Slush Pile: A Bridge Too Far

2007 Slush Pile

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A Bridge Too Far

2007 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

Springfield, MA: Was he afraid of heights? Was he a thrill seeker? Or did he really think crossing eight lanes of highway and hurdling four median guardrails during rush hour was faster than walking across the Chestnut Street bridge? Perhaps he thought he wasn't allowed to cross the bridge unless he had Chestnuts to pay the bridge troll. Whatever the reason, "Cuba" opted to play a human equivalent of frogger, attempting to cross the busy eight lane highway instead of simply walking across the bridge only 500 feet to his right.

Getting hit by a car while crossing the highway is far too common to qualify for a Darwin award. Getting hit by a car while crossing a highway when there is a safe sidewalk 500 feet away, still not unthinkable. Cuba, however, opted to go all out. He was hit by a grand total of not one, not two, but five cars. By the time it was over, Cuba had not only passed on into the hereafter, but passed under the bridge he had opted to ignore.

Sometimes it's hard to find a moral to a story. This time it's fairly simple: Use the f$#@ing bridge, foo!

To The D.A. Staff: to ease your attempts to confirm this story, I am including a link to what I found to be the most detailed article. This article originally was published in The Republican, the local Springfield/Western Mass newspaper (The Republican owns the masslive website, the site where the article is located). You can also find the story if you go to wwlp.com (the website of the local NBC affiliate). When doing a search on this site, I found the story by entering fatal,291 in the search box. This also worked on masslive, though for the more detailed article I linked to you I simply entered 291. If you question the proximity of the incident to the aforementioned bridge, you can check out this map. If you do decide to let the public see this story, please be sure to delete this boring explanation section

Submitted on 12/13/2007

Submitted by: Steven James
Reference: Springfield Republican Newspaper-Nov 20, 2007

>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Definitely Toss: Too Common
The article is here: http://www.masslive.com/republican/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-12/119554861388400.xml&coll=1 After reading the article my feeling is that this is just another case of a dumb mook trying to run across a highway. We've gotten a number of these over the years and there's nothing in this one that really stands out. Thanks just the same, Steven.

Chip said:
Neutral: Other
Here is a better link: http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=pressreleases&agId=Eeops&prModName=msppressrelease&prFile=2007/msp_pr_2007_november_20_springfield_fatal.xml I am unsure about this one. First, I cannot find any information about the overpass nearby. Second, every news article I could find (several) states that he was walking from the median across the lanes. Why was he there? Did his car break down on the median shoulder? If so, it would not be all that unusual to try to cross the traffic to get help (foolhardy, but not unusual). I really like you writeup, Steven, but until more information comes out that shows this was self-selection I will have to be neutral.

James said:
Definitely Toss: Other
I read Chip's article and I'm inclined to vote with Bruce, but for different reasons. Firstly, the victim was not some 20-something mook but a 68 year old senior citizen. Given the missing information about why he might have been on the highway, there's no way to determine self-selection. He may also have been unfamiliar with the bridge and may or may not have had access to it. If he WAS in the median to begin with, the presence of a bridge becomes irrelevant! Do keep us posted, however, in the event further details arise. Thanks, Steven!

Jack said:
Maybe Toss: Other
I'm voting maybe toss as there is simply too much missing information. Please keep us posted with further information, Steven.

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2007 Slush Pile

A Bridge Too Far

2007 Reader Submission Pending Acceptance

2007 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance