Wife Tries To Abort And Poison Husband's Lovechild
Man Injured By Tree Limb Files Suit Against City
Charles Barron Will Run For Council Speaker
Alleged Tiger Mistress Is Unrecognizable To Dead Fiancee's Dad
New Jersey State Senate To Vote On Gay Marriage
The NY Times has a sad update about the family of the 5-year-old boy who fell to his death when a housing project elevator malfunctioned last year. The Times says, with the family of Jacob Neuman (pictured) is suing the Housing Authority for negligence, the HA wants to interview Jacob's brother, 9-year-old Israel who witnessed his brother fall from the 10th floor. However, his parents' lawyer has asked a judge to waive the testimony. The Neumans are worried about Israel's state of mind—"in play therapy, he drew an elevator shaft with red at the bottom," though he acts out against classmates, kids consider him a "rachmoonus" (pity) case— and a court-appointed psychologist wrote, "His defenses are so brittle that when thoughts regarding the incident reach or are introduced into his consciousness, he becomes despondent and he desperately defends against them. It is quite possible, given his present state, that serious mental decomposition may occur. That this will occur is not certain; if it does, it will be devastating indeed." The Housing Authority has a bad track record elevators; there are other lawsuits against the HA over elevator maintenance.
Boy Still Traumatized After Seeing Brother Fall To Death
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebookComments (8) [rss]
Post a comment (Comment Policy)
Tips
Newsmap
Contribute
Latest Tip:
It's the same media that NEVER mentioned Muslims' hatred of Israel as a possible motive for 9/11.
[more]
Is having his picture plastered across the internet adding to his trauma?
A bit irresponsible Jen. You should fix it.
You're mistaken. That's the picture of the 5-year-old who perished, not the traumatized 9-year-old.
God, poor kid. I can certainly see how something like that could mess you up for life. Even the other little kids understand that he's just acting out because of what he saw - it pretty much says it all since kids that age are usually little monsters.
I can't believe the housing agency is claiming the boys could have broken the elevator. Oh yeah, I'm really sure a 5-year-old and a 9-year-old could break through the safety defenses of a normal elevator.
Where did you read this? I haven't seen any such claim anywhere. They just want to get as many facts as possible, which is understandable.
The fact is that it's easy to blame the housing authority. But elevators are very costly pieces of equipment to own. Maintenance contracts can cost six figures per elevator every year. Modernizing the equipment close to a million dollars per elevator. Not to blame the parents, but if you're in a building with elevators known to have problems, you learn the right procedures to deal with them and teach them to your kids. If it gets stuck, stay put and wait for help. Never crawl through an open door yourself. You never know if the elevator might start up again while you're in the doorway. Wasn't there a story a year or two ago about a guy getting cut in half trying to crawl out of an elevator? Worst case, you get stuck for an hour or so. It's boring and it gets hot quickly, but those are minor inconveniences. I've been stuck in an office building elevator before. No big deal.
Yeah, way to go, blaming the 5 year old for panicking and freaking out when the elevator got stuck.
Where did I blame the 5-year-old? Please learn how to read.
If you lived on a busy road with lots of near-accidents, would you let your 5-year-old cross it by himself or with a 9-year-old without teaching him how not to "panic and freak out"? You'd tell him not to run across the street, right? From all their comments, it's clear that the elevators have been having ongoing problems, so it's not like this stoppage was a huge surprise. It's incumbent on the adults to learn the emergency procedures and teach their children. Press the emergency alarm. Stay put. It's not rocket science or even something children would find difficult to understand and remember.
hey when you live for free, you should take whatever conditions you gotta live in.
Its so terrible.
But give them their blood money and everything will be okay again.