A FATHER who allowed his 13-year-old daughter to be strapped to the front of a monster truck that drove through a burning wall, has been largely applauded for his actions.
Don Mazey said his daughter Tori Giles had not been forced to take part in the dangerous stunt and actually aspired to be a stuntwoman.
“We didn’t coerce her or anything,” the father-of-20 told Stuff.co.nz
Tori, who was also run over by a truck while inside a coffin for a separate stunt, was dressed in a fire retardant suit and wore a helmet before being strapped inside a cage at the front of the truck.
She was driven through four burning walls of timber and straw, that had been set alight with petrol for the rural Northern A&P Show at Rangiora in New Zealand.
It’s not a dangerous stunt. It looks horrendously dangerous, but it’s not,” Mazey said. “It’s well thought out and very well executed.”
Tori did get some blisters but was not hurt, while the man driving the car Neil Jorgensen, a stuntman with 30 years experience, got what he called “sunburn”.
A spokesman for New Zealand’s health and safety regulator WorkSafe was reportedly trying to establish whether the Health and Safety in Employment Act would apply to the event.
But comments on Stuff.co.nz’s Facebook page about the stunt were overwhelmingly positive.
Teesha Shaw posted: “I’ve seen parents say yes to more serious stuff than being put on fire. Parents give kids drugs, alcohol at least there were experts on site if anything was to go wrong. This is an awesome experience for a child to go thru..!!! Not every 13-year-old can say I was on fire tied to a monster truck for public entertainment. I think it’s a story to share with grandchildren and after that.”
Sebastiaan Verplanke agreed: “Let kids be kids ... Ruining all the kids fun these days. I bet if this was you in the 80’s 90’s you would have jumped to the opportunity.”
But others weren’t so sure saying they wouldn’t let their children do something so dangerous.
Genevieve Rose Austin posted: “I am sorry but I personally think this was wrong! If she was my daughter, I would put my foot down!”
No comments:
Post a Comment