News > Culture > Heelys Hurt

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TUESDAY MARCH 14 2006 1:27 PM

The official Heely brand advertises the slogan Freedom is a wheel in your sole, but for a 12-year-old from East Bridgewater, MA, who paid the ultimate price for said "freedom," the shoes are being linked to a fatal accident. Ryan Carmichael was wearing his Heelys while crossing the street to pick up the mail prior to school this morning when he was hit by an oncoming driver, a 44-year-old woman who has been identified as Susan Smith. Police are currently investigating whether Carmichael's footwear is a potential culprit in his death. According to The Boston Globe, due to safety concerns, the shoes have been banned in many schools across the country. In fact, a little over a week ago CBS News ran a segment on the shoes warning people (parents in particular) of their potential safety hazards. When questioned by CBS, Heelys exec Charlie Beery released the following precaution:

A yellow warning label is glued to the bottoms of new Heelys but, Brzezinski notes, the company claims it can't be sued for injuries resulting from the use of Heelys if that sticker is removed.

Beery adds that the company promotes safe behavior with "Team Heelys," a group of young experts who hold "heeling" seminars for kids at stores and parks nationwide.

The company also has videos on its Web site of "heelers" in action.

"Our intention," Beery says, "is to provide them with information about how to safely heel."

But some of the video shows heelers "crashing and burning," tripping, falling, jumping off railings, flying into pools, with no protective padding, and no helmets.

"That is part of the risk," Beery says. That bit of video is supposed to show kids what not to do, he continued.

Brzezinski showed the video to a group of youngsters, and several didn't seem to get the message, instead saying they wanted to do what they saw the heelers doing on the video.

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Comments

Buster_Bluth

Los Angeles, CA

January 2004

MAR 14, 2006 04:05 PM

Calypso said:
Once again, she is simply posting a news story. She did not express any opinion on the matter.

And of course there is no evidence that the shoes had anything to do with the accident. If you had thoroughly read the article, you would have noticed that the investigation was ongoing.

Actually I did read the article, that's how I knew there is no initial evidence to suggest that his shoes were to blame and that an obstruction to the driver's field of vision caused by a telephone pole and a road sign might have been a more likely cause of the accident. That however would have been hard to work into a clever alliterative headline.

Calypso

SUICIDEGIRL

California, USA

MAR 14, 2006 04:32 PM

Buster_Bluth said:

There is an ongoing investigation (I can't stress that enough) into whether or not the shoes were a factor. A little boy died and a very popular product was involved. This is news, whether you like it or not.

Perhaps the child was wheeling across the road when one of the wheels broke or stuck?

Consider all sides before you shit-talk the author of this article.

Done

I'm lost

January 2005

MAR 14, 2006 05:13 PM

You know when you getting old, when you never heard of the lastest trend.

Is this going to be another lawsuit for not using common sense?

somnia

Victoria, BC

October 2005

MAR 14, 2006 05:56 PM

I find this an interesting news story. I see about 1,000 kids wearing those damn things everyday, and I clicked on the link because I recognized the product. If people don't think it's a news story, just stop reading it. No need to drag the original poster through the mud....

Jack_Straw

Fairbanks, AK

December 2004

MAR 14, 2006 06:11 PM

yeah, why was this kid "heeling" through traffic?
don 't parents teach kids not to play in the street anymore?
oh, and you guys need to smoke some weed and chill out

skeptik

New Orleans, LA

February 2004

MAR 14, 2006 06:17 PM

Clov said:

Calypso said:
Heelys are those damned sneakers with the wheel in the heel of the shoe...all the brats are wearing them.

Is this like a New York/LA thing that us midwesterners think is ridiculous?

Not sure about the 'thinking it's ridiculous' part, but midwesterners certainly buy and wear them. The first place I ever saw a kid with a pair was Cedar Point (in that most Midwestern of towns, San-f'in-dusky, OH) back about four years ago. And he'd obviously had them long enough to be quite proficient with them.

Zipped around in and out of crowds a lot, swerving and spinning - exactly the sort of thing you don't really want to be doing on a road with no sidewalks, going to a mailbox only three feet from traffic.