Subject: Boy Mimics Cartoon, Buries Head in Sand, Dies
Author: ţħÍõ+¦jˆZ¢W(Date: 11 Mar
http://abcnews.go.com/US/MindMoodNews/story?id=4430328&page=1
ABC News
Boy Mimicking Cartoon in Sandbox Stunt Dies
Codey Porter, 10, Stopped Breathing After Friends Buried Him Head-
first in Sandbox
By DAVID SCHOETZ
March 11, 2008--
A 10-year-old Washington state boy died Monday of injuries he suffered
Saturday when he buried his head in a sandbox during a play date while
mimicking a favorite cartoon character.
A spokeswoman for the Seattle Children's Hospital and Regional Medical
Center confirmed that Codey Porter died yesterday afternoon. He had
been in critical condition since Saturday, when he stopped breathing
in the sand box in a family friend's backyard.
"We are sad to inform you that Codey Porter passed away today at
approximately 3:35 p.m," the family said in a statement released by
the hospital. "He passed peacefully, with his family at his side. We
appreciate all the support and prayers that we have received."
Family members also announced that they would donate Codey's organs so
that some other family may benefit.
Codey, a fifth-grader, reportedly was playing among a group of
children near his age late Saturday morning when the group came up
with an idea inspired by the popular anime-style character "Naruto."
According to the official U.S. Naruto Web site, the character is a 13-
year-old aspiring ninja who likes to play pranks more than he likes to
train.
The mimicry involved Codey's playmates burying him head-first in a one-
foot-deep sandbox, Joshua Quantrille told ABC News' Seattle affiliate
KOMO-TV. Quantrille, 30, is Codey Porter's half-brother and his three
sons were among the boys playing in the sand box Saturday with Codey.
Quantrille said the other children initially thought Codey, buried
from his head to the top of his chest, was joking when he started to
thrash around. By the time they got help, the boy had already stopped
breathing. Adults at the house tried unsuccessfully to administer CPR
before emergency medical personnel arrived.
The boy was transported first to Providence Everett Medical Center and
was later flown to Seattle, where he remained in critical condition at
the children's hospital until his death Monday.
Five children interviewed by investigators told the Swohomish County
Sheriff's Office that the burial idea came from the popular cartoon.
Sheriff's office detectives, who also spoke with the parents of the
children, ruled Codey Porter's death a "tragic accident."
Codey's family has established a memorial fund through the Gold Creek
Community Church in Mill Creek, Wash. His principal at Silver Firs
Elementary School described the student as a "bright, imaginative boy
with many friends."
The Japanese character Naruto was first introduced in 1999 and has
since become immensely popular in the United States, expanding a brand
that includes a television series, videos, video games, trading cards
and toys.
Most of the videos and video games listed on the Naruto Web site are
rated T for Teen, but the show has not prompted particular parental
backlash about its contents.
Douglas Gentile, director of research at the National Institute on
Media and the Family and an assistant psychology professor at Iowa
State University, said that no research specific to Naruto has been
done, but that the boy's death was a reminder that children -- and
everyone else for that matter -- often learn by seeing something and
copying it.
"Kids are little sponges, they learn from everything," Gentile said,
adding that in the '50s and '60s there was a spike in the number of
boys visiting emergency rooms after accidents in which they were
acting like Superman. "There isn't something magical about this show."
Gentile drew a distinction between shows, movies and games that are
clearly fictional and media featuring realistic criminal behavior. The
latter, he said, is much more likely to prompt dangerous behavior. As
always, he added, parents should be reminded to talk to their children
about the media they are exposed to.
Like Gentile, Nadine Kaslow, chief psychologist at Grady Memorial
Hospital in Atlanta and a professor at Emory University's School of
Medicine, said there's nothing new about a child imitating a superhero
from Batman and Superman decades ago straight through to today's
characters. "It goes back as long as there's been superheroes," she
said.
But as children become more closely engaged in the process of play,
Kaslow said, they do not think of the consequences their mimicry might
have. "They are so focused on their activities, they are not thinking
clearly," she said.
With so many children pretending to be superheroes around the world,
Codey Porter's story is truly an extreme case, Kaslow said, but one
that provides parents another lesson in awareness.
"You don't want to blame the show because millions of kids watch the
show and don't take it to this limit," she said. "It's not the show's
fault, it's not the kid's fault, it's not the parents' fault.
"That's what an accident is."
Captain Infini…
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