across the road as a prank, not expecting something as small as a motorcycle to come down the street, said Maj. John Lind, Wyoming's deputy police chief.
"They were waiting for a car to hit so they could see what would happen," Lind said. "They didn't imagine the first thing around that corner would be a motorcycle.
"They all admitted their involvement," Lind said. "They were very remorseful of anyone being injured."
Anderson's wife, Tamra, spent the night in the emergency room with her husband, who now is recovering at home.
"He's hurting," she said. "I'm a little angry."
"I'm trying hard to keep in mind that they are young."
The Andersons don't live far from where the bike went down. Tamra Anderson was the first to arrive at the scene after her husband called her.
Jim Anderson had been working late making deliveries and used it as an excuse to go for a ride on his Harley on a nice summer night. He is a manager for the Spectrum Health Urgent Care Facility at 44th Street and Canal.
Tamra Anderson said when she saw a car with three boys inside driving past, she got its license plate number and gave it to police.
"It could have been a fatality," she said. "It's the kind of thing that young people just don't think about."
She said she isn't sure how this differs from kids who throw items off highway overpasses, hitting vehicles below.
"I can't believe they set out to hurt someone, but they still have to take responsibility," Anderson said.
It's not yet known whether the teens will face criminal charges. Detectives are expected to review the case next week.
"Off the top of our mind, we're not sure what the charge would even be," Lind said.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
By Ed Ronco and Barton Deiters
The Grand Rapids Press
WYOMING -- Jim Anderson had run some errands and was riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle home when he rounded a bend on Canal Avenue SW and saw what looked like fog ahead.
But what he encountered was work of three teenagers pulling a prank, police said -- not Mother Nature.
About 1:20 a.m. Friday, Anderson's cycle crashed into a swath of industrial-strength plastic wrap stretched between two sign posts north of 56th Street. The bike skidded, and Anderson, 48, suffered a fractured rib and internal bruising.
The Wyoming-area boys -- two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old -- told police they put the wrap across the road as a prank, not expecting something as small as a motorcycle to come down the street, said Maj. John Lind, Wyoming's deputy police chief.
"They were waiting for a car to hit so they could see what would happen," Lind said. "They didn't imagine the first thing around that corner would be a motorcycle.
"They all admitted their involvement," Lind said. "They were very remorseful of anyone being injured."
Anderson's wife, Tamra, spent the night in the emergency room with her husband, who now is recovering at home.
"He's hurting," she said. "I'm a little angry."
"I'm trying hard to keep in mind that they are young."
The Andersons don't live far from where the bike went down. Tamra Anderson was the first to arrive at the scene after her husband called her.
Jim Anderson had been working late making deliveries and used it as an excuse to go for a ride on his Harley on a nice summer night. He is a manager for the Spectrum Health Urgent Care Facility at 44th Street and Canal.
Tamra Anderson said when she saw a car with three boys inside driving past, she got its license plate number and gave it to police.
"It could have been a fatality," she said. "It's the kind of thing that young people just don't think about."
She said she isn't sure how this differs from kids who throw items off highway overpasses, hitting vehicles below.
"I can't believe they set out to hurt someone, but they still have to take responsibility," Anderson said.
It's not yet known whether the teens will face criminal charges. Detectives are expected to review the case next week.
"Off the top of our mind, we're not sure what the charge would even be," Lind said.
kids like that stuff right? Just put a few thorns and some glass on the slide and instead of water use alcohal, then saran wrap all that sh#T to them and make the ride a bike into a yeild sighn.....
