It was an eventful night outside the State Street Diner in Bunnell.
At close to midnight Monday, a Bunnell police officer was writing reports in the parking lot of the Advanced Auto Parts store on U.S. 1 when he saw a dirtbike speeding south, without lights on, and with two people riding it. The officer pulled out of the parking lot, stopped at a stop sign to look in which direction the bikers might have gone, but lost sight of them.
By then, like a different surveillance camera picking up the action further south, another witness — who’d been at The Beer House, a lounge in a small strip mall across the street from the diner, reported seeing a dirt-bike with two individuals on it traveling south at 50 mph, trying to turn into the Budget Motel, and instead hitting the curb, crashing the wall (presumably of the diner) and throwing its two occupants.
The two riders turned out to be 16-year-old Jerome McClendon Capers and 19-year-old Hiawasee Watson, both of Bunnell. Bunnell police’s L. Hofsford responded to the scene, where he saw the two riders on the ground. Firefighter Robert Bracewell was also there. Capers was flown to Halifax Hospital in critical condition. Watson was taken to Florida Hospital Flagler with minor injuries, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report.
Capers and Watson weren’t the only wild riders last night. While a trooper was at Florida Hospital Flagler gathering information on one of the riders, he said another boy there, an 11 year old, who had two broken legs, and who told the trooper that he had been riding his dirt-bike with the other two riders and had also crashed his. It wasn’t clear where that accident had occurred.
The first call to a Bunnell police officer about at least two dirt-bikes driving recklessly around Hymon Circle came in at 10:38 p.m. The officer responded, noticed one dirt-bike parked in a driveway, contacted people at that address, relayed the complaints and said he did not want anyone operating the dirt-bike that night.
PeteyWindham#13 says
The individuals in the story above were not victims,they were thieves who stole these dirt bikes and wrecked stolen property belonging to honest,hard working people that didn’t deserve this.I feel sorry for the families ,but you KNOW what they say about Karma!!!!!!
Sue says
How do you know the dirt bikes were stolen?
Sazz says
the bikes were indeed stolen from Pax trax in Bunnell – my boyfriend works there – they have video of a bunch of kids breaking in and stealing about 10 to 12 bikes in total. Don’t wish anyone dead/damaged…but they are a bunch of thieves and have done a lot of damage to other not just themselves!
starfyre says
its ok if they stole the bikes–god forgives all!!
some guy says
It is NOT OK if they stole by God. I have not seen in the Bible or heard at service that God says go and take what is not yours its OK with me.
some girl says
it is not ok to steal – in fact isn’t one of the commandments “thou shalt not steal” – God does not forgive all – that includes hypocrits!
Haw Creek Girl says
In matters such as these, my favorite thing that God says is “Judge not, be ye not judged” God bless Kim and her son and the other injured parties as well. Also, if the bikes were stolen from PaxTrax…God bless Terri and the other owners of the business. I know Terri and she probably feels horrible that someone might have been seriously hurt on one of her bikes.
Anonymous says
god forgives you too
starfyre says
god forgives you too–for not believing god forgives all
Citizen says
I was on duty when this happened and listened to the call over the radio. The 16YOM was trauma alerted for having a GCS of 4. For those without medical knowledge, dead people have a GCS of 3 and normal is 15. I’m pretty sure FCFR R-92 ground-pounded (drove) him to Halifax though. Fireflight was out of service for the night and they had Air 1 from Volusia on standby but canceled them. Usually happens if the medic can’t secure the airway or is performing CPR but because Air 1 is coming from DeLand it may just have been faster to drive him to Halifax. It’s up to the paramedic taking care of the patient to decide based on a multitude of circumstances so it’s really hard to say. Lot’s of unanswered questions here.
The whole story is pretty tragic. 16 year old kids do stupid stuff sometimes. It’s part of growing up and learning to be a better person. I don’t think this one event is enough for us as outsiders with limited information to judge anyone. We should also remember that this is someone’s child and that family is likely devastated by this accident. A GCS of 4 is almost always associated with severe neurological injury and is very rarely temporary, this kid may be in a coma for the rest of his life or be severely impaired if he survives. Heartbreaking.
In any case keep in mind that a lot of people probably care a great deal for this kid and the things you say may make this a lot worst for them. If you’re religious then you know it’s not for us to judge, that’s the big guy upstairs job, we should pray for everyone involved in this to find comfort and peace in some way.
Haw Creek Girl says
Wow, that was a great post, Citizen. I like how you think and articulate yourself. The young man is still on life support so you’re right that it will be a tough battle. Thanks for sharing the info and for your thoughts.
murphy says
well if this was your kid would be saying this. this is was bad judgement on there be have but children make mistake and until you have a child in this situation keep you mouth close because were all kids before.
Phil Chanfrau says
Thanks Citizen for enlightening us with your thoughtful comments. How do we know whether or not the 16 y.o .was the driver or a passenger who was trying to stop and get off, or had to make the choice of jumping or staying on, knowing that either choice was a terrible one to have to make?
Even if he was the driver of a stolen vehicle, we need to find ways to use situations like this one to teach our children about such dangerous activities. Each generation seems to think they are bullet proof, and each generation loses teenagers when they do stupid things like this one. The real victims of this are going to be his parents who will for years have to suffer the loss of their dreams and hopes for what might have been.
starfyre says
they are already forgiven-no harm done-just kids
ask my own kids-they do no wrong-theyll tell ya
Royce says
People work hard for their things and a dirt bikes are not cheap. I wish all those kids awould have ended up with a gcs of 3. That’s what you get when you steal something someone worked really hard for. That’s what’s wrong with our country. No one is at fault. Everyone has an excuse. I’m sure someone will find a way to blame Pax Trax over this. Maybe these punks will think twice before they steal again but then again I REALLY DOUBT IT!
Im me says
Stealng is truly wrong… … Matt 6(19-21) Pax Traxx Has insurance, It would kill me if it were my business! But@ the end of the day Someones child is laying on his dying bed.. Royce please find God.
Royce says
Dear “I’m me”,
maybe you should get your facts straight. The bikes weren’t stolen from pax Trax. They were stolen from power sports in pax Trax which is a different owner. Who cares who has insurance anyway? So you think it is ok the bikes were stolen because insurance will pay for it. Maybe that mentality is the reason insurance rates are so high. How dare you tell me to find God! I have a great relationship with God. I spoke out of anger when I wrote my last comments. Does that mean I don’t know God. Let me answer for you NO! It is bleeding hearts like you that are destroying the moral fiber that our country was built on. If people were held accountable for their actions our children would finally learn. Instead, every generation becomes more and more detached from responsibility. Maybe if we were tougher on our children God would not be so hard to get to know. I can tell you god was not on those kids mind when they decided to break into a building, destroy and vandalize the shop, and then steal a whole bunch of peoples dirtbikes that work hard for their money and that do responsibly raise their children! I am sure their are a lot of good people who aren’t enjoying their hobby because of all this nonsense.
Sue says
Perhaps it was my stolen dirtbikes that these kids were riding. On June 21st we were robbed and they stole over $20,000 worth of belongings from my home. 3 of the items were my kids dirtbikes that we DID work our butts off for. Ktm 85 orange and black, Ktm 50 orange and black and a Customized Pitbike Honda 50 with stars and stripes. Check out the video on the people that WE caught ourselves. If you want some of your stuff back you have to go get it…
Check it out- Keep your back door locked and they do it during the day… This is only one of the stories on the news. You can also pull it up under Kamala Lumpkins
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/24275191/detail.htm
ghetto kids says
These kids have no parental supervision for them to orchestrate a grand theft such as this. This is an exponentially horrible situation since hardworking folks lost property from P.P.K. parts and DON is not the owner, for all the folks here wanting to “chime” in. The 1 kid has died and the other severely handicapped, and the one word nobody bothered to mention here….”ACCOUNTABILITY”!!!!!!!!!!
Bunnell says
The problem with children today is a lot of parents do not care what there children are doing as long as they leave the parents/grandparents alone. The other part of that is you can’t disapline like we were when we were kids because you have DCF. It is sad that a child lost his life and his 2 friends are handicapped. Maybe other friends they have will learn not to do the same thing. May God be with the families of these children and help them through this difficult time.
BUNNELL FLORIDA says
FIRST OF NO ONE IS DEAD AND SECOND OF ALL NO ONE IS HANDYCAPPED SO YOU NEED TO GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT!!!!! AND ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE THESE KIDS!!!!