Two ninth-graders from my school were pushed onto the subway tracks.

[lightningandsnow]

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090216/TTC_hero_090116/20090216/?hub=TorontoNewHome

This happened a few days ago. One of them escaped without injury, the other had his foot crushed as he rolled out of the way of the oncoming train.

I think this story goes to show how we really need to give people with psych problems the help they need. The man who did this was mentally ill.

If you're the praying/vibe sending type, could you send some prayers and vibes to Jacob, the boy who was injured? I also think the man who did this needs prayers as well. He's clearly very ill and needs help.

[Taverner]

1. I used to think that was just a NYC phenomonon

[fascisthunter]

4. almost happened to a kid I went to school with, a couple grades bellow me.

actually, he was one of two....

[Taverner]

7. Boston or NY?

What kind of sick fuck would do that?

I haven't heard of that happening out here - but its only a matter of time

[EFerrari]

9. Most BART stations look like accidents waiting to happen to me. nt

[Taverner]

10. Oh yeah, with the 3rd rail and all

I never stand near the platform until the train is there

[fascisthunter]

32. sorry... been away from DU... Boston

[EFerrari]

8. We value speed over human life. There should be some kind of barrier

with gates that open and close. That would be jobs, too, for the people who mind the gates.

[lightningandsnow]

12. Are there any transit systems that have them?

Sounds like a good idea. I don't know why I've never seen one used before. :shrug:

[EFerrari]

15. I don't know. I think I remember seeing some in Europe.

You bet when the ticket price of any means of transportation is expensive enough, there are barriers -- right? Like planes or like some trains that cost a lot -- the Rheingold we took from Amsterdam to Heidelberg had a barrier.

You'd think having a barrier would make the cost of insurance go down. :shrug:

[originalpckelly]

18. Check my post below.

I personally think it's highly irresponsible for governments to not require this. It's like having a car without seat belts.

They do have screens, and it should be as important as the rail for train systems.

[EFerrari]

2. That happened to me in the Paris Metro. It was very scary.

A man came through, half shouting and suddenly, veered at me and pushed. He was clearly out of it. I was lucky there was no train because he seemed to be unaware of anything around him or even maybe where he was at the time.

[lightningandsnow]

26. I'm glad you came out of it okay.

:hug:

[EFerrari]

28. Thank you! I was so lucky because I could have been smashed like a bug.

There is definitely a safety problem here and I hope we start paying attention to it.

[lpbk2713]

3. I'm glad for the boys' sake it didn't turn out as bad as it could have.

And I hope the perp is put away for a long long time.

[Tab]

5. That's just effed up.

Seriously. Sorry for the crushed foot. It shouldn't have happened at all, but at least it wasn't a crushed skull, not that that's any huge consolation.

[Cronus Protagonist]

6. Damn, I felt that pain for a second

Poor kid. Damn. :(

[daleo]

11. He was on depression medication, according to the Globe and Mail story

47 years old, never any previous problems with the law. On depression medications for a year, then he attempts murder. I would bet that he was on SSRI (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors), which have been linked in numerous studies to suicide and violent behavior.

But SSRIs make a lot of money for drug companies and they may well do more than good than harm, at least for some part of the population. Still, these seem to be dangerous drugs, subscribed far too often.

[EFerrari]

13. He was probably psychotic and mis diagnosed, i.e., on the wrong meds.

Someday I'd like to see a study on that problem. It may not be at all that SSRIs cause violent behavior -- unless they are mis-prescribed to people prone to psychosis who need something different.

[GreenPartyVoter]

34. Yeah, Cymbalta made me nuts, but it was that reaction to it that finally got me

correctly diagnosed as bipolar 2. Too bad they didn't come up with before I went outta my mind for a couple of months, or better still 25 years ago. *sigh*

[EFerrari]

35. I hear you so loud and clear.

They had Doug an a whole bunch of anti-dep stuff and he suffered through YEARS of that until I forced one hospital to give him the right stuff. It shouldn't be that hard.

:hug:
:grouphug:

[GreenPartyVoter]

36. Yeah. I mean, I know it's tricky to determine sometimes what sort of situation a person is in but

still it shouldn't go misdiagnosed for years on end. :(

[EFerrari]

37. We have the best mental health tech in the world. It shouldn't take years

to deliver it.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

39. Cymbalta is an excellent drug for depression though.

[GreenPartyVoter]

41. Unless you are bipolar, then stay away if you aren't on mood stabilizers. And maybe even then. But

since bipolar 2 is often mistaken for unipolar depression, there's always a chance it will be given to someone with the wrong type of depression. :(

The one thing it did that I loved was that it treated my aches and pains. I really miss that. :(

[4 t 4]

19. Good Wishes to Jacob

he could have been killed. I'm glad he will be ok or at least didn't get killed my boyfriends brother fell off the ell in Oak Park when we were kids and lost his arm. Do the kids take that to school ? I've always worried about kids taking public transportation to school. Buses, trains whatever.

[JVS]

14. I think the story goes to show that it is unwise to stand near the edge of the platform.

It is very difficult to push some one from the wall to the ledge.

[EFerrari]

17. I'm somewhat phobic in those situations and wasn't standing near the edge

when I was pushed off of the platform. The platform just wasn't very wide. There are some BART platforms here in San Francisco that seem 'way too narrow to this agoraphobe, lol, anyway. But I also don't pull off mountain roads to let traffic by unless I can park an RV and build a pool on the turnout. :)

[originalpckelly]

16. Why don't we have screens at platforms?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_screen_doors
It's irresponsible to let one of the safest forms of transport suffer from design stupidity. Here is a picture of said screens:

[lightningandsnow]

20. Ooh, I've seen those a lot on airport monorails.

Makes you wonder why they don't have them in more actual transit systems, huh?

[originalpckelly]

22. I know, the light rail here in Denver doesn't have protective barriers...

and yet the stupid airport train does!

It's really fucking ridiculous, and it seems like such a common sense addition to trains of all types.

[EFerrari]

27. Where is that? Gosh, we need that all over.

I'm so glad you posted this image.

[rug]

21. New York passed "Kendra's Law" after this happened 10 years ago.

In 1999, New York State Enacted Legislation that provides for assisted outpatient treatment for certain people with mental illness who, in view of their treatment history and present circumstances, are unlikely to survive safely in the community without supervision. This law is commonly referred to as “Kendra’s Law” and is set forth in §9.60 of the Mental Hygiene Law (MHL). It was named after Kendra Webdale, a young woman who died in January 1999 after being pushed in front of a New York City subway train by a person who was living in the community at the time, but was not receiving treatment for his mental illness. In 2005, the law was renewed with several changes, which are noted in this article.

http://www.omh.state.ny.us/omhweb/Kendra_web/Ksummary.htm

[originalpckelly]

23. They could do that, which is helpful, but they need doors.

:P

This country is so retarded.

[ColbertWatcher]

24. "people with psych problems" Psych problems? Where have I heard that language before ...

Oh yeah, that's where.

Yes, people with mental health issues do need help.

But they need it from qualified people.

/rant off.

[lightningandsnow]

25. Sorry?

I used the phrase to mean the same thing. Why are you reading things into my wording that aren't there?

[ColbertWatcher]

30. Because DU's spell check would have corrected you? n/t

[Jack_DeLeon]

29. Pretty fucked up, but there are reasons I also avoid standing near heavy machinery...

If I'm waiting for a train or the like I stand well away from the edge of the platform until after the thing has come and stopped.

I've read too many stories of people being crippled or killed by all kinds of machinery our society takes for granted so I try to be cautious around things that are big, heavy, and metal or the like.

Its also good to avoid putting yourself in a position where others can fuck you over.

[Canuckistanian]

31. That was all over the news last week

The first stories that came out said that the boy (Jacob) had lost some toes. That turned out to be false.

Those Toronto subways have always scared me a bit. On a crowded platform, you lose your balance at the wrong time and !smack! Those trains come in so fast in some of the stations.

[GreenPartyVoter]

33. Oh man! *prayers and healing vibes*

[leftyclimber]

38. Good vibes to both boys.

I hope everything turns out OK for both of them. The one who didn't get hurt must be awfully shaken up. I was really glad to see they caught the pusher.

When I saw your post I had a flashback to the late '90s when there was a guy pushing women in front of trains at various stations around TO. It was a few *weeks* before they caught him. The best of Toronto came out -- we women moved to the other end of the platform, stood further back from the line, and so forth, but what was really cool was that there always seemed to be a group of men standing on the platforms, forming a wall of bodies in front of the women to make extra darn sure someone couldn't push us onto the tracks.

I hope the adults at the subway stations are super-solicitous of the kids for a while, now, too. I know they've got the guy who did it, but it's easy to get jumpy after something like that happens.

All the best to your friends.

[proud2BlibKansan]

40. Oh how tragic