Parkland, Texas.
Parkland Middle School student hit, killed on Loop 375 after leaving campus during walkout.
A Parkland Middle School sixth-grader who left campus during the National Student Walkout was killed when he was struck by a vehicle Friday morning on Loop 375 in Northeast El Paso, school district officials said.
The boy, who was 11 years old, was hit by a Ford F-150, which was traveling north on the loop, at 10:27 a.m., police and school district officials said.
He was taken to an area hospital, where he died at about 11:30 a.m., officials said.
This is where this turns heartbreakingly tragic.
However, a news release from University Medical Center of El Paso identified him as Jonathan Benko and said a memorial fund has been set up by the UMC Foundation for his family.
The news release states, “Jonathan was struck by a car this morning outside of his school, was transported to University Medical Center of El Paso and did not survive. Jonathan’s mother, Ashley, works as a Registered Nurse in UMC’s Emergency Department. His uncle, Michael Benko, is also an employee at UMC, where he works as a Respiratory Therapist.”
So a sixth grader was involved in a March for our Lives walkout, tried to cross a highway and was killed by a car.
According to the CDC “unintentional injury” is the leading cause of death for children age 10-14, at a rate of almost six times as much as homicide. Car accidents, which included being passenger in a car crash and being struck by a car, was the leading cause of death for children. Meaning it is far more likely that a child will be killed by being hit by a car than getting shot in school.
Honestly, I’m surprised something like this didn’t happen sooner.
Apparently the student did what you would expect kids to do.
The boy, Jonathan Benko, and a group of about 12 to 15 other students from Parkland Middle School in El Paso decided not to participate in the walkout, and instead left the campus to visit a park on the other side of Loop 375, a busy highway that surrounds parts of the city, officials said.
Jonathan, a sixth grader and the last one to try to cross, was struck by a Ford F-150 pickup truck, Officer Darrel Petry, a spokesman for the El Paso Police Department, said on Saturday. He was transported to the University Medical Center of El Paso, where he died.
None of the other children were injured, Officer Petry said. The driver of the truck, who stayed on the scene, was uninjured. He was not charged, the police said.
So the school endorses a walkout, several students see it as a free day off from school (we’ve see that before), the school loses control of the situation as the kids run off, and one gets killed.
I hope the school district and everyone else involved gets their asses sued off.
Of course, there is no mention of this on the March for our Lives twitter account.
Because it’s not about keeping kids safe, it’s about gun control.
I feel sorry for the family. This kid was just being a kid, not being political.
I feel sorry for fire the pickup driver also. Not his fault, apparently, but he will have to live with this the rest of his life, too.
Going to hazard a guess as to what happens next: The anti-gun SJW’s will dox the driver of the truck, find out the guy owns a gun or a couple, which would be standard in Texas, then they’ll start yet another lies/smearing campaign (shocking, right?) that this was another instance of “gun-violence.”
Anything to distract people from looking behind the curtain for their real motives, which is to control everything you do.
The family should sue the school administrators for allowing a sixth grader to leave the campus without supervision. Not the school district, the school administrators personally.
To expand on Nuke Road Warrior’s comment:
Schools are under an immense amount of liability. That’s why, if you’re a parent of a school-age child, they send permission slips to be signed and returned constantly (at least, around here they do). Much of the time, it stifles attempts at real education and can be highly annoying, but in our litigation-happy society it’s an unfortunate necessity to ensure student safety.
To that end, any off-campus activity must be approved by the school district and the school admins, and have permissions slips signed by parents for each individual student participating. It’s all about releasing liability for injury, illness, or anything else that could go wrong.
If the school endorsed a walk-out and let students leave campus without gathering signed permission slips, or (as is more likely here) if they failed to supervise students not participating in the walk-out, they are 100% liable for any mishaps that might happen.
The school admins need to be sued, personally. So does the school district and school board, generally, but I believe it can be taken even further. IANAL, but this is the third large-scale walk-out supporting “gun control” I can recall since the Parkland shooting, and not once that I’m aware of have they gathered permission slips from parents.
I think a class-action liability suit on behalf of all students and parents in every district endorsing or allowing participation in the walk-outs is in order.
Just my $0.02.
Are you sure about that? Remember that schools are government agencies, and government agencies as a rule aren’t ever liable for anything.