This is crazy. This makes me rethink my Ideal of Public Executions - Rocket RIver http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2770465&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312 Boy Hangs Himself After Watching Saddam10-Year-Old Boy in Texas Hangs Himself After Watching Saddam Execution Should Saddam Hanging Have Been Taped? Weigh in on Saddam's Execution N.H. Warns Dozens at Risk of Meningitis Texas Boy Watches Saddam, Hangs Self | VOTE No Death Penalty in Fla. Homeless Attack HOUSTON Jan 4, 2007 (AP)— Police and family members said a 10-year-old boy who died by hanging himself from a bunk bed was apparently mimicking the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Sergio Pelico was found dead Sunday in his apartment bedroom in the Houston-area city of Webster, said Webster police Lt. Tom Claunch. Pelico's mother told police he had previously watched a news report on Saddam's death. "It appears to be accidental," Claunch said. "Our gut reaction is that he was experimenting." An autopsy of the fifth-grader's body was pending. Julio Gustavo, Sergio's uncle, said the boy was a happy and curious child. He said Sergio had watched TV news with another uncle on Saturday and asked the uncle about Saddam's death. "His uncle told him it was because Saddam was real bad," Gustavo said. "He (Sergio) said, 'OK.' And that was it." Sergio's mother, Sara Pelico DeLeon, was at work Sunday while Sergio and other children were under the care of an uncle, Gustavo said. One of the children found Sergio's body in his bedroom. Police said the boy had tied a slipknot around his neck while on a bunk bed. Police investigators learned that Sergio had been upset about not getting a Christmas gift from his father, but they don't believe the boy intentionally killed himself. Clinical psychologist Edward Bischof, of California, said children Sergio's age mimic risky behaviors they see on TV such as wrestling or extreme sports without realizing the dangers. He said TV appeared to be the stimulant in Sergio's case. "I would think maybe this kid is trying something that he thinks fun to act out without having the emotional and psychological maturity to think the thing through before he acts on it," Bischof said. Family members held a memorial for the boy Wednesday in the apartment complex activity center. Gustavo said the family is trying to put together enough money to send Sergio's body to Guatemala for burial. "I don't think he thought it was real," Gustavo said of Saddam's hanging. "They showed them putting the noose around his neck and everything. Why show that on TV?"
At 10 years old, you should know that if you tie something around your neck and try hang yourself that you are probably going to die. It didn't say he was r****ded or had some sort of ailment that would prevent him from knowing what he was doing. While it is tragic that the kid died, he had to have known better.
thats the 3rd person I've read about thats died after hanging himself while trying to mimick the execution
that's still pretty harsh. its not about stupidity, its about judgement. when I was ten there was a construction by my house. it was a project that was dredging out the bayou. at one point they had some steel beams going across the bayou about 30 ft above ground. one day a friend and I went climbing through those beams. at one point I almost fell. when you're ten you don't think about consequences. I still think about almost falling off that beam till this day. at the moment, I realized it was something I would never do again, but before it happened, I never thought about falling.
I demand legislation to outlaw bunk beds. And this is sad. Perhaps the parental (lack of an) explanation is to blame? Like hey.. "we knew he was a curious kid" so then... tell him "DO NOT TRY THIS it will KILL YOU."
For some reason, I doubt that the parents wanting to outlaw video games will want to outlaw executions.
Are you serious? There are like 999999 movies with hangings in them. I wonder if children mimic those.
I remember when I was, like, 5 and I rented the movie Swamp Thing and it was, like, not what I expected so I had to stop the movie, like, three times because I was frightened by the opening scenes and later decided to, like, try and mimic what I saw by delivering a punch into my brother's abdomen, rip out his large colon and, like, start jump roping with it.
below is the story of the other kid that hanged himself. IIRC, the 3rd (cant find the link) was 15 year old that killed herself because she wanted to "feel sadaam's pain" link
Something tells me that kid wouldn't have lasted long anyway. Wasn't even smart enough not to mimic the guy that he just saw die. Sorry to those that will find this insensitive but damn...there's no other way to slice it. A 10 year old is beyond the point of understanding life and death.
Got a deadly toy To brainwash your boy An egocentric muscle thug Kicks butt on screen like a brat outta hell Bull****ter in the Indochina shop Pull the string in his back, we win the war That we never should have started at all A cabbage patch terrorist to call our own Who rewrites history with a machine gun Don't think about it - KILL IT That's what we teach your child RAMBOZO RAMBOZO RAMBOZO the Clown To draft age kids It sure looks like fun - "Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out." Like video games - no mess Just fuel for a mass lapse of common sense You can be Don Quixote We'll dice you with our windmill blades Brawn over brain Means a happy ending G.I. Joe in your cereal bowl Grey shrapnel-flavored chewing gum Mass murder ain't just painless Now we've made it cute RAMBOZO RAMBOZO RAMBOZO the Clown War is sexy War is fun Iron Ego Red Dawn Be a wolverine. You'll rule the hills Just get some guns and Cheerios Any kid can conquer Libya Just steal a fighter plane Look who came home in a wheelchair V.A. Hospital, they don't care "We're the machine You're just a tool." Who fell for the myth of Rambozo the Clown.
At first, when I read this on Wednesday, I laughed. Then I got sad. Then I laughed again. Then I got sad. Then I laughed. Other people laughed. Then I laughed, 'cuz he who laughs last laughs best.
