Posted by auger on May 21, 2008 at 2:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Nether of my vehicles have hoodbelts, did I get ripped off? I guess it didn't matter for the kids, if they were available, they weren't wearing them. These people are idiots!

Posted by luvmydogs59 on May 21, 2008 at 2:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Harpo, I definitely agree with what you've said. The aunt said it was an accident. An accident??? Willingly driving with the girls on the hood of the car and then braking so they went down on the pavement??? Obviously, the mother and the aunt thought this was some sort of amusing game...yeah...some accident!!

Calling the mother unfit doesn't even begin to describe letting something like this happen to your children while you watch. I agree with Harpo that they should both be charged with, at the very least, assault. Even attempted manslaughter would be a valid charge since the mother and the aunt knew exactly what they were doing and that the girls could be seriously hurt or killed as the result of their actions.

Thank goodness the girls weren't seriously injured and I hope they both recover fully soon.

Posted by Chief_SittingBull on May 21, 2008 at 2:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)

While I in no way condone this behavior, I can say that as a child visiting family on Wadmalaw we did, in retrospect, some crazy things like ride on the back of pick up trucks [sitting on the side of the bed and not flat in the bed], riding on the tailgate of pick ups, riding on the back and sides of tractors, thank God the driver(s) were never careless or mean enough to do to us, what these girls experienced.

Auntie appears to be wearing scrubs in her mug. She’s entrusted to care for others, but she would slam on the brakes and send her nieces flying from the hood of a car…great.

Posted by ForPnC on May 21, 2008 at 4:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Take these girls away from this unfit household before something worse happens to them.

Posted by Slick50 on May 21, 2008 at 4:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Sounds like a stunt scene from the other "Hollywood".

Posted by moonpie on May 21, 2008 at 6:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Unfreaking believable. DSS needs to step in! Take their kids and let them prove to DSS they are fit parents.

AUGER I got ripped off too, my ford truck doesn't have hood seat belts either!

Posted by ColdBeer on May 21, 2008 at 6:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Something is wrong with this story. Everyone knows a Hyundai would not be able to move at all with the weight of 4 people on it.

I hope the girls recover.

The stupid shall be punished.

Posted by jca on May 21, 2008 at 7:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)

pure insanity. i would never do that to my kids or allow my sister to do it to them

i will keep the rest to myself so as to avoid attack.

morons shouldnt breed

Posted by bearjon on May 21, 2008 at 7:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)

The children should be removed from this parent's custody. How could anyone be as stupid as this mother and aunt? They should be made to ride on the hood of a speeding car and see how far they can fly.

Posted by onevoice on May 21, 2008 at 7:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Stupid is, is stupid does!

Posted by Early on May 21, 2008 at 8:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I don't think it's that big of a deal. This stuff, whether right or wrong has gone on for years! If we has parent were charged every time we played around and someone got hurt, the whole board would have a record. I don't think she was going fast, don't think she meant to slam on the brakes, and don’t think she intended to hurt the kids. BS to me!

Posted by grannyofsix on May 21, 2008 at 8:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)

only time my daughter was on a hood of a car it was parked in the sun and she was catching some rays in the driveway. she was i6 at the time. the car had no motor

Posted by Tammie on May 21, 2008 at 8:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)

"Something is wrong with this story. Everyone knows a Hyundai would not be able to move at all with the weight of 4 people on it."

That was cold blooded. Lol I'm actually familiar with Ward family, I wont sit here and say they were the Brady Bunch but they aren't a terrible bunch. But I just hope the girls make a speedy recovery. Hopefully it really WASN'T intentional.

Posted by Tammie on May 21, 2008 at 8:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Growing up on John's Island, riding on the back of a truck was normal, but my great grandparents never sent me sailing off! Then again, dirt IS a lot softer than the road...

Posted by ColdBeer on May 21, 2008 at 8:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)

When I was a kid, we lived in CA for a few years. The campgrounds with the Sequoia trees were awesome. You'd have a creek in a ravine that was 75 foot deep and a fallen Sequoia tree would serve as a bridge. Everyone, including kids and dogs, would cross the creek walking across the fallen trees. We could have easily slipped and fallen, but no one though about that. Not all stupid acts are criminal and not all stupid acts by parents need to result in the kids being taken away.

Posted by summerville_guy on May 21, 2008 at 8:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)

A 1995 Hyundai Accent...just look at how small the hood really is on one of those things!

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/auto...

Posted by Tammie on May 21, 2008 at 8:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Weren't those the cars that were giving away for free at one time if you bought a Hyundai Sonata or something? Lol

Posted by wpc3iop on May 21, 2008 at 8:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Idiots!

Posted by katrenavantassle on May 21, 2008 at 9:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)

to Allwoman: My cousin was sitting on the hood of his friends car off of a dirt road on Hwy 17A near M.Corner one time, as his friend let her 5 yrs old child steer the car. (Yes, stupid) but anyways, she hit a pot hole and he fell off and the car ran him over. He had his right arm torn off except for one piece of skin holding it on, and also had instantly broken his neck. I was the first person in the emergency room at Trident with him so I saw all the injurys first hand. He was laid on a backboard in a neck brace and had his arm bandaged so that it looked like 5 times bigger...to keep him stable...He also had road rash on every inch of his backside where the car drug him down the dirt road. These people he "So called friends" left him on the road to die. He passed out but with God's help woke back up and held his arm with his good one, and walked 1/2 mile (he didnt know his neck was broken) to 17A where he passed out from the blood loss. Someone saw him laying on the side of the road, THANK GOD AGAIN, and called EMS. He died 3 times in the ambulance but was brought back. He had a steel halo screwed into his head and was in Trident Hospital on what I call a rotisorie style bed for 30 DAYS! He was a roofer by profession and doctors say if it was for all the extra muscles in his neck, he would have been paralyzed when he got up to walk for help. SO MY POINT BEING, SITTING, LAYING, STANDING, SURFING, WHATEVER ON TOP OF A HOOD ON ANY KIND OF ROAD, YARD, DRIVEWAY CAN KILL YOU!!! DO NOT EVER DO IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, ITS NOT A JOKE OR GAME. IT IS YOUR LIFE!!

Posted by Chasgirlie on May 21, 2008 at 9:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Auger!!! You said it all. These women should be put under the jail! Hoodsurfing is dangerous in the first place but when it is a mother and close relative "egging" on the children what kind of lesson does that teach???? MORONS!

Posted by grannyofsix on May 21, 2008 at 9:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)

katremavantassle... i get your point but if you are mention the driveway because of what i said please look again the car had NO MOTOR but you are right dirt road grassy field it is on safe with a MOVING car

Posted by BigSargeofSC on May 21, 2008 at 9:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Wow! So there realy is a Dumb and Dumber. And I thought it was just a movie.

Posted by Tammie on May 21, 2008 at 9:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)

katrenavantassle...I am glad your cousin is still alive! That's a blessing in itself! I hope he got rid of those "friends" also.

Posted by grannyofsix on May 21, 2008 at 9:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)

that was unsafe sorry

Posted by Marianne0558 on May 21, 2008 at 9:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Why would someone allow their children to ride on the hood of a car? The bed of a truck is a LOT more different because there are things to hold on to and a place to keep your butt in there...

Idiots!

I can't imagine that my mother would EVER willingly let me ride on the hood of a car.

Then again, she wasn't an imbecile either.
Again, I SOOOOOOOOO agree with sterilization.
Slap together a bill and my vote is YES!

Posted by ColdBeer on May 21, 2008 at 9:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I wonder, since they own a Hyundai, if "Rob" can get them out of the charges using his "factory connections".

I'd be willing to let these women go free if someone would just please stop the stupid factory connection commercials!!!

Thank goodness for XM radio.

Posted by grannyofsix on May 21, 2008 at 9:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Did anyone who is old enough to remember sitting on the hood of the car at a drive in movie. again not moving and both the driver and you are sitting on the hood no one behind the wheel just watching the movie. but if you were with the opposite sex you were in the car not necessarily watching the movie
I hope the girls will be ok . Mom need to be charged

Posted by RTC on May 21, 2008 at 9:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I know that I may not be up on all the new fads, but when did it become cool to use teens as hood ornaments?
I think that Maj. Clark said it all very well in the last paragraph.

Posted by akkomplished on May 21, 2008 at 9:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I do believe that they thought this would be a fun, harmless "adventure"! I went to school with Mitchell and she's really not a bad person. Some times we don't think before we do things and we end up in situations like this. We've all done stupid things... we were just lucky that we didn't get caught and no one got hurt. My prayers go out to the family and I hope that the kids recover real soon.

Posted by MsPiggy on May 21, 2008 at 10 a.m. (Suggest removal)

My mother and my aunt would NEVER and I want to but emphasis on NEVER let me ride on the hood of a vechile...especially when she was driving!!!!

How immature and unresponsible. This was her mother and aunt, not her best friend and classmate. Thats the problem with parents today...They want to be their kid's best friend and not their PARENT. Hello???

Its the parent's reponsibility to say, "No! Get off the hood of this car right now"
I swear, people just don't think of the consequences. To willingly put your own child and neice in danger like that, I just don't understand. They could have died. Heck, they can die in the hospital right now. I hope and pray that doesn't happen, but its the principle of the matter.

For the mother or aunt, whoever to slam on the brakes like that...What a sick game. She must have slammed on them pretty good for them to go flying and hit the pavement like they did. "A short distance"?? YEAH RIGHT! If it was a short distance, then they wouldn't have flew off the car when the brakes were slammed. This woman obviously booked it, then slammed on the brakes. Since there were head injuries, their bodies were contorted in such a way that they were unable to land safely on the ground, or on their feet. I'm surprised they didn't get ran over!

I'm sure it wasn't the intention to hurt the children. It was just all in (what they thought was) fun. Well, you better be ready to face the consequences. Being a parent is no joke. If you aren't ready to be a parent, then DANG IT WEAR A RUBBER!!!!! Or better yet, don't have sex.

Posted by CHRISJIII on May 21, 2008 at 10:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)

While this was an unsafe thing to do and should not have been done, these types of things go on all the time. I don't think for a second that the mother and aunt had any intention of hurting these little girls. Better judgement should have been used though.

Posted by Marianne0558 on May 21, 2008 at 10:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Yeah well, you would think that if you were driving with your kids on the hood or your nieces, you wouldn't brake and send them sliding into the pavement.

I think there should be eye-for-an-eye punishments instilled today.
Think about it, I bet they wouldn't let their kids ride on the hood anymore if someone made them do it and braked to send them flying into the pavement....

Posted by kerwin1959 on May 21, 2008 at 10:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I hope DSS comes in and takes her children from her. I think authorities should have charged them with more than child endangerment....IMO

Posted by riddiksgirl on May 21, 2008 at 10:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I think on fox news there is a story about a dude that fell out of his bed and died. His bed was going about 0 mph.

Posted by sbs920 on May 21, 2008 at 10:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Gives a new meaning to "Hoodies"

Posted by summerville_guy on May 21, 2008 at 11:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)

ColdBeer,

I agree with you about the "factory connection...no comment!" commercials being incredibly annoying. I think it is Kia though rather than Hyundai, but I could be wrong.

The most annoying radio commercial by far is the 1-800-SafeAuto one where the woman breaks down and the "company president" smiles as he dials the phone. It is on the radio all the time, and it isn't even that great of a story! And the the narrator says "We can't guarantee that our comp-(insert awkward pause here)-'nee pres-dent will come to your rescue...but you never know!" So annoying.

But back on topic, these women are idiots.

Posted by Girleygirl on May 21, 2008 at 11:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I do agree with Early, Allwoman, and Chris.

I don't think that the aunt did it on purpose. Yes she was careless but I don't think she was trying to kill them...

Posted by Early on May 21, 2008 at 12:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Yep, now if you leave your kid in the sun too long and it gets sun burnt, you can be charged!
If you don't strap your kid in the swing and it flies out like a kicked shoe, you can be charged!
If your kid gets hit in the nuts playing ball and you didn't buy him a nut cup, you can be charged!
If he racks himself on the middle bar on the bicycle and you didn't have foam wrapped around it, you can be charged!
Did I miss some?

Posted by Charles_Town on May 21, 2008 at 12:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)

While there are differences between this article and the one where the tire malfunctioned resulting in the deaths of two small children (http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/may/...), the simple fact is irresponsible parents. All plausible related charges should be brought against these two women including removal of the children from their care (which they were obviously not doing well anyway).

Posted by WestAshleyMomma on May 21, 2008 at 12:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)

My question is "Who is going to pay for the helicopter and ambulance "ride" the 2 girls took to MUSC. Oh yeah, and the hosiptal bill???? Hope the mom and aunts wages (if they indeed work) are garnished to pay for a STUPID stunt!

Posted by My_50Cents_Worth on May 21, 2008 at 1:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I agree with those whose sentiments are that this type stuff was familiar to folks who grew up in rural areas. Growing up on Johns Island 9 year olds drove cars, tractors and anything else they could see over the dash to drive. Also, we rode on hoods, tailgates, and everywhere in or on a vehicle…with no safety belt.

We did some things back then, that DSS would take us into custody for today.

Falling in a sandy dirt road and falling on concrete are going to yield different results. One child was airlifted?!! This is a sad story about something that was meant to be fun that has ended in a what sounds like pretty bad injury.

Posted by PoisenIvy on May 21, 2008 at 1:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I wonder how much CRACK they smoked prior to 'the accident'...

Posted by grannyofsix on May 21, 2008 at 1:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)

you base your question on what reason WestAshleyMomma? that they cant pay for this? do you know the family? just asking

Posted by eyfigueroa on May 21, 2008 at 3 p.m. (Suggest removal)

granny: to answer your question, WestAshleyMomma based her questions solely on the "photos" of the mother & aunt.

That is unless she personally knows the family and is privy to their personal financial information. *smirk*

Posted by My_50Cents_Worth on May 21, 2008 at 3:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Ey!
I see you're still a lone "firefighter."

Posted by ColdBeer on May 21, 2008 at 3:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Mommy, can we play on the trampoline?

NO! Trampolines are dangerous! You'll break a a leg! Now.. get back on the car... this is fun!

Posted by summerville_guy on May 21, 2008 at 3:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Coldbeer, I think it's more like this:

Mommy, can we play on the trampoline?

NO! Not until your aunt comes over to cover it in rusty nails and light it on fire while you're jumping.

Posted by ColdBeer on May 21, 2008 at 3:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)

LOL

Posted by eyfigueroa on May 21, 2008 at 4:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)

coldbeer & summervilleguy: I just fell on the floor. that was hilarious!

HEY MY50cents! Long time no see. I'm trying not to be a firefighter.

But there are times when...

Posted by My_50Cents_Worth on May 21, 2008 at 4:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)

...I understand, Ey!

Posted by ColdBeer on May 21, 2008 at 4:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)

This is an easy story to poke fun at, but I hope the two young girls have a full recovery. Head injuries can be very serious and they are too young to have to go through this mess.

Posted by luvmydogs59 on May 21, 2008 at 8:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Riding in the back of a pickup is another thing that shouldn't be done. Many a person, both child and adult, have been seriously injured or killed when they went flying out the back, even from something as simple as the truck going over a bump. This is why riding in the back of a pickup is illegal in many states. And how many stories have there been recently about young children getting killed while in golf carts, on ATV's, etc.

While I'm sure that most of us have done stupid things in the past (who hasn't), some things should just be good old common sense, like not riding on a car hood, the back of a pickup, etc. etc.

Posted by karmann on May 21, 2008 at 10:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I am sure this is not the first set of parents who made a dumb mistake and their children had to pay the price. I cringe when I see a toddler riding on a parents shoulders b/c I saw a child fall to the concrete and have a concussion. I am bothered by parents who take small children into a R rated movie where there is violence, sex scenes, and language. I hate walking by a person's house and hearing the parents cursing to the point where I can hear in on the street. Or parents who drink to excess in the presence of their children. Was this a malicious act or poor thinking on the part of the parent and aunt? Was the intention to do harm, or not projecting what the consequences could be? There are many ways children can be harmed. Are we to take every child out of home that is deemed inappropriate, and on whose standard? We don't have the homes available now for foster parents, good foster parents. Unfortunately, there is no simple solution. Parents do need to be grown up, mature, and have the ability to project into the future possible harm that current actions may have on their children.

Posted by JohnS on May 21, 2008 at 11:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)

They were trying to do a stunt that was played on the MTV show Jackass. It was called hood dancing. The person dances on the hood of the car while the vehicle is in motion. The stunt man rolled off the hood once the car stopped quickly.

Posted by mishiko on May 22, 2008 at 11:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Ms. Mitchell has never been on the bright side since I've known her. Like they say stupid is as stupid does. STUPID

Posted by concern2008 on May 22, 2008 at 1:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I know the ward and mitchell family very well and I want to say that they good parents and love their kids.
These young ladies just made a mistake not thinking about what could have happened from this.
I haven't meet a person yet that is perfect and never made a dumb mistake and regret what they have done.
yes, kids shouldn't be on top of cars and the parent as well as the cousin should have known better but the kids at the same time are both teens who were well aware of what was going on.
This situation is not worser than a parent putting her child in a trash bag and putting them under a sink or a parent smothering her baby's because of them crying.
My thoughts and prayers are with the family and I hope the kids have a full recovery.

Posted by southerner on May 22, 2008 at 3:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)

They should have to pay for any damage that was done to the pavement when their heads hit the road.