‘He just drove over her:’ Injury to Maples student puts focus on hazardous challenges Dangerous dares involve cinnamon, Tide Pods and condoms By: Ryan Thorpe Posted: 3:16 PM CDT Tuesday, Jun. 5, 2018 Last Modified: 8:10 PM CDT Wednesday, Jun. 6, 2018 Updates

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This article was published 04/06/2018 (2408 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Maples Collegiate student rushed to hospital in critical condition Monday after being struck by a car in the school bus loop — during an apparent game of chicken — has since been upgraded to stable condition.

That was confirmed by Seven Oaks School Division Superintendent Brian O’Leary and Winnipeg Police Service Const. Rob Carver Tuesday. O’Leary said the student remained in hospital and required “significant medical care," adding she sustained a “number of fractures.”

Multiple eye witnesses told the Free Press the student was playing a variation on the game of chicken at the time of the accident, which happened at 11:40 a.m. Monday. The female victim was lying on the ground while a male student drove a car up to her and was supposed to stop before running her over, the eye witnesses said.

“He was supposed to stop. He wanted to stop. I don’t know why, but he just drove over her. That’s what happened,” said an eye witness, who asked not to be named.

Both O’Leary and Daren Thomas, risk manager with the Manitoba School Boards Association, said they’d never heard of students playing that particular game before and that it appeared to be an isolated incident.

“That’s a new one for me. As soon as I read that I thought, ‘What’s the point of this game?’ It’s an unfortunate thing that happened, and if it becomes a safety issue we’d obviously address it, but it doesn’t seem to be a widespread thing,” Thomas said.

News of the accident comes on the heels of various viral and dangerous challenges and games (2018 saw the Tide Pod challenge and condom snorting, among others) involving teenagers and young adults that often leave older generations shaking their heads.

(The Tide Pod challenge is where people film themselves eating detergent pods; condom snorting is where people snort or stuff condoms up their noses and then pull them out of their mouths).

Thomas said those sorts of things don’t often make their way onto school grounds, as they tend to be social or online pursuits.

“We haven’t had issues with Tide Pods in schools. The cinnamon challenge is probably more of a social gathering. Schools are pretty good at making sure people aren’t doing these daring things,” Thomas said. (The objective of the cinnamon challenge is to film oneself eating a spoonful of ground cinnamon in under 60 seconds without drinking any liquid.)

What should Tide PODs be used for? DOING LAUNDRY. Nothing else.

Eating a Tide POD is a BAD IDEA, and we asked our friend @robgronkowski to help explain. pic.twitter.com/0JnFdhnsWZ

— Tide (@tide) January 12, 2018

Nonetheless, reckless behaviour with vehicles, similar to what allegedly led to Monday’s accident, sometimes makes its way onto Manitoba school grounds – including bumper shining and car surfing.

“We’ve heard of incidents where it’s right after school and you’ll see kids that are bumper shining. It’s usually on cars. Thankfully they haven’t tried doing it on buses. It does rear its ugly head from time to time,” Thomas said.

(Bumper shining is where people grab onto the back bumper of a vehicle in the winter and let it drag them along as it drives; car surfing involves standing or sitting on top of a moving vehicle).

After the accident happened Monday, a number of students rushed out to help lift the vehicle off the victim. O’Leary said support services are available to any students who might be dealing with the aftermath of what they witnessed.

Winnipeg Police Service said no charges have been laid in connection with the incident, but its investigation remains open.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe

Ryan Thorpe
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Ryan Thorpe likes the pace of daily news, the feeling of a broadsheet in his hands and the stress of never-ending deadlines hanging over his head.

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