THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 5, 1996 TAG: 9609050347
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 92 lines
Maybe his size made 14-year-old Michael M. Green feel invincible. At 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, the Poquoson boy towered over his friends, parents, even his older brother.
But size didn't help on July 26, when Michael, late for wrestling practice, jumped on the hood of his friend's moving Ford Bronco. As his friend drove slowly down the Greens' circular driveway, Michael slipped off the vehicle and smashed his head on the ground.
He spent a week in a coma before dying in early August. Three weeks later, another teen-age boy from the Peninsula died in a similar incident - playing a deadly game health officials call ``car-surfing.''
Car-surfing is when someone sits or stands on the hood, roof or trunk of a moving vehicle. People who fall off are likely to hit their head and suffer severe brain injuries.
``I was really shocked that two young, healthy teen-agers died within three weeks from the same activity,'' said pediatric neurologist Donald Lewis. ``If two children had died of meningitis, there would be a public health outcry.''
So Lewis and three other doctors at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters - where both boys died - banded together Wednesday to send a message to the region's youth: Car-surfing is not just dangerous; it's dangerous and foolish.
``Once they get to us, they have such severe head injuries there's nothing we can do,'' Lewis said.
He and the other doctors said these incidents were the first they had heard of car-surfing.
In the past year, at least five teens around the country, in addition to the two Peninsula boys, have been seriously injured or killed in car-surfing incidents.
Teens like Michael Green, a football star who wanted to play pro ball.
``This is not something he planned,'' said his father, Herbert ``Buddy'' Green. ``It just happened. Kids don't realize how fragile life is. They think they're invincible.''
Green was a kid with everything going for him, say his parents. So tall and good-looking that he typically dated girls several years his senior. So athletically gifted his wresting coach fully expected that he would be a state champion all through high school.
In addition to his 19-year-old brother, Michael had a younger sister who worshiped him. ``He would have made a wonderful uncle,'' she sobbed to Michael's doctor when her brother lay dying. The doctor encouraged her to create a photo album about Michael. ``Then, when you have kids, you can show it to them and tell them about their Uncle Michael.''
Buddy Green leafed through that album Wednesday morning in the family's sprawling home overlooking a Poquoson marina.
Pictures of Michael from toddler birthday parties to adolescent proms share space with grim reminders of the tragedy. A hospital bracelet. The program from his memorial service. Notes from classmates saying ``I'll miss you'' and ``I need you.'' A candy wrapper bears testament to the spicy jelly sweets he loved.
The Greens never realized how many friends their son had until he died. Now, a shopping bag full of condolence cards reminds them.
``We really loved our son, and we wanted everyone to know what happened,'' said Patsy Green, explaining why the couple chose to publicly expose their pain.
Their son's actions, while tragic, are not unusual for adolescent boys, said Dr. Walter L. Gilbert, an adolescent medicine specialist at CHKD. In fact, the most common cause of death for teen-age boys is accidents, most of them related to motor vehicles, he said.
``The middle adolescent is a risk-taker,'' Gilbert said. It's a universal behavior that cuts across class and country, he said.
In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for instance, kids ``train-surf,'' riding on the tops of that city's electric trains.
Another reason for kids' risky behavior is what they see on television, he said. ``Someone fires off three rounds of bullets and no one gets hit. Cars roll over and drivers walk away.'' So early on, he said, parents should counsel children about the dangers of such stunts and help them recognize their own mortality.
Michael Green knew about danger and mortality, says Buddy Green. His mother had been seriously injured in a car accident 10 years earlier, which left her brain-damaged and partially paralyzed.
``You would think Michael had all the education about head injuries you would ever need,'' he said.
Apparently, it wasn't enough.
The car Michael jumped on was going only about 15 mph. Not very fast, said Dr. Chris Foley, who works in the hospital's intensive care unit.
Just fast enough to result in a photo album with too many blank pages. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Michael M. Green
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Herbert Green said teens like his son Michael ``don't realize how
fragile life is. They think they're invincible.''
KEYWORDS: CARSURFING CAR-SURFING ACCIDENT TRAFFIC
FATALITY by CNB