Little girl with smashed face at Alameda today

[schwede]

Con la actitud que tienes, no creo que seas buen embajador en esta situacion. Pues las dudas que tienes me parecen demasiado cinico. Acusandoles de inventar una historia mientras existe la posibilidad de una verdadera injusticia seria un error con malas consequencias.

"With the attitude you have, do not think you're good ambassador in this situation. Then the doubts that you seem too cynical. Accusing them of inventing a story as there is the possibility of a real injustice would be wrong with bad consequences?

ANYWAY I WANT TO TIE THIS GUY TO THE POLE ALSO

[gnukid]

Ok, I have done some research and spoken to many people who are witnesses to aspects of the accident. All is moving in a positive direction thanks to the community here.

1) It would be best if the person responsible could come forward and post their name and contact to take responsibility for the accident. If you are that person and would like to contact the family you could also contact robert22 on this board via PM, he and his GF Ivana are acting as intermediary to the victim's family who do not necessarily wish to be identified or have their contact info posted on a forum. The family is not interested in contacting the police and although upset they would simply like the person to come forward-I understand.

2) There are multiple witnesses to the accident, they can identify the person, he should identify himself to the family via Robert, Ivana or the Shack.

3) According to everything I know (which is apparently very little) there was simply an accident of relaunching a kite, a girl was injured and went directly to the hospital to get care and she was treated and is doing fine now.

4) The only issue which was not handled well is that kiter who relaunched accidently into the girl did not respond quickly to the accident and was perhaps not entirely aware. And while there were witnesses none took his contact info and after the victim left, he did as well.

I apologize for tone, and stand by willing to help if there is anything else that I or the community can do. Off hand, it seems the family is not asking for anything except that the fellow come forward, maybe he has and is looking for the family via contacts now.

I hope this helps,

[Greg]

THe thing that will help most is being mindful in our affairs.
Lets knock off the dangerous riding on the inside, lets set an example worth following..
Lets look out for our fellow kiters and make helpful suggestions like, "In the beginning it's really important to have a kite buddy walk the shoreline with you", or, "when your stuck and/or can't get you kite to fly, or whenever less then two line lengths of anyone. its time to begin rolling up and self rescue.."
If they look at you weird or say some thing like, "what's that?", I suggest- Take a DEEP Breath and explain further..
If they respond with anger-
I suggest a REALLY DEEP BREATH------ MMMMMMMmmmmmm-----..
Breath in the goodness of all the world around you, now-
Exhail all the evil that resides inside you.....

[davidllyon]

Springing off what LMG said, anyone who wants to give this little girl something from our hearts, I set up a paypal account smallworldalameda@gmail.com. I'll route any $$ to her parents, or maybe her godfather best of all. It can go to medical costs, or anything they think will warm her heart, and let her know people can make mistakes, and still care.

I tested it, it works, and I'll be accountable to the forum, without giving away anyone's email address, of course.

- David

[motorcyclemark]

Just kicked in $30, will kick in more as this proceeds...PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE we need to get this girl and her family reimbursed before this blows up and multiple sites (not necessarily just at Alameda) get shut down!!! Pledge now, its a small price to pay for the INCREDIBLE PRIVILEGE we have to kitesurf in the bay area!! It can be taken away, and for me that would be devastating given how much I love kiting...I think we should aim to get the medical expenses reimbursed and something in addition for the little girl - stitches, especially when you're young, SUCK (I had my share)!!! We need to show that we DO CARE as a kiting community, and convey this with sincere apologies and reimbursement to the family. I hope that someone can convey this to them from us somehow...

And for the rider involved, you made a mistake but I can totally understand being scared in that situation and opting to ride away - own up and let's get this resolved for everyone's benefit - I wouldn't think you would want the regret of (accidentally) injuring a child and being responsible for shutting down kiting in one or more areas of the bay. You may not have known the extent of the injury, maybe even thought the girl was just scared by the kite and not injured. Even if you can't pay all the bills for the medical stuff, an apology would go a HUGE way to helping to get this resolved, and I think would make you feel a lot better too.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE EVERYONE MUST DO ALL WE CAN, AS ONCE THE WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY PASSES TO MAKE THIS RIGHT, IT COULD BE GONE FOREVER!!!

[CdoG]

One more note

i feel for the kiter, this could have been any of us....
in 25 at alameda
this kiter just did not know what to do

i do not want to hang the kiter, shoot the kiter or anything elsa

i feel for the little girl and the kiter

i would like the kiter to come forword in pm to who ever

[robert22]

Sorry I haven't posted all day, I've been tied up at work. I believe I spoke with Gnukid this afternoon and filled him in on what I know. Just to clarify...it turns out the little girls godfather is in my girlfriends kickboxing class. Last night he confronted her about the incident. What I can gather is that the family is extremely angry. The injuries to the little girl were not inconsequential.

At this point, they are primarily interested in finding the kiter responsible for both personal (anger at his actions/lack of help) and financial reasons (worried about medical bills). I think where the problems start for Alameda kitesurfing is if the kitesurfing community cannot help them with the above.

The best case scenario is if the resposible kiter steps forward and takes responsibility for their actions. On that note, I just recieved permission to post the eMAIL for the girls godfather Miguel Valera: valera_miguel@yahoo.com. The little girls name is Luz Karime Marcelo. She just turned 9. Again, I encourage the responsible kiter to step forward. Absent that, any help identifying the kiter to the family would be great.

I also think David's idea of having the kitesurfing community help contribute to the medical bills is a great one. Miguel seems to be favorable to this and several people in the kickboxing class (non-kiters) have stated they would like to contribute.

[stone]

Just donated--David went ahead and set up the paypal thing while I was considering whether enough people in alameda know me to trust me with it. David, I suggest posting the paypal info in a seperate thread with a distinct title. Also, if you want to frame it with a simple website or get a paypal "donate" button going, I can do that quickly (still got the webmonkey skillz after years on the dark side).

And folks, I donated because it's the right thing to do, and because I love kiting Alameda in the winter.

[maxsteamer]

Hello Kiters,

Lets make this `little girl know that we are not bad people.. I know first hand how it feels to be hit with a kite and then told that the guy I pointed the finger at was to (Chill) to do such a thing. one of our crew was there to wittness the incident and still this guy has the balls to send smilies of gun's along with " look I can realy make people mad" Now I do like to joke around but dude!! are you kidding ME!!! No hair will grow at that spot on my head.. NICE!!

If you can find a buck or two for this little girl she is still young and can change her mind about us kiters?? this will take alot of work from all of us not just my crew (Thanks P Stone) you are a saint and when you were learning to kite here at shellgate you helped all the crew here and always the first guy to help a downed kiter.

I have faith in the Shellgaters to do the right thing.. and I'm sure cdog will handle the shackers so com' on kiters this is a 9 year old baby that got hit and I bet her family will be getting the bills very soon?? and if we can clean a few tears from her face then maybe we will be able to look at our own. PLEASE!!! I know alot of you will turn a blind eye?? but this is a little kid that loved to look at all the pretty kites?? she did not have a clue they could hurt her.

Max be on both knee's " " how am I doin cdog???

[mikelu]

I will put out a donation Jar at the Sherman BBQ this Sunday.