Sean of the Thread
03-16-2006, 04:56 PM
Use caution while playing with your balls around your collection Bob and Zirth and Kenn.. swords are dangerous.. even cheap flea market swords.
Fatal sword accident leaves trail of disbelief
Ben Montgomery
Courtesy photo
Joshua Hershberger
Joshua Hershberger, 15, sat with his 14-year-old brother and his 9-year-old sister in a bedroom in a quiet home in a typical Brandon neighborhood on Monday night.
They were bouncing a ball. The ball - about the size of a basketball - hit the wall and jarred loose a 29-inch ornamental sword that fell on Josh, who was sitting on the floor, cutting him in the neck and shoulder. Within a few hours, he was dead.
"It's just a strange thing, man," said Shawn Kart, a neighbor who ran to help.
Josh's mother told WFTS-Ch. 28 that she had bought the fantasy swords for her children for Christmas from a store called Classic Imports in Brandon. The swords come with tip protectors, but the protectors had probably fallen off the one hanging in Josh's room, his mom said.
Neighbors and friends tried to make sense of something so awful and random.
"One of them freak things that happens," said Richard Spidel, 53, who lives a few houses away.
"Weird," said Tracer Waltz, 16, who used to play football with Josh in the street.
Josh played football for the Brandon Cowboys varsity squad the past two years, but he wasn't a jock. He was honor-classes smart and joined the Future Business Leaders of America last year. He played electric guitar and listened to Cradle of Filth and Marilyn Manson.
A hearse has been a fixture at the family's house for some time. Neighbors said it showed up before Halloween and was part of a yard display. They said Josh was to drive it when he turned 16 next month.
Josh's parents, Paul and Trina, are upstanding people, their friends said. Paul served in the Army for years and now works as a computer technician for a fertilizer company.
http://www.tbt.com/tampabay/news/article18624.ece
Fatal sword accident leaves trail of disbelief
Ben Montgomery
Courtesy photo
Joshua Hershberger
Joshua Hershberger, 15, sat with his 14-year-old brother and his 9-year-old sister in a bedroom in a quiet home in a typical Brandon neighborhood on Monday night.
They were bouncing a ball. The ball - about the size of a basketball - hit the wall and jarred loose a 29-inch ornamental sword that fell on Josh, who was sitting on the floor, cutting him in the neck and shoulder. Within a few hours, he was dead.
"It's just a strange thing, man," said Shawn Kart, a neighbor who ran to help.
Josh's mother told WFTS-Ch. 28 that she had bought the fantasy swords for her children for Christmas from a store called Classic Imports in Brandon. The swords come with tip protectors, but the protectors had probably fallen off the one hanging in Josh's room, his mom said.
Neighbors and friends tried to make sense of something so awful and random.
"One of them freak things that happens," said Richard Spidel, 53, who lives a few houses away.
"Weird," said Tracer Waltz, 16, who used to play football with Josh in the street.
Josh played football for the Brandon Cowboys varsity squad the past two years, but he wasn't a jock. He was honor-classes smart and joined the Future Business Leaders of America last year. He played electric guitar and listened to Cradle of Filth and Marilyn Manson.
A hearse has been a fixture at the family's house for some time. Neighbors said it showed up before Halloween and was part of a yard display. They said Josh was to drive it when he turned 16 next month.
Josh's parents, Paul and Trina, are upstanding people, their friends said. Paul served in the Army for years and now works as a computer technician for a fertilizer company.
http://www.tbt.com/tampabay/news/article18624.ece