Teen death at Whitman?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The friends that were with him are likely extremely upset by all of this. I hope that the attention turns from questioning to helping them work through this and helping to change the way the kids approach these sorts of situations.

I think we need to lower the drinking age back to the age of 18 or 19 and say that HS drinking is not o.k. Ever.

You watch out for my kid, I'll watch out for your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The friends that were with him are likely extremely upset by all of this. I hope that the attention turns from questioning to helping them work through this and helping to change the way the kids approach these sorts of situations.

I think we need to lower the drinking age back to the age of 18 or 19 and say that HS drinking is not o.k. Ever.

You watch out for my kid, I'll watch out for your kid.

I don't think that the legal drinking age has anything to do it. And we say that now that HS drinking isn't ok, ever. The issues are the decision to drink and the consequences. I don't think, until now, the Whitman kids thought anything like this could happen.

[Anonymous]

As those kids probably know as it's on the MD driver's test, the first thing alcohol affects is your judgment. So we're blaming the boy's drunk friends for exercising poor judgment when they decided to let him walk off?

[Anonymous]

They were all drinking and drunk. They are all responsible for making the decision to go out and drink that night without a plan for dealing with the potential consequences or a even a thought that any one of them could die. The alcohol didn't get into them forcibly. They made a choice. That choice had consequences. Now they will need help dealing with the consequences. It's a tragedy and someone's son and brother died. Yes. They are all to blame.

[Anonymous]

They went into the woods to drink. Underage kids have been doing that sort of thing for a long, long time. They go into the woods to hide because they know they'll get into trouble if their parents catch them.

This time a terrible tragedy occurred. Honestly, I don't think that most sober adults would have anticipated that happening.

It was a freak accident.

[Anonymous]

More detail from the father.
https://wtop.com/maryland/2017/12/bethesda-father-who-pulled-his-sons-body-from-a-ravine-recalls-his-last-night/

Seeems like a lot of holes in this story. The father says he believes his son purchased a bottle of vodka at a store on River Road - this is not possible since you can only buy liquor at the County stores in MoCo.

[Anonymous]

So sad. So many things happened the right way, but it had a tragic ending. The party house parents broke it up when the discovered the alcohol. The boy didn't take a car that night. The parents were alert and took action when the boy didn't come home on time. Not sure what more could have happened, but I'm not sure why police would not have issued a citation to the boy when they talked to him. Sadly, that probably would have saved his life.

[Anonymous]

The part that does not add up is him declining an Uber ride with friends to presumably walk home from the 7-11, which is a 45 minute walk on a freezing cold Saturday night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is that he had alcohol (where did he get it) and chose to drink it. The question remains how/why he got separated from his friends.

Well they were likely drinking too so you don't exactly have a group of good decision makers at work here. Everyone involved had the best of intentions (I suppose besides whoever provided the booze to the kids) and if anyone had any idea that it would end this way would have absolutely done things differently. If he really thought he was risking his life doing this he probably wouldn't have been drinking. We as parents put so much effort into "don't drink and drive" that maybe the kids overlook the other risks and like someone else said, most of the time it all ends well.

It's possible the kids swiped a bottle or two from their parents bar. Maybe no one purposefully supplied them with alcohol. Maybe no one is to blame.

Yes, the kid shouldn't have been drinking but, as others have pointed out, but for the grace of God...

Doubt it. Parents don't have flask size bottle of vodka in their house. The bottle fit in his jacket. There are laws about selling alcohol and the person that supplied the alcohol is liable for their part in this mess. So are the cops that did not do their job.

Wait...you think cops will be held responsible for this? In a country where cops shoot unarmed teenagers with no consequences?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The part that does not add up is him declining an Uber ride with friends to presumably walk home from the 7-11, which is a 45 minute walk on a freezing cold Saturday night.

I'm confused. Now his friends are saying that they left him in the 7-11 parking lot and took an Uber home which the boy declined? From there he presumably walked alone to the woods near the swimming club, fell in the little pond and drowned face up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The part that does not add up is him declining an Uber ride with friends to presumably walk home from the 7-11, which is a 45 minute walk on a freezing cold Saturday night.

I'm confused. Now his friends are saying that they left him in the 7-11 parking lot and took an Uber home which the boy declined? From there he presumably walked alone to the woods near the swimming club, fell in the little pond and drowned face up?

That is the story his father is telling.

[Anonymous]

Tons of 'blame' to go around, people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The friends that were with him are likely extremely upset by all of this. I hope that the attention turns from questioning to helping them work through this and helping to change the way the kids approach these sorts of situations.

I think we need to lower the drinking age back to the age of 18 or 19 and say that HS drinking is not o.k. Ever.

You watch out for my kid, I'll watch out for your kid.

I agree with this actually. I think the fact that the drinking age is 21 (or the age most kids don't reach until junior/senior year of college) means it is seen as pretty much a joke and not taken seriously by most. Sure there are some kids who won't drink in college, but for those who make that choice it has NOTHING to do with the law. Everyone knows kids party in college, starting with the first weekend of freshman year - the schools know, parents know, kids know...it's not even a question, and the legality never really comes into the discussion. Trying to stop freshmen / sophomores / juniors from drinking at college is such a ridiculous premise that no one even tries; it's going to happen. Nobody takes the drinking age of 21 seriously, it's just preposterous. It should be pushed back to a realistic age (18.) and more aggressively enforced. Changes would not happen instantly, but I think we'd see a good trend over several decades.

You hear people who grew up in the 50s/60s all the time say how it just wasn't a big mystified deal back then

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They were all drinking and drunk. They are all responsible for making the decision to go out and drink that night without a plan for dealing with the potential consequences or a even a thought that any one of them could die. The alcohol didn't get into them forcibly. They made a choice. That choice had consequences. Now they will need help dealing with the consequences. It's a tragedy and someone's son and brother died. Yes. They are all to blame.

Agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The part that does not add up is him declining an Uber ride with friends to presumably walk home from the 7-11, which is a 45 minute walk on a freezing cold Saturday night.

I'm confused. Now his friends are saying that they left him in the 7-11 parking lot and took an Uber home which the boy declined? From there he presumably walked alone to the woods near the swimming club, fell in the little pond and drowned face up?

That is the story his father is telling.

Also, he drowned but only blood and alcohol came up during CPR?