- Suicidal teen 'goaded to his death'
- The Age - AAP
- 01/10/2008 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: The Rooster ( 264 articles in 2008 )
Onlookers goaded a teenager as he threatened to jump off a building and then took photos of his body, British newspapers reported.
Shaun Dykes, 17, plunged 18 metres to his death from the roof of a car park at the Westfield shopping centre in Derby on Saturday after police negotiators tried in vain for three hours to talk him down.
A crowd had gathered underneath, with a few onlookers shouting abuse at him and urging him to jump.
Reports said one teenager yelled: "How far can you bounce?"
Superintendent Andy Hough, of Derbyshire police, said it was a "disturbing and shocking reflection on society when people feel inclined to do that".
"People were at the police cordon shouting for the man to jump," Hough told the Daily Mail.
An unnamed witness told the newspaper: "When he fell, lots of people were screaming and crying, but there were several groups of youths who ran from behind the cordon and looked like they were taking pictures with their mobile phones."
Dykes, of Kilburn, Derbyshire, had become depressed after a recent relationship break-up, friends told Britain's The Daily Telegraph.
Security guard Paul Kennedy told the paper: "There were horrible scenes that afternoon, with the crowd shouting some awful things at the poor young lad.
"The police did a fantastic job at the incident and were not helped by a baying crowd, some with children, calling for the lad to jump."
© 2008 AAP
Shaun Dykes, 17, plunged 18 metres to his death from the roof of a car park at the Westfield shopping centre in Derby on Saturday after police negotiators tried in vain for three hours to talk him down.
A crowd had gathered underneath, with a few onlookers shouting abuse at him and urging him to jump.
Reports said one teenager yelled: "How far can you bounce?"
Superintendent Andy Hough, of Derbyshire police, said it was a "disturbing and shocking reflection on society when people feel inclined to do that".
"People were at the police cordon shouting for the man to jump," Hough told the Daily Mail.
An unnamed witness told the newspaper: "When he fell, lots of people were screaming and crying, but there were several groups of youths who ran from behind the cordon and looked like they were taking pictures with their mobile phones."
Dykes, of Kilburn, Derbyshire, had become depressed after a recent relationship break-up, friends told Britain's The Daily Telegraph.
Security guard Paul Kennedy told the paper: "There were horrible scenes that afternoon, with the crowd shouting some awful things at the poor young lad.
"The police did a fantastic job at the incident and were not helped by a baying crowd, some with children, calling for the lad to jump."
© 2008 AAP
Source: https://news.theage.com.au/world/suicidal-teen-goaded-to-his-death-20081001-4s44.html
1Will not be visible to public.
2Receive notification of other comments posted for this article. To cease notification after having posted click here.
3To make a link clickable in the comments box enclose in link tags - ie.<link>Link</link>.
4To show an image enclose the image URL in tags - ie.<image>https://fredspage.com/box.jpg</image>. Note: image may be resized if too large
To further have your say, head to our forum Click Here
To contribute a news article Click Here
To view or contribute a Quote Click Here