On Tuesday evening the body of a nine year old was discovered near the foot of his apartment building, from the top of which he had evidently leapt with a makeshift parachute.  According to reports currently circulating, the boy, Damori Miles, was allegedly acting in imitation of the PS2 game WWE Smackdown vs. Raw.

Young Damori, though still alive when he was found, had sustained heavy injuries, and died an hour later at the nearby Interfaith Medical Center.  His mother had gone to the store, she told detectives, leaving the boy in the care of his elder sister; upon her return she was met by the sight of her son outside, lying on the ground.

According to neighbors of the Miles family the alarm on the rooftop door – still ajar the next morning – was non-functional, and had failed to sound the evening before.

‘The door to the roof should have been locked,’ said Chiquita Jones, 25.  ‘Damori didn’t have to die.’

A reader skeptical and astute in equal measure will by this point have wondered where, in the account of the boy’s death, video games come into play; the sole connection, it seems, was made in a statement given by Damori’s best friend Shakar: ‘[h]e tried to do a swan dive like Jeff Harding does in SmackDown[sic].  That was his favorite game. He played it all the time.’

A quick perusal of the comments posted at the various sites reporting on the story would seem to bear out my initial suspicions that jury-rigged parachutes – evidently fashioned of a plastic bag and a bit of string, in Damori’s case – have little to do with the game in question.  Speaking on the matter, WWE spokesman Robert Zimmerman confirmed, pointing out that the characters of Smackdown vs. Raw neither jump from buildings nor utilize parachutes in any form.

‘The death of Damori Miles is a tragedy and our condolences go out to his family.  We should allow the authorities to conduct a full investigation… including insecure roof access, before conclusions are made about this unfortunate incident.’

That Damori was receiving special education instruction would perhaps suggest that it wasn’t entirely his fault, and that he simply may not have known any better.  But as sad and unnecessary as it was, to blindly cast the blame for his death at the foot of his favorite wrestling title should strike any reader as a flagrant non-sequitur.  Chances are that the boy also enjoyed Cocoa Puffs and Dora the Explorer, along with several dozen other stimuli of various bents – all of which, however, have apparently escaped notice; it seems rather disingenuous to so blithely give every other factor (e.g. the door to the roof and lack of supervision) a free pass, and focus on gaming to the exclusion of all else.

Source: NY Daily News (by way of GamePolitics)