No charges in radio contest death

[pinniped]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

(04-02) 19:29 PDT -- No criminal charges will be filed in connection with the death of a Sacramento County woman who died of water intoxication in a morning radio stunt gone wrong, prosecutors said Monday.

Jennifer Strange, 28, willingly participated in the contest by Sacramento radio station KDND-FM and showed no visible symptoms to suggest that she was seriously ill or in danger of dying, Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully said in a statement.

"She knew what the contest involved when she entered it and had the option to stop or discontinue her participation in the contest at any time," said Scully, outlining how prosecutors contemplated -- and ultimately decided against -- filing charges of involuntary manslaughter.
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Scully said the circumstances of Strange's death were distinct from those involving the February 2005 death of Cal State Chico student Matthew Carrington, 21, of Pleasant Hill, who collapsed and died of heart failure after members of a fraternity forced him to drink excessive amounts of water while he performed calisthenics during a hazing ritual. The underlying charge in that case was hazing, which didn't apply in the Strange case, Scully said.
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Read more: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/02/BAGDQP0ECE40.DTL

[DCKit]

1. Um, I've never watched the news in my life and didn't know this might be dangerous

[JI7]

2. did they warn her about the dangers of drinking too much water ?

maybe she thought it was just water so it couldn't be harmful no matter how much you drank.

[DCKit]

3. See reply #1

I guess it's "survival of the fittest"

[Codeine]

4. Thta's probably what the radio guys figured, too.

I think the prosecutor is right on this one; it's not really a crime, just sheer stupidity on everybody's part.

[melody]

7. The disc jockeys were specifically told by a nurse that this was dangerous n/t

[Codeine]

8. Wow. Then that's totally different.

Odd then that charges weren't filed. Perhaps they warned the contestants? Maybe it was felt that a jury wouldn't convict?

[AnneD]

14. A Nurse did call in and warn them of the danger..

I don't think they gave it much thought.

[Old and In the Way]

5. So sad...just to win a Nintendo Wii

[left is right]

12. did the radio station at least award

the Nintendo WII to her family? That surely would make everything OK. :sarcasm:

[slampoet]

6. You gotta be shitting me. These DJ's Were warned on the air the day before!!!

That is willful harm.

[fasttense]

9. No charges, hmmm, I wonder if the owners of the station

or the DJs are repukes. Probably the woman is not a repuke. In today's environment, DAs don't prosecute based on the merits of the case but based on how it will help the republic party.

Of course the only one who is suffering right now is her family.

[sendero]

10. Well...

.. I disagree and I think the husband has a good cause for a civil action that should be pretty easy to win.

[lynne]

11. The article doesn't say if she signed a liability release -

- prior to participating but you are usually required to do so when entering such contests. Any event like this can have disastrous consequences even if it's just a benefit walk on a hot day or choking while participating in a hot dog eating contest. What occurred was truly sad and unfortunate BUT not criminal.

[Ian David]

13. Listeners called in to the station and told them that this would be dangerous...

and the hosts said, "Well, we had her sign all kinds of release papers."

[mcscajun]

15. At the very least, signed releases or no, the people running this contest

showed reckless disregard when they ignored the warnings phoned in to them.

I'm sorry for this woman's death, I'm sorry for her family's loss, and I'm sorry that no one was charged.

Still, the publicity given to this story might be sufficient caution against similar contests in future; one can only hope. :(