Police: Teenage Boy Falls 30 Feet After Sneaking Onto Glen Rock, N.J. Zip Line
GLEN ROCK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A boy was hospitalized with broken bones this past weekend, after he allegedly sneaked onto a zip line in Glen Rock, New Jersey.
As CBS 2's Christine Sloan reported, police said the teenage boy came from another town to Glen Rock, and used his shirt instead of a harness to ride the zip line that is used with supervision by high school seniors.
The Saturday evening incident was captured in a cellphone video. The 15-year-old boy was seen falling from the zip line at Glen Rock High School in Bergen County.
"He used his shirt to go on the zip line, and his shirt got stuck all the way up, and his friends said they would catch him," said witness Chris McKeon, 12. "He was like 30 feet high, and he fell; he jumped; and he let go."
McKeon was playing on the field, and was terrified as he saw the whole thing.
"He had a shirt on, and then he had an extra shirt," McKeon said.
The zip line is off limits to the public. It is used for senior confidence-building during the school year.
Police said the boy flipped his shirt over the line and grabbed onto each end. Witnesses said the teen's friends helped him climb up to the rings on the side of the tree, and he eventually made his way to the platform.
"I told him that, I mean, it's not really safe; you should come down," McKeon said, "but his friends kept encouraging him."
Some parents told CBS 2 the school should make the zip line more secure, perhaps by putting a fence around the tree or taking the zip line down altogether during the summer.
"It should be locked up some way," said high school senior Brendan Lanski.
When asked if the school district would consider taking the rings out or taking zip line down, Glen Rock Superintendent of Schools Paula Valenti said, "I think in light of this, we will look at our practices."
The superintendent said the boy, who had a broken femur, was from Hawthorne. She said he was not supposed to be on the zip line.
"At this point, all of our security enhancements were in place. There are no steps," Valenti said.
Another high school graduate said when he himself used the zip line, he did it with monitors.
"It wasn't like they put it together loosely," said Tyler Roldan. "We spent the majority of the time – like, I think my whole sophomore and junior year – just practicing for it."
The local police chief said he is not even thinking of filing charges. He wants to talk to the victim and witnesses to see exactly what happened.
The boy was expected to be released from the hospital on Tuesday.
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