Alleged Shopping Cart Tossers Are Both "Good Kids"

Marion Salmon Hedges was hit by a shopping cart on Sunday evening (Facebook).

Friends of the families of the two 12-year-old boys accused of dropping a Target shopping cart four stories onto a 47-year-old Upper West Side woman Sunday insist that they are both "good kids." Meanwhile the woman, Prudential Douglas Elliman broker and mother of two Marion Salmon Hedges, remains in a medically induced coma at Harlem Hospital. "It’s in God’s hands," her father-in-law told reporters yesterday. "You see her laying there, unconscious in the bed, with 50,000 tubes in her. She has absolutely no recognition, not even a glimmer of anything."

"I’m beyond shocked," he said, when reporters told him the boys’ ages. “They should throw the book at them.”

Hedges was struck by the cart while picking up candy from Costco with her 13-year-old son—they planned to hand out the sweets to trick-or-treaters at their Upper West Side home as well as at the Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center where she volunteered. Hedges's husband, Michael Hedges, has been working for Merrill Lynch in Spain and is reportedly en route to return to the states. They also have a 14-year-old daughter.

Her alleged assailants, who live in nearby public housing (and whose names the Post published), were turned over to the Administration for Children's Services yesterday after a Family Court hearing where they were each charged with assault in the first degree. According to an employee at the neighboring Costco, before they were throwing shopping carts, they had been tossing Slurpees onto customers—and Target security ignored them (Target says this was the first they'd heard of it). While both were accompanied to court by their mothers and other family members, the Daily News makes a point to emphasize, "Neither of their dads were at the hearing."

Finally, the East Harlem walkway from which the boys allegedly tossed the cart saw some seriously beefed up security yesterday. Though it seems that kids have been tossing stuff off the edge for some time now, this incident was one item too many. "It's ridiculous you can't even shop in the mall anymore," shopper Nelson Rosa told DNAinfo.

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By Garth Johnston in News on November 1, 2011 9:48 AM

Comments [rss]

Danielle Russell

When I was young we did some stupid things that could have injured someone, but nothing like this. This is attempted murder, and they should get far worse punishment than a year or two in therapy.

Molly Munn

Actually the NYT reported on 11-24 that one of the boys has had many disciplinary issues at school. That would indicate to me that he is not a "good" kid. "Good" kids don't repeatedly get in trouble at school and then commit attempted murder against a person who is actually trying to help this socio-economically disadvantaged area (she was buying Halloween candy to hand out to under-privileged kids).

Fern Cohen

Wouldn't it be nice if we could ask the egg in the uterus if it wants to be fertilized, come out and be raised by a single mom who will not really care how he turns out, and grow up in a neighborhood full of drug addicts and thugs and dodge all kinds of obstacles all its life? Wouldn't it be nice if we could ask that egg "Do you want to take the risk, or stay in this ovary and be safe?" Too bad these eggs grow up to be "little sh!ts" through no choice of their own.

Molly Munn

If Medicaid won't cover birth control, this will continue to happen

chee1rs

waterboard them

scottrose

Charges should be added, as only charging them with assault in the first degree is not adequate to a forceful prosecution. Reckless endangerment in the first degree with depraved indifference to human life springs to mind as one fitting additional criminal charge.

Adam Moreira

Alleged Shopping Cart Tossers Are Both "Good Kids"---sure they are! They should have been studying their schoolwork instead of tossing 60+-pound shopping carts 4 floors down; they could have crushed a taxicab and killed a driver.

Carlos Suarez

first thing that comes to my mind is under parental supervision.. but like most parents dont really give 2 shits about what their spawn are up to as long they are not pestered by them. i would heavily fine those parents as an example!.. hoping that this poor lady recovers..

Electro_Jones

These are shit kids, period. Plow them under and plant onions. Next case.

Matthew Vigorita

Many kids these days have no consequences, so they put effort into seeing how much they can get away with. For those who think these kids should be helped, help them after they get a fitting punishment. If these kids just get a slap on the wrist, they'll most likely try worse crimes.

rightnyer

This type of thing will only get back as we fill this country up with tens of millions more low IQ, illiterate peasants from the third world. Did white America back in 1965 realize what they were getting into when they voted to import tens of millions of mestizo Hispanics, Muslims, and Caribbean blacks?

Eddy Sarmiento

Right like millions of whites never kill others for no reason? yeah go back to school and read your history book MR KKKNY

trae ashby

i hope that woman recovers. as for the kids, it was f#cked up what they did. but i dont think they meant to throw it on the lady. i think they meant to trow it off just to see the destruction and she walked in the way. IDK just my oppinion. but it was still f#cked up either way.