Boy Dies in Rotating Restaurant Tragedy. I’ll Bet You Can Guess What Happened Next

This hkyynhtthh
is a story
you probably already heard with a heavy heart: A North Carolina boy, 5, and his family were visiting a rotating restaurant in Atlanta:

The boy had wandered away from his family but was only a few feet from their table when the accident happened.

“Somehow, the child became lodged between the wall and a table as the dining area rotated,” Atlanta Police Officer Stephanie Brown told Buzzfeed News.

He died of his injuries. So outrageously sad.

Can you guess what the chorus of commenters is saying? If you can’t, perhaps this whole “internet” thing is new to you. So here are the first five comments on the story as it appeared on Yahoo (boldface mine):

  • Sorry for the child but both parents were present and the kid wandered off long enough to get his head caught in something. That’s like the kids that end up crawling up inside those carnival machines with the grab arm thing. What happened to actually watching your kids in public? Put that damn phone down.
    Have you people forgotten how quickly a 5 year old can get out of your sight? C’mon, these parents are going through hell and some here are wanting them tarred and feathered.

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70 Responses to Boy Dies in Rotating Restaurant Tragedy. I’ll Bet You Can Guess What Happened Next

  1. Roger the Shrubber April 17, 2017 at 8:46 am #

    The parent blaming is ridiculous but if you believe that it was God’s will that did this, your God is an asshole.

  2. Silver Fang April 17, 2017 at 8:53 am #

    I think blaming parents these days us a backlash against parents suing when their kids get hurt.

  3. Kemara April 17, 2017 at 9:15 am #

    Compare this story with the one about the little girl who became separated from her family while at the beach in Florida. http://jacksonville.com/news/national/2017-04-14/beach-photo-captures-beauty-hearts-florida-officer-guides-lost-girl-back. The story and photo are being praised as heartwarming. No one blamed the family for not watching their child, and the parents weren’t arrested for neglect. I’m betting if the child had gotten hurt or kidnapped, it would’ve been a different story.

  4. Niicole April 17, 2017 at 9:34 am #

    I’m seeing the same thing happen in the comments section of stories about the unfortunate accident that killed there 3 yo daughter of an ex-NFL player. The comments are full of ” who was watching her” and asking how stupid could he be for not checking to see if his kids were there. http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/todd-heap-accidentally-hits-kills-year-daughter-moving/story?id=46812822

  5. Buffy April 17, 2017 at 9:47 am #

    It always amazes me how many perfect parents there are in the world, always read to sit in judgement for things they have allegedly never done.

  6. Buffy April 17, 2017 at 9:47 am #

    always *ready* argh

  7. Dienne April 17, 2017 at 10:13 am #

    The next step, of course, is to outlaw rotating restaurants. Clearly they’re dangerous.

    /s

  8. gary gruber April 17, 2017 at 11:11 am #

    The inherent risks of parenting, of raising children, of deciding how much control and how much freedom to exercise, how to develop independent, intelligent kids capable of making decisions and mistakes (hopefully not too costly) goes with the territory. Blaming parents or the restaurant or the child serves no one. Who’s at fault for any child’s “premature” death? What about Sandy Hook? The alligator at Disney? Automobile accidents? Disease?
    It’s not so much what happens as what we make of what happens and what we do to address some of the bigger issues underlying the event. Lessons learned?

  9. Powers April 17, 2017 at 11:11 am #

    Sorry, Lenore, but this is supremely dumb. I don’t have to believe in an imaginary God or some objective immutable “fate” to accept that accidents happen. Why would you even try to bring mysticism or the supernatural into this?

  10. James Pollock April 17, 2017 at 11:28 am #

    It is a cruel universe. It will take your child from you with no remorse.
    Previous generations were even more aware of this omnipresent fact because they lost far more children. We in this modern age are spoiled, with our antibiotics and child safety seats and helmets for bicycling and skateboarding.
    Ultimately, we are all responsible for preserving our safety amidst all the various threats, and, until they can shoulder the load, we bear responsibility for our children, as well.
    Yes, you can get people to help you. But if the people who are helping you protect your children fail, you, as parent, STILL have some responsibility… you should have picked better helpers. That’s just the way responsibility works.

    “Parent shaming” may suck for the parent who lost a child, but it still serves a valuable societal function: It provides a cautionary tale, a warning that helps other parents avoid losing their children to the same danger. Any time a child dies an untimely death, we naturally search the circumstances for any lessons we might learn from it, and no, it isn’t “OMG, the parents were so terrible! They had this coming!”

    This case seems to give us a couple. First, the parents didn’t protect their child from danger. It might be because they didn’t recognize the danger themselves; it might be because they were distracted. But there’s also the operator of the premises, who should KNOW of the danger, and yet didn’t protect their young customer from it.

    Now, to forestall the complaints “well, we can’t all be perfect parents like YOU!”, here’s a case where someone else saved my daughter from a fairly serious danger. A short drive east from Portland, Oregon, is a major tourist destination, Multnomah falls. It’s a 600-foot waterfall. Tourists can stay at the bottom of the falls and marvel at the long drop, or they can hike the trail, about a mile and quarter, that leads to the top of the falls. My daughter and I have made the climb many, many times, but one time in particular, when she was about three years old, we got to the top and she ran on ahead down the trail to the lookout vantage point which is literally right at the top of the falls, only a few feet back from the edge, on the side of the stream that plummets over the cliff. There’s about a four-foot tall wall, so that a typical adult tourist can look out over the edge but is kept safely away from the 600-foot drop. My daughter was NOT 4 feet tall, so, arriving at the viewpoint without her parental unit, she climbed the wall so she could see. A stranger grabbed her off the top of the wall and put her back down on the ground as I caught up. I’d let her run ahead because the trail is well-marked and she had been taught to stay on the trail, and I knew there was a wall at the viewpoint which would keep her away from the edge of the cliff. But we’d never taught her “and don’t climb over the wall at the end of the trail.” I knew she was a climber, but it just hadn’t occurred to me that I needed to tell her not to climb over walls at the top of 600-foot tall cliffs. I was lucky… she didn’t slip before anyone got to her, there was someone there to collect her at the top of the wall. That experience taught me that we needed a new rule about climbing on things, which we implemented, and we didn’t have any recurrences.

  11. Tonia April 17, 2017 at 11:46 am #

    James brings up a good point – other parents intervening when a child is in danger. A couple of weeks ago a man brought his children (looked like 7 and 4 yrs old) to the pool. He then LEFT THEM THERE, at the pool, alone, apparently to go get some things.

    The youngest promptly stripped off his clothes and went into the hot tub. He had swim trunks on. I couldn’t believe a parent would be so irresponsible! I kept an eye on him. If he’d have fallen into the pool, I would have tried to save him, but in this world, I’d likely get sued. :/

    The father was gone at least five minutes, hard to believe…

  12. Buffy April 17, 2017 at 11:51 am #

    Sorry Tonia, but how do you know that the 4-year-old wasn’t a decent swimmer? How do you know that the older kid wasn’t competent to keep an eye on his sibling for 5 minutes? How do you Dad didn’t say “You kids go ahead and get in the hot tub, and I’ll be right back?” How do you know that YOU care about those kids more than their own father?

    Sure, keep an eye on them if it makes you feel better. But you have no idea of the dynamics of that family or those children, and it’s not up to you to make judgments.

  13. John B. April 17, 2017 at 11:55 am #

    “The parent blaming is ridiculous but if you believe that it was God’s will that did this, your God is an asshole.”

    @Roger:

    As a Christian I believe that anybody who would say this was “God’s will” is engaging in ignorance. God is not the author of tragedy.

  14. lollipoplover April 17, 2017 at 12:01 pm #

    Does anyone else wonder who is watching the kids of these sanctimonious parents while they are typing their
    “You should be watching your kids at all times” comments on these news articles?

  15. John B. April 17, 2017 at 12:05 pm #

    I did see some of these comments below the article and I replied back to many of them and pointed to the ignorance of their judgments. One of my replies was something to the effect of shame on the parents for not looking into their crystal ball before they went to the restaurant otherwise they would have known this extremely rare tragedy would have occurred and therefore could have prevented it. Fortunately many other bloggers replied to the many ignorant comments with similar sarcasm.

  16. John B. April 17, 2017 at 12:19 pm #

    I think what these ignoramuses need to be more aware of is the many times they taken their eyes off their children when nothing happened but yet something extremely rare could have happened. I am not a parent myself but I’m willing to bet that EVERY single parent in this world has taken their eyes off their toddler children many times in their life. But yet when some rare tragedy strikes a family, they judge the bereaving parents in a negative light and are completely unaware that they’ve been the exact same way with their kids.

  17. Melissa April 17, 2017 at 12:44 pm #

    Roger, please do not call anyone’s god an a-hole. Inappropriate. I believe in God, and I know that children sometimes die in accidents. So that makes my God an a-hole because he did not stop those accidents? Our small brains cannot comprehend what the greater plan might be. I can’t imagine the reason for these horrible tragedies. But you calling God an a-hole is no different than the people out there posting that the parents are a-holes for “letting” this happen to their child. It’s no one’s fault.

  18. Dave April 17, 2017 at 12:48 pm #

    Sorry folks, I also blame the parents here. I have had similar issues with my daughter-in-law, who likes to let her 3 and 5 year old girls run around the restaurant annoying other customers whilst staring at her cell phone. She does this at home, too, but it’s not as much of a problem there. Parents need to teach their kids basic public manners. In a restaurant, you sit quietly in your seat and respect the rights of other patrons to enjoy their meals in peace. It also helps keep them safe in any public environment. Five year olds don’t always recognize day to day potential dangers like waiters carrying trays of hot food, traffic, escalators, and large crowds in which you can become quickly lost. Until they develop this awareness and learn self-control, parent’s need to keep them on a short leash.

  19. Dave April 17, 2017 at 12:54 pm #

    Lenore, chalking an accident up to “fate” or “god’s will” is a total cop-out. Kids need to learn basic restaurant manners – sitting quietly in your seat and not annoying other patrons or possibly tripping up a waiter with a tray of hot food. Sorry, this one was indeed the parents’ fault.

  20. Donna April 17, 2017 at 12:58 pm #

    I went to this restaurant for the first time 35 years ago and it wasn’t newly opened then. We used to go once or twice a year when I was in my teens, and I remember going with my little brother when he was about this Kid’s age. Even having been in the restaurant many times, I can’t envision how such an accident could have occurred. The owners of the restaurant should certainly look into it to see if anything could be easily changed so it doesn’t happen again, but since this appears to be the first time something like this has happened in the very long life of this restaurant, blaming the parents or even the restaurant is ridiculous.

  21. EricS April 17, 2017 at 12:59 pm #

    @James and Tonya: If I had been those strangers, I’d done same. But these days, many people are just too afraid to get involved, for fear of reprisal from the parents, it’s happened. So people, unlike in the past, keep to themselves. It’s a perpetual circle of ignorance, arrogance, and fear. More now than ever before.

    My rule of thumb with my own, from the day they were born…teach them to be successful adults. I love my kids, when they were born, to this very day. But I have never once thought of them as a hood ornament, a property to show off. They have always been PEOPLE. People who don’t have the experience yet to navigate this world safely and productively. So as parents it’s our job to make sure they learn. And that can start as early as 3-4 years old. Personally, from the day they are born. Teach them habits. Even if they don’t understand yet, they will get used to the habit. It makes for a good base when they do start comprehending.

    I just look back at my own childhood, and teach the same values and lessons I was taught. And add from my own experiences based on what I was taught as child. I’ve always said and believe, the best way to protect your children, is to teach them to protect themselves. Sheltering, coddling, spoiling, are never good things for children. It makes things worse for them as they grow up. I know kids 15-17, who are deathly afraid to take transit. They regurgitate what they’ve been told. “Kidnapped, sexual assault, killed”. So their parents (disgruntling) drive them around everywhere. lol Many of those parents do regret that they contributed to their children’s paranoia. They “never expected their children will turn out that way”. lol NO, of course not. They teach them to be fearful about almost everything, and they don’t understand why their kids are fearful of almost everything. smh

  22. Mark Sullivan April 17, 2017 at 1:29 pm #

    Well said, Lenore.
    It would seem sometimes, that some folks feel, that there’s not enough mean in the world.
    This thread proves that there’s more than enough.

  23. Shana April 17, 2017 at 1:40 pm #

    I’m glad you wrote on this. Now, personally, I am the kind of person who gets very annoyed at people who don’t control their kids at restaurants, who let them be noisy, run around, etc. It’s just bad manners. However, with the very limited information we have, there is no evidence these were such parents. I am familiar with this restaurant and have been there, the fact that it is on the fancier side and the fact that it rotates (which could be disorienting) makes me speculate that it is in fact very unlikely the parents were just letting their kid roam around all night. More likely it was a case of the boy just wandering off while they were paying the check, packing up to go, or in some other way distracted just long enough for him to wander off. News reports have noted he was only a few feet from the table, so it isn’t like they would have had to have eyes off of him for long for this to occur.

    And you know what, even if this were a case of parents not controlling their kid and letting them act how they want in restaurants, that is still completely independent from what happened and these parents shouldn’t be blamed for endangering them. Parents who do this annoy me because it interrupts my meal, not because I think their kid is in mortal danger by wandering off from their table.

    I have also seen people blaming not the parents, but the restaurant. I don’t like that either. Rotating restaurants of this sort aren’t new, and I don’t think there’s ever been a case of this happening in the world (thus the headlines). Just because this happened doesn’t mean 1. The restaurant was irresponsibly putting patrons at risk or 2. We now need to ban rotating restaurants. The world isn’t 100% safe and I don’t think it should be our goal to make it this way. I also think that while business owners of course should have a reasonable concern for safety, that it is their job to foresee every conceivable risk, however unlikely.

    Assuming no revealing information becomes available, this is simply a tragic freak accident that isn’t anyone’s fault.

  24. Mike April 17, 2017 at 1:42 pm #

    Not God. Not fate. Just “shit happens”.

  25. Shana April 17, 2017 at 1:48 pm #

    And with regards to watching other people’s kids; I had a really pleasant experience with this recently. I went to a kid café. It’s got the café area for parents, and play areas for kids. It’s designed as a place for parents who want to meet up to socialize with other adults, while also bringing their kids along without having to watch them the whole time. It relies on cooperative parenting. It’s designed for kids to be running around, while the parents relax and eat and drink, but it’s big enough that you can’t always see your kid from your table. So essentially all the parents cumulatively agree to watch whatever kids are closest to them. I went their recently with my friend and her toddler. Even though she’s only two, we were able to sit and have a nice lunch while her toddler ran around, with my friend only occasionally going to check on her. We knew the other parents would keep her from running out the front door or doing something dangerous, and we in turn kept an eye on any little ones that were running around our table area. It was a great system.

  26. Judas Peckerwood April 17, 2017 at 2:07 pm #

    I don’t believe in god(s) or fate. Does that make me… rational?

  27. Judas Peckerwood April 17, 2017 at 2:11 pm #

    @Melissa: “But you calling God an a-hole is no different than the people out there posting that the parents are a-holes for “letting” this happen to their child. It’s no one’s fault.”

    Sorry, but if you believe in an all-knowing, all-powerful deity, then EVERYTHING is said deity’s fault.

  28. Judas Peckerwood April 17, 2017 at 2:16 pm #

    @Dave: “Sorry folks, I also blame the parents here. I have had similar issues with my daughter-in-law, who likes to let her 3 and 5 year old girls run around the restaurant annoying other customers whilst staring at her cell phone.”

    Sorry Dave, but you’re just making shit up. Unless you have a secret source of information, you have no idea whether the parents in this case were looking at their phones or letting their child run wild. Sounds to me like you just like to cast judgement, and damn the facts.

  29. Beth April 17, 2017 at 2:21 pm #

    I tried to read the comments on yahoo, but couldn’t make it past 20. The number of people who never ever ever ever ever take their eyes off their small children is astounding. How are “accidents” even a thing? “I ALWAYS held her hand”…..”I never even have my phone OUT when I am with my children”…..”I NEVER took my eyes off any of my 36 children and luckily I was born without the need to sleep/eat/pee/poop”.

    I couldn’t stomach it.

  30. LGB April 17, 2017 at 2:22 pm #

    Brace yourselves. The comments have gone from bad to worse to downright racist with a slur against “Jewish ambulance chasers.” 🙁

    And good grief! If you’re not glancing at your phone, (something I don’t even carry), you’re glancing at something else — the newspaper, the adoring eyes of your spouse, the menu, the itemized bill that you’re quizzically scrutinizing. Glancing at anything other than our own progeny *at any time* has become an unwritten crime in this country.

    By the way, if my 5-year-old child asked to get up and go look out the window of a rotating restaurant while we were waiting for our food, I would have said yes. This is not the kind of thing that disturbs other customers, and if it were, I’d reel him right back to the table. If somebody–child or adult–getting up from the table is the kind of thing to ruin your dinner experience, you probably shouldn’t be dining out. But a kid getting up from a seat is not automatically tantamount to starting a game of indoor baseball.

    Lollipop Lover’s comment is hilarious. I see a new headline emerging: CHILD DROWNS IN SINK FULL OF DIRTY DISHES WHILE PARENT BUSY POSTING SANCTIMONIOUS ONLINE COMMENTS ABOUT PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. ” ‘I should have never looked away,’ sobbed regretful mom while being cuffed and dragged to jail.”

  31. Shana April 17, 2017 at 2:42 pm #

    @ Dave, as Judas already said, you simply have no idea if that is what happened.

    I was raised by strict parents, and before the age of social media and cell phones. From toddlerhood we were expected to be well behaved at the table, at home or in restaurants, and my parents didn’t give us any leeway in this regard. One of our family’s funniest memories was when we were on vacation in cape Cod. My sister would have been around 4 years old. We were seated at the table at an ocean side seafood restaurant when I got bit by a horsefly. I let out a little shriek, and as my parents turned to tend to me, my little sister slid down out of her seat, dashed from under the table, and over to one of those portable stands waiters use to place trays on. On one of those trays were too huge lobsters. My sister grabbed a lobster by the antenaes peaking over the side of the tray, one in each hand, and crowed triumphantly at her prize. My mortified parents apologized profusely and offered to pay for the lobsters (though the restaurant said no).

    Shit happens. Anyone who says they NEVER take their eyes off their kids, even for a moment, is lying.

    @ Beth, I also had to stop reading the comments for the same reason

  32. James April 17, 2017 at 2:59 pm #

    “James brings up a good point – other parents intervening when a child is in danger.”

    That would be ideal, sure. But if they did, and the boy didn’t get injured by the impending accident, the person who intervened would be sued. Particularly if the person who intervened was male, and definitely if the child was in any way injured–it would be immediately blamed on the person who intervened rather than the accident.

    Further, what constitutes “in danger”? Remember, we live in a world where leaving kids in a car for five minutes can land you in jail. My definition of “in danger” differs rather wildly from that of the folks at Scary Mommy. For that matter, it varies from that of my wife. The Reasonable Person Standard isn’t going to cut it here; in our culture, it’s the most paranoid that set the terms of the discussion when it comes to parenting. The potential for unintended consequences is extremely high.

    I’m not saying parents shouldn’t help if they see something bad happening–I’ve jumped in myself more than once. It’s just that the issue isn’t as simple as it’s being presented.

  33. BL April 17, 2017 at 3:02 pm #

    @Judas Peckerwood
    “Sorry, but if you believe in an all-knowing, all-powerful deity, then EVERYTHING is said deity’s fault.”

    Well, there’s the Devil …

  34. Jason April 17, 2017 at 3:02 pm #

    @Dave – Your remarks reminded me of a friend. I can’t figure out how her 4 perfect kids all married such useless morons.

  35. Kirsten April 17, 2017 at 3:03 pm #

    I have no idea whether these parents were watching or not watching, on their phones or not on their phones, etc. I know that children can get away from their parents in a flash. So I will certainly not participate in judging and second guessing of these heartbroken people.

    On the other hand, I do sometimes see parents of small children letting their children run around the tables in restaurants without particularly watching them and I don’t think that is a good idea.

  36. James Pollock April 17, 2017 at 3:06 pm #

    “‘Sorry, but if you believe in an all-knowing, all-powerful deity, then EVERYTHING is said deity’s fault.’
    Well, there’s the Devil …”

    Who is ALSO said deity’s fault. Just sayin’

  37. Shana April 17, 2017 at 3:16 pm #

    One other thought I had in terms of cell phones after Dave’s comments: does anyone else find that parents are much more harshly judged for using cell phones or social media around kids, when they wouldn’t be judged for being distracted by other things around kids? Or that people are judged more harshly for using cell phones, period?

    My mother was a voracious reader, and I am as well. When I was a kid and she took me to the playground, as soon as I wasn’t teeny tiny, she often spent her time sitting nearby reading a book while I played. Sure sometimes we played together, but she often read while I played. My daughter is only a baby now, but when I’ve brought my niece to the park I do the same thing; played with her some of the time, and read some of the time while she played alone or with other kids there. I can’t think of mom or me ever getting criticized or a dirty look for this. I live across the street from the park and love to read in the park. Again, I’ve never been on the receiving end of negative attention for reading out in public.

    Yet people are constantly criticized for using their smart phones in public. Now there ARE people who are legit addicted to their phones and can’t function without them, or are rude about it (i.e. you go out to dinner and they spend more time looking at their phone than you). But I regularly hear people complaining about, say, seeing a parent on their phone while out with their kid in the park, even though the kid seems perfectly happy and not in any trouble. Even without kids, I hear people lament others using their phones outside instead of enjoying the outdoors or socializing with neighbors, even though no one ever makes those kinds of comments when I’m reading a book.

    There was a case some time ago about a child who got into an accident in their home, and the news made a huge fuss about how the mom was posting on Facebook when this occurred. Now perhaps this was a neglectful mom, but the news story didn’t have any info other than, “Kid hurt while Mom was on Facebook… EVIL MOM!!” Yet if that same mom had been, say, knitting, or reading a book, when their kid got into an accident, I doubt very much she would have made the Bad Mommy of the Week headlines.

  38. Rigert Jenkins April 17, 2017 at 3:16 pm #

    All of us are perfect parents.
    Until that one day, when we’re not.

  39. James Pollock April 17, 2017 at 3:18 pm #

    “That would be ideal, sure. But if they did, and the boy didn’t get injured by the impending accident, the person who intervened would be sued.”

    Yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking, the time a quick-thinking, fast-reacting stranger pulled by daughter off the wall above a 600-foot drop. “Now I’m going to have sue him”, I thought, quickly brushing away any gratitude I might have felt. “He had the nerve to actually physically pick up my daughter, and we can’t have that!” I remember thinking.

  40. Papilio April 17, 2017 at 3:27 pm #

    Aw, poor parents – what an awful thing to happen.

    I don’t believe in fate (?? Like, ‘It was written in the stars!’ and all that?) or a deity (‘It was written in the book!’), so I’m going with a healthy dose of “shit happens”, if you’re okay with that.

    “Boy Dies in Rotating Restaurant Tragedy. I’ll Bet You Can Guess What Happened Next”

    I considered a joke, but… neh.

  41. James April 17, 2017 at 4:30 pm #

    “Or that people are judged more harshly for using cell phones, period?”

    This one. People assume that if you’re reading you’re expanding your mind, while if you’re on a cell phone you’re rotting your brain on Facebook or Pintrest or something. Everyone just KNOWS that if you’re on a cell phone you’re doing something unimportant.

    Regarding the “unimportant” part: How is looking at pictures of my niece on Facebook any worse than looking at them in a photo album? This goes double for people like me, who live so far away from their families that Facebook is often the only convenient way to share photos–which means, to have any connection with these relatives at all.

    Plus, there’s the fact that smart phone aps that allow you to read books exist. I used to have to use an iPad for work, and downloaded a few public domain books onto it to read during lunch (when you’re working 12 hours a day 5 miles from the nearest road, you need a break!). Given the popularity of these aps in the Apple Store, it’s extremely like that some parents are using their phones as books. Yet no one ever considers that possibility.

    Nothing new under the Sun, though. Even as recently as two or three generations ago adults could be mocked for being “readers” in some circles. Newspapers were blamed for destroying conversation–parents would READ SOMETHING rather than talk to their children at the breakfast table!!! I’m reasonably certain there was a caveman complaining that his neighbors spent all their time painting the walls of their cave rather than interacting with their children. And don’t get me started on video game, the media’s favorite dead horse to beat….. Cell phones are just the latest way to blame the victims of tragedy for not being omniscient.

  42. Robin April 17, 2017 at 5:06 pm #

    A few years ago, I read a book about medical advances that made the point that 100 years ago if a person died unexpectedly (not of old age) it was considered to be “God’s will” or paraphrasing ‘sh*t happens’. Now for any adverse event it must be someone’s fault/negligence/responsibility. There’s a lot to be said for Lenore’s proposition I think. Sometimes bad things happen for no reason; you can’t protect everyone from everything.

  43. JKP April 17, 2017 at 5:28 pm #

    Someone went off on me and read me the riot act for being on my phone in the grocery store. They weren’t the least apologetic when I replied that I was looking at my grocery list.

    I think the constant shaming (deservedly) of people driving and texting has been generalized to the point that it’s irresponsible to do *anything* else while on the phone.

  44. donald April 17, 2017 at 5:56 pm #

    Safety is a big thing. All professions focus on it quite a bit. Engineers in particular focus on this a great deal. The architects and engineer that designed this building would not only utilize what they learned in school and on the job, they would have learned from the hundreds of rotating restaurants throughout the country. In spite of this. The restaurant owner ‘should have’ known more than the engineers. The parents ‘should have’ also have been on guard instead of trusting the restaurant owner to provide a safe environment.

    “First, the parents didn’t protect their child from danger. It might be because they didn’t recognize the danger themselves; it might be because they were distracted. But there’s also the operator of the premises, who should KNOW of the danger, and yet didn’t protect their young customer from it.”

    95% of parent shaming is a tool for the insecure. They use it to push others down in order to make themselves feel better. When problems happen, they can be assessed. Changes are made to prevent it from happening again. The shaming is an unnecessary part of this process. It’s more like an enjoyable activity that floods the online forums.

    “Parent shaming” may suck for the parent who lost a child, but it still serves a valuable societal function: It provides a cautionary tale, a warning that helps other parents avoid losing their children to the same danger.

  45. bmommyx2 April 17, 2017 at 8:52 pm #

    Wow, the comments were unreal. I saw a lot of use of the words; stupid, brats, idiot, moron, just wow. One person even blamed a whole race, it’s white people’s fault, that is just insane. I have a very active 5 yr old & unless I wan’t to duct tape him to a chair he moves about. Only one commenter that I noticed blamed the design of the restaurant. There should not have been those gaps & they should not have been accessible period.

  46. Jessica April 17, 2017 at 9:43 pm #

    This is another STAY OFF SOCIAL MEDIA story for me. I know no one in person– not one– who would say any of those horrible things out loud about the parents. There is something about Facebook, about comments sections, that bring this out in people. So I do not read them. The world is a good place; people are kind; people are compassionate. The internet is something different.

  47. lollipoplover April 17, 2017 at 10:04 pm #

    @Jessica- It depends, not all social media crucifies parents over accidents and tragedies.

    This past winter after a snowstorm, a local community Facebook page posted that a young child was found unresponsive in the snow, needed CPR, and was being transported to the hospital. He was a preschooler playing on his fenced in yard with his puppy while his mother watched through the window. What looked like a Norman Rockwell moment turned to horror when the dog pulled on his scarf and cut off his breathing, causing him to go into cardiac arrest. He later died at the hospital.

    All of the comments were prayers for the family. One mother asked why the mom wasn’t right next to him and was told how inappropriate and unnecessary her words were as the family was likely reading the post and comments. After he died, local families donated tens of thousands within a day for this heartbroken family during an unimaginable time. People are good. Neighbors and strangers do care. My kids were out sledding that day, too. We need to put our pointy fingers away and give more handshakes and hugs.

  48. Donna April 17, 2017 at 10:16 pm #

    “Only one commenter that I noticed blamed the design of the restaurant. There should not have been those gaps & they should not have been accessible period.”

    As I said previously, I have no idea how old this restaurant is, but I personally went there when I first moved to Georgia in the early 80’s (and many times since). Nothing else like this has happened in that 35 years. That is a pretty damn good design! Further, I’d like to see how you’d design a rotating restaurant with no gaps between the wall and the tables. If the tables were attached to the wall, the restaurant could not rotate.

  49. Jessica April 17, 2017 at 10:17 pm #

    Thank you, lollipoplover. You are right, and I shouldn’t characterize “social media” so broadly. These anonymous places like Yahoo bring out the trolls (and many comments by the same people changing their usernames so it seems like more people “agree”). They are a cesspool. On sites that emphasize individuality and humanity, compassion does show through, even on the internet.

  50. James Pollock April 17, 2017 at 10:48 pm #

    ” Further, I’d like to see how you’d design a rotating restaurant with no gaps between the wall and the tables. If the tables were attached to the wall, the restaurant could not rotate.”

    You don’t want it with NO gap between the tables and the wall that doesn’t rotate. You want a big gap, at least 5 or 6 feet wide. You want NO gap between the part of the floor that moves and the part of the floor that doesn’t move.

    That way, nobody and nothing can get caught between the part of the restaurant that moves (the dining room and exterior wall) and the part that doesn’t (the elevators and the kitchen.)

  51. Donna April 17, 2017 at 11:08 pm #

    “You don’t want it with NO gap between the tables and the wall that doesn’t rotate.”

    The commenter said that there should be no gap between the tables and the wall which would completely defeat the rotating nature of the restaurant.

    “That way, nobody and nothing can get caught between the part of the restaurant that moves (the dining room and exterior wall) and the part that doesn’t (the elevators and the kitchen.)”

    The exterior wall does not rotate. I’ve never seen a rotating restaurant where the actual building rotates. I’ve only been in a couple, but they have all been designed similarly – the windows and walls are stationary, but dining room floor rotates very slowly.

  52. Dingbat April 17, 2017 at 11:14 pm #

    @ LGB and Lolipoplover

    I couldn’t agree more.

    Also, take a breath people. She said God or Fate take your pick. You can subistitute The Nothing if you want. They look like big, good, strong, hands, don’t they?

    It’s not up to her to add your list of 99,000 preferred inclusive terms.

  53. Dingbat April 17, 2017 at 11:23 pm #

    I unfortunately saw this in action last week when a boy, maybe 11 or 12, dislocated his shoulder while riding his bike in a parking lot. People who passed by were frantically calling for an ambulance, screaming about him being hit by a car, with absolutely nothing pointing to this. His mom and aunt were standing there with him and everyone was wondering where his horrible, neglectful mom was. As if her super powers would have stopped him from trying to pop a wheelie on the fly, outside of her running behind him holding onto the seat of the bike. It was disturbing and that was just a minor accident.

  54. James Pollock April 17, 2017 at 11:35 pm #

    “The exterior wall does not rotate. I’ve never seen a rotating restaurant where the actual building rotates”

    I said how I’D design it. Not how they designed it. My design doesn’t crush anybody, even every 35 years, and lets people sitting near the window put things down on the floor or window ledge without having them rotate away.) You need a slightly more powerful motor to turn the restaurant if you turn the outer wall with the floor, but the power requirements are surprisingly low… a pair of 5hp electric motors should be able to handle it, even if one of the motors is out of service.)

  55. donald April 17, 2017 at 11:55 pm #

    I don’t how they are designed. I don’t want to pretend that I’m smarter than the engineers that designed this. It’s been deemed safe enough as there are thousands of rotating restaurants worldwide. I think this would classify as a freak accident.

    Parent shaming has become a popular sport. It takes a lot less than this to set it off. I’m definitely not suggesting this shouldn’t be investigated or assessed how it can be made safer. I’m just sickened at all the people that point blame at parents, restaurant owners, or the engineers that designed the building when they have so very few facts.

  56. lollipoplover April 18, 2017 at 12:37 am #

    @Jessica- I call it “Facebook Balls” when strangers make bold and outrageous accusations on social media that they would never say in person.
    It’s easy to hide behind a keyboard and feeling superior to other parents and type mean words, sadly.

    We used to respect the privacy of bereaved parents in times of tragedy, now it’s become a sport to call them names and make accusations without knowing facts. Child deaths are front page news and instead of empathy, some comment sections turn into lynch mobs with their pitchforks being nasty comments. I wish editors would just turn comments off for these type of articles out of respect for the families.

  57. donald April 18, 2017 at 1:14 am #

    LOL! “Facebook Balls”

    Some people can be brave only if they’re hiding behind a keyboard.

  58. James Pollock April 18, 2017 at 1:33 am #

    “Some people can be brave only if they’re hiding behind a keyboard.”

    Is the irony that you just called some people cowards, from safely behind your keyboard, lost on you?

  59. Vicki Bradley April 18, 2017 at 8:19 am #

    Melissa, Roger did not call god an a-hole – he said IF one believes it was god who did this, then he is one. Since I don’t believe in god in any way, shape or form, I would chalk up this tragedy to bad luck. If there are people out there who believe that by virtue of keeping their eyes on their children 24/7 will prevent said children from ever being hurt or killed, then they’re going to be in for a hell of a shocker when it does happen. Either that, or they’ll get their kids through childhood physically intact, but emotionally and mentally damaged.

  60. ezymel April 18, 2017 at 9:20 am #

    Why are the parents being blamed that they are looking at their cell phones and not their children. This totally was a freak accident and who knew something like this would happen. It just takes one catastrophe and now an investigation probably will be held on what measures will be taken to fix the problem. When the rotating restaurant was built, I bet it was never thought that this would become a problem. Obviously, it is. New safety measures has to be incorporated to fix this dangerous problem. I know many restaurants that rotate, never experienced anything such as this terrible event. My heart goes out to the parents of this unfortunate accident.

  61. Jess V April 18, 2017 at 11:19 am #

    Funny, I read this on my phone while my 2 young kids were climbing on (and falling off) a bike rack outside the not-yet-open library. I didn’t watch them for a solid 2 minutes. What kind of parent does that make me, according to those people?

  62. ECB April 18, 2017 at 7:54 pm #

    “Or that people are judged more harshly for using cell phones, period?”

    Something I’ve never understood is how talking to someone on your cell phone while at a restaurant is bad, but talking to that same person face to face at said restaurant is perfectly fine.

  63. Nicole April 19, 2017 at 4:35 pm #

    I think one of the reasons parents blame other parents is they are scared and by saying it is the parents fault then they are assuring themselves it will not happen to them because they are such a better parent. Like your bad so your kid got killed but I am good so mine will never be hurt.

  64. Mr.green April 20, 2017 at 7:37 pm #

    How did the kid even die?????????!!!!!!!!!! it didn’t tell us how he died!!!!!!!!!!!

  65. Mr.green April 20, 2017 at 7:52 pm #

    never mind aka nvm.

  66. CatholicAspiegirl April 21, 2017 at 6:10 pm #

    If anyone is to blame, it’s whoever designed a restaurant in such a way that someone could die from standing next to the wall.

  67. Puzzled April 21, 2017 at 7:51 pm #

    I realize this isn’t the point, but I am having trouble picturing what happened here.

  68. elizabeth April 22, 2017 at 2:03 pm #

    I already read this. People did try to pull him out. Many people. They even tried CPR on him. If i remember correctly, it sounds as if he simply got caught in between the rotating portion and the stationary portion. An accident like that occured at Disney many years ago on a theater-type ride. Ill post a link later if i can find the story.

  69. elizabeth April 22, 2017 at 2:14 pm #

    http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/this-story-breaks-my-heart-death-of-a-disneyland-cast-member-in-the-70s.452669299/

    The accident involved an 18yo employee. Now, how would it be fair to blame someone for HER death?

  70. Carolyn April 24, 2017 at 9:05 am #

    This is a horrible story, a tragic accident. I think in today’s society it’s not hard to imagine that the parents were on their cell phone or distracted by something else. The fact is that a 5 yr. old does require constant supervision……..not to say accidents don’t happen; we are not perfect. In this case though, they were at a revolving restaurant. A little common sense has to come into play at some point. Also, the restaurant should have warning signs posted – Do Not leave your child unattended. That’s my view.