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Kite Fight Leads To Lawsuit Against City
By
Jen Carlson
Published Nov 16, 2009
Modified Nov 16, 2009
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Nov 16, 2009
Modified Nov 16, 2009
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One 12-year-old was recently the victim of some kite fighting leftovers. The "sport," made famous in The Kite Runner, is popular in Flushing Meadows Corona Park — and now the city is on the receiving end of a lawsuit over it.
The Queens boy was skateboarding outside of his apartment last month when he was clotheslined by a razor-sharp wire that had allegedly fallen from a kite fight. The NY Post reports that "the glass-encrusted wire ripped into the then-12-year-old's throat and left him scarred from ear to ear from a wound his lawyer said took 400 to 500 stitches to close. The boy also lost two lymph nodes in the accident." The boy says he "heard a noise like bees... I thought I went into a beehive."
The lawsuit against the city states that they shouldn't allow the kite fights to take place in the park, and also notes that they "failed to remove the wire that was left hanging between two buildings after getting severed in a duel and drifting over to the complex." The family's lawyer declares, "The city should have known these kite festivals are happening in Queens parks — and should have known the danger that the glass-encrusted string poses."
Tagged
fight
flushing meadows corona park
injury
kite
Kite Runner
lawsuit
queens
skateboarder
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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