Mob Justice?

I am sure that we all remember the thrill of hearing the ice cream truck as it crawled it's way down the neighborhood streets.  You can remember begging your parents for the chance to run out and pick one of the treats they had advertised with the pictures on the side of the truck.  I am sure that many people still see and hear their travels through the neighborhoods even today.

If.... and that is a big IF...... our parents let us have that chance, the number one rule was no running out to the street to chase it down.  It is a rolling business that someone's living is generated from and it is also an attractive nuisance.  Sadly, Jamarion Thomas, 7, lost his life when he encountered the neighborhood ice cream truck.  The accident which was reported at 7:15 pm on the 200 block of E 97th Street in Los Angeles CA on Oct 22 was not the truck driver's fault.

The police state that their initial investigation shows that Thomas was riding his motorized bike alongside the rear of the truck and was possibly holding onto it in the area of the bumper.  For some reason, he fell and the rear wheel of the truck ran over him.  People who were nearby stated that they had to yell to the truck driver to stop because he had hit the boy.

Jamarion's mother, Danisha Mitchell, 34, states that her son had come inside to ask for money to buy ice cream and insists that he had left pushing his bike.  She added that he was too small to have held onto the truck, even if he had wanted to.  The next thing she knew was that she heard screaming, rushed over to where it was and saw her son lying in the road.  Thomas was rushed to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

The neighborhood residents took it into their own hands as to what to do with the truck driver and his truck....... they attacked both of the with bricks, sticks and possibly brandishing a knife.  It has been reported that possibly some of Thomas's own family members were included in the group that damaged the truck and injured the driver.  The police took the driver to the police station for his own safety as well as questioning in regards to the accident.  They added that the driver was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol when the incident occurred and he was taken to the hospital for treatment of his minor injuries.

What is known is that a young boy lost his life but the driver did not knowingly kill Thomas but the crowd evidently felt that he should "pay" for the accident.  I am finding it difficult to understand why a young boy would leave the house for ice cream...... pushing a motorized bike that supposedly does not work.  His mother claims that he was only walking the bike out with him to get ice cream but doesn't that mean that he will now have to balance a bike that doesn't work while he is trying to eat a treat?  I am leaning towards the idea that if the bike did not work, it would have been fun to have a truck moving at 5 mph drag you along, that way you can get a cool ride.

It is sad that a child that young has lost his life because of an accident.  That does not make it right to attack the person you think should have to pay for it.  I am sure that the truck driver is going to pay in their own nightmares for years to come and it was not their fault Thomas died.  It may also be a very hard lesson for other children that motor vehicles are not something to play with or around.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-boy-killed-ice-cream-truck-cause-20141023-story.html

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ice-cream-truck-boy-killed-la-20141023-story.html

http://ktla.com/2014/10/22/young-child-struck-killed-by-ice-cream-truck-in-south-l-a/