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Subscribe to RSSAn 18-year-old who was running from police died after he jumped over a wall at Niagara Gorge in Canada. NBCNews.com's Alex Witt reports.
Updated at 1:01 p.m. ET: A teenager was killed when he leaped over a waist-high wall to evade a pursuing police officer, only for both to plunge more than 30 yards into Niagara Gorge.
Ryan Dube, 18, was killed and the officer with the Niagara Regional Police Service suffered a broken leg in the incident at about 5 p.m. on Tuesday, authorities said.
During the chase, both of them mistakenly hopped a retaining wall and Dube fell to his death, they said.
His body was found about three hours later after a massive rescue effort that focused on Niagara Gorge less than a mile downstream from the famed falls, authorities said.
'The kid went off the ledge'
Dube fled from the officer who stopped him for questioning regarding violations of his curfew that was a condition of his probation, said JoAnne Turner, director of the Boys and Girls Club of Niagara, Canada.
"Apparently in an effort to flee the police officer, he went over and the police officer went right after him," she said.
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Witnesses told news outlets they saw the police officer jump out of his vehicle to pursue the young man on foot.
"The kid went off the ledge, and the cop went with him," the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. quoted witness Logan Tremblay as saying.
"I ran over the ledge to see if I could grab the cop or if the cop was still on the ledge, and as I looked, the cop was going. Like I saw part of his uniform and then it disappeared," Tremblay added.
"He was pursuing the suspect but for some reason, and this is probably strange to most people around here, is why the officer would have jumped over the wall too knowing how dangerous it is there. It’s kind of a mystery," local resident Ermanno Ceniccola told Toronto's National Post newspaper.
According to Canadian law enforcement officials, the officer suffered a broken leg and was airlifted to a nearby trauma center.
The Toronto Star said Niagara police identified the officer as Const. Jacob Smits. The National Post said Smits remained hospitalized in serious condition.
"It's a very treacherous little stretch," Turner said, recalling incidents in which tourists straddle the wall for a better view of the falls before realizing the danger.
From May: Man becomes third to survive plunge at Niagara Falls
An independent investigation into the police's role in the incident will be conducted by Ontario's Special Investigations Unit, which was contacted by local police following the death in accordance with provincial law.
Dube was originally from St. Catharines, Ontario, local reports said.
Father: He was trying to turn his life around
Turner said Dube had been staying at a local youth home, where staff said he had no behavioral trouble other than occasionally missing curfew.
"He was very well-liked by staff and residents," she said. "He was making good progress."
She said she did not know why Dube was on probation.
"It's just tragic," she said. "There's no other word to describe it."
Dube's father, Jean Paul Dube, told the Star that his son had been troubled and was in and out of jail, but was trying to turn his life around.
"He was making some good changes until this happened," he told the newspaper.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Give me a break: "he was turning his life around" he was bla bla bla" that's why he ran from the police?
It's tragic and everything, but if he hadn't run from the police he would be alive right now. It's the kind of thing a stupid kid does, but it can get you killed. And it got him killed.
Now they have to investigate the police officer for doing his job. I agree with some investigation, see if the kid was running cause the cop was sexually assaulting him or something, but other than ruling out some extreme criminal behavior by the cop it's not his fault the kid ran. And he had to run after him and try to catch him cause who knows why the kids running: does he have a gun, drugs etc.?
This story is a prime example of what happens when people keep making excuses for a kids behavior and not make him take responsibility for his own actions. I was brought up to obey ALL laws and if I broke one, I and I alone would deal with the consequences.
My parents never bailed me out of trouble and for that i am thankfull cause I learned from my mistakes. Society as a whole needs to stop coddling these kids and make them accept responsibility for what ever actions they take. Actions do have consequences. time they learn that. The earlier in life they learn this the better off they will be for society as a whole.
This particular kid will not be learning anything else. Thanks for your holier than thou wisdom.
Ara's comment wasn't holier than thou it was common damn sense....18 years old you are old enough to know right from wrong and to understand when a cop is telling you to stop you stop....this particular kid unfortunately is going to pay more than others that have done the same thing, this sucks for him and his family but maybe the laws should be tougher on people who run from cops make it a felony and put these people in prison to protect them from thier own damn stupidity.
How many times does it take to prove you can't legislate moral behavior! Jesus said it best when he told the crowd~I came to fulfill the law not abolish it! If you follow Jesus you will automatically being fulfilling the law in your heart and therefore your actions! It really is that simple, but brainiacs want to make it harder so they can apply their super-brains to the task; never realizing that is IM~FRIGGING~POSSIBLE!
And, incidentally~RELIGION is not what I am talkin' 'bout here~I'm takin' 'bout turning your whole life and will over to the care of a Power Greater Than YOURSELF, but people also wanna make that more complicated than it really is! Your Brain is a terrible place to be alone in without Jesus!
Call me crazy, but should not a local cop in that area be familiar enough with the geography of the falls so as to know that wall-hopping in that particular area is a bad idea? Or maybe even that chasing teens for minor offenses isn't worth the risk that close to the falls. Those of you with the "oh well, one less offender" mentality should be ashamed of yourselves. This was not an ax murderer.
Could the cop have made a split second choice to try to save the kids life? If there was a car on fire with a child still inside would you not risk harm to yourself to do what ever it took to save the child? I would!!!!!!!!!!
Did the cop yell to the kid to stop or you'll fall to death?
Guess we'll find out in the next episode of this story.
Until you've been there with a kid, don't judge. I have a step son in prison. He's the sweetest, handsomest, silver tongued devil you'd ever meet, but he couldn't stay off of drugs. We've run the gamut of rage, tears, disappointment, counseling, bailing him out of prior scrapes, but he always thought that the "dog doesn't bite." He'd always been able to talk his way out of any situation, but not this time.He was sentenced to 10 years in Arizona, the state with the most Draconian drug laws. We spent a small fortune trying to save him. He never listened. He was always more influenced by his peer group than us. Lies slipped off his tongue like quicksilver. He'll be in his late 30s when he gets out and there's no guarantee that he'll straighten up. We constantly puzzle over where we went wrong and wrestle with keeping our acute disappointment at bay. Maybe, maybe, this time the law has his full attention. We pray that this is so and wonder how and if he'll be able to rebuild his life. Before this last spree, he had it made with a beautiful wife and child and a great job.
I have a son in law who almost lost everything to drugs, this I helped him through if he started committing crimes or hurting people to support his drug habit never would I bail him out from jail...my son knows to call me for anything unless he is calling from behind bars and he knows that if he ever ended up there he would have far less to worry about then the inmates he would have to deal with me. We tend to enable our kids because we want to protect them we have to show our power from day one, no tolerance for criminal behavior should be shoved down our kids throats from day 1. You didn't do wrong, you did what you thought you should have and I am thankful I have never had to prove my theories on my own kids. Most silver tongued criminals like to play the victim card don't let him have that luxury treat him like the criminal he is who owes his family now.
Lisa - We thought we were pretty strict parents. We tried grounding and all sorts of punishment, tough love, held him accountable. Even one of his friends said his dad was the most strict in the neighborhood and they all respected him and followed his rules. We were the average middle class family that went to church, paid our taxes, kept an orderly clean home, had dinner at the table with a blessing before the meal. It seems that some kids just don't respond. I spent a lot of time in the principal's office. He just wouldn't follow the rules and everything was somebody's else's fault.
There is a whole generation or two of parents who had to learn how to cope with this terror! I'm one of 'em! Unfortunately, hard knocks seems to be the only teacher the kid will learn from! I didn't always believe this until I went through 30 years of watching my kid act up, act out, and break the law. The kid has to learn and preaching won't do it, even living the example of not drinking, smoking, and a moral life doesn't work either! In my case going on four complete decades. Kids will want to fly and prove themselves and the importation of drugs is killing our whole society one person at a time!
doc - Perhaps being uneducated about drugs, we didn't understand. I've never used so I can't fathom the attraction. My generation (grew up in the 40s & 50s) had no exposure. Maybe parents now are more knowledgeable. Why our young man would ruin his life for a high is beyond my comprehension.
BUMMER! Thats Called a DOUBLE DOWN and Folded!
I can't help but imagine what went through their heads the second they jumped over and realized there was no ground...at least no ground nearby.
The last thing to go through your mind in a fall like that is your rectum!
Look before you leap.......not just a colloquialism.
I don't know but if cop ever told me to Stop...I would unless ofcourse I was a criminal and didn't have any respect for the law so really dad should have taught him a few things so he would have known better.
EXACTLY
Man, this article is so poorly written I can hardly read it. Do they use middle school students to write these articles or has higher education really sunk this low in the US?
I wouldn't doubt if they outsource the stories to India to be written.
"Like I saw part of his uniform and then it disappeared," Tremblay added."
What the hell is the fascination with the word "like" today? The above sentence would have read perfectly well simply by dropping the first word.
People just do not know how "like" stupid or uneducated they sound. Take a little pride in yourself!
The facts of the matter are that if the kid had not run from the police officer, he would be alive today. Moral of the story: never, ever run from the police. Period.
This is tragic and very stupid as well. Those waist-high walls at Niagara Gorge and Niagara Falls are there to protect you! They are not to jump over. When you are close enough that you can hear the water, you probably should not be jumping over fences.
Just in case anyone reading this is in the area of the Grand Canyon and you find yourself running form the police, I am going to give you some good advice on how not to die. Don't jump over waist-high walls! The end result will more than likely be the same.
As for the police officer; I am certain he is familiar with that area and knows where the Niagara Gorge is. If he doesn’t, he probably shouldn’t be a police officer in that area. I am betting he was trying to save the kid.
Common sense stopped at the retaining wall while the FOOLS rushed in! I know of at least one copper who would have done this ~ hands down!
The gene pool is now a cesspool! Perhaps LSD hangovers from the Sixties really did cause serious damage to the chromosomes as many Scientists proclaimed back in the day! WE DESTROYED OURSELVES like Khrushchev predicted!
I smell ANOTHER totally necessary lawsuit.. (sarcasm) b/c OF COURSE this sweethearts parents will say IF THE COP was not chasing him our totally perfect angel would be alive. Everyone whose not a supporter of the ACLU knows that when cops chase after you they think that you have more to hide.
so just F*CKIN don't move.
Yet another thug dies while running from law enforcement.
The cop jumped because he was full of doughnuts (and back bacon, eh).
You seem to have no idea how difficult a police officer's job can be, Dave. Have some compassion for those whose job it is to face criminals bullets, should the need arise.
Hey big dave,
Try to be a police officer today and see just how easy and safe the job really is.
We just cleaned the shallow end of the gene pool!
After living in a group home with a bunch of boys for several months all I can say is the system is broke and the kids ran the house and the Counselors had little or no control over them due to legal proscriptions on restraint and curtailment of ADHD related behaviors. The Lieyers have made dealing with these kids, just like in the schools an impossible situation, due to fear of law suits and legal entanglements! Honestly, at one point if I had access to horse whips or brass knuckles I might have given them something to think about. In my humble opinion these kids are like this because parenting is not being practiced anymore; especially corporeal punishment. Fear by the parent/s that the kids won't like them is a lie fed by TV sitcoms! WTF, parenting isn't about being buddies; it's about trying to teach and give the kids guidelines on what is and isn't acceptable behavior in Society! Then you add the same sex partners confusion in boy's minds and you got a recipe for disaster in adolescent males. Of course everybody is in extreme denial about this and like a dog covering up his own pile of excrement~cleaning up the yard after years of neglect isn't gonna happen. Political correctness is killing this Nation with false ideas and even worse behaviors.
good post
Part of the problem is that the youth of today thinks it is invincible having watched far too many movies showing people performing ridiculous acrobatics and getting away with it. Their minds are polluted with the idea that they are the center of the universe and that social laws don't apply to them. So we sit back and wonder why our kids have little or no respect for others and commit heinous crimes. In this case this kid thought he was smarter than the police
The kid had broken the law and the cop was enforcing it. Period. The kid made a minor mistake into a bigger one by running and unfortunately it ultimately cost him his life - and nearly the cop's life as well. Those of you blaming the cop are typical libs who just can't grasp the whole idea of accountability and responsibility. It's why the U.S. is fast becoming a nanny state stuffing its face with handouts and giveaways.
Indep,
"Those of you blaming the cop are typical libs who just can't grasp the whole idea of accountability and responsibility." BINGO!
What a DORK. You know it never pays to run from the law.
The proper course of action would have been to let the young man run away. Having observed the curfew violation, the officer could simply have reported it to the parole officer. The parole officer is the one to ask the questions without all the trauma/chase. If the suspect had just robbed a liquor store, it would be a totally different situation justifying the chase. It was known where the kid lived. I doubt that he would have fled to South America over a parole violation at 18 years old. This cop has a lot of explaining to do.
Don't blame the police officer. He was just doing his duty. It was the kids fault for breaking the law that was put upon him by the justice system.
wind,
Are you perhaps connected with training todays' border patrol officers? Turning your back on known criminal activity (according to an article on msnbc about homeland securitys' training film) is the way to go?
Uh oh, you're dealing with the FRENCH up there. They'll probably charge the policeman.
Sad for the teen, didn't live long enough to learn "look before you leap". As to the officer, please find a different line of work
Remember all dem screwballs on 2nd City TV were Canadians! Need I say more and several of them are already dead from OD'g or . . . .
I'm glad the officer is going to be ok. I hate to hear the young man lost his life over a bad decision.
Good...saved money on trial, jail and future crimes.