Determining an Accident Involving Minors Not Always Easy

A Canton, Ohio teenager is dead after a skateboarding accident on October 3rd, 2017. The 16-year-old was hanging out with friends, holding onto a car while riding his board, when something went wrong. He fell and struck his head. The young man was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident

Whenever a minor is injured or killed in an accident, determining the specifics of what went wrong is important. In this situation, there was a video taken during the incident, indicating that perhaps the teenager and his friends were performing dangerous stunts for social media.

The level of responsibility friends owe to each other, and that adult owes to minors, can be difficult to determine. Though the teenager in this situation chose to take part in a dangerous activity, it is well established that teenagers have a fundamental lack of risk awareness when it comes to decision making. Adults are held to a higher safety standard than minors.

Determining whether or not there was a responsible adult party who could have prevented the accident will be important. The police will perform their investigation, but oftentimes the needs of law enforcement and the needs of the accident victim’s families do not coincide. When this occurs, it is up to the family to pursue the facts using whatever resources are available to them. Accepting the simple, immediate answers is often not the best course of action for a family that wants to fully understand what happened to their loved one.

If you or someone you love has been injured in an accident, conducting a thorough investigation is of major importance. Unfortunately, finding the proper people to help with that investigation can be highly difficult. Please, contact an experienced attorney to help you determine just how to proceed.