The tragedy of youth is that it’s wasted on the young.
A rollover crash in Colorado Springs left five young people with life-threatening injuries after they opted to hang out the windows of the SUV while the driver attempted a donut — in reverse.
Ignoring the laws of physics, the female driver, identified as Marisol Wentling, was attempting the stunt in the parking lot of The Market at Spring Creek while multiple people were half out of the SUV sitting in the open window spaces and others were exposed through the sunroof. The SUV quickly tipped over, crushing most if not all of the passengers.
COLORADO SPRINGS—Several people are left with life threatening injuries after hanging out the windows of an SUV when it tipped over.
The driver, Marisol Wentling, tipped the car over while she was doing donuts at a Colorado strip mall on Saturday.
She has been charged with… pic.twitter.com/KWyyhW0VEr
— Amiri King (@AmiriKing) December 18, 2023
Bystanders rushed to assist the injured, who were all transported to the hospital, according to KRDO — the affiliate noted there has been no update on their conditions from officials as of Monday morning.
Colorado Springs Police said Wentling was arrested and is facing a vehicular assault charge.
Nice driving, Dale. pic.twitter.com/1tyLRQuY2d
— Amiri King (@AmiriKing) December 18, 2023
Francis Barclay, who sells Christmas trees in the parking lot where the crash took place. told KRDO that vehicles doing donuts is nothing new.
He wasn’t there the night of the crash, but Barclay said, “It seems to me, since I’ve been doing this for five years, it’s getting more and more frequent. It’s been like every third or fourth night out here, there’s somebody out here squealing tires. I see a lot of activity.”
“I feel for those kids,” Barclay added. “I hope they survive, and if they survive, I hope they never do that again.”
There was plenty of talk about Darwin and the natural selection by social media users… here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on X:
I’m shocked any of the guys that were hanging out the windows survived.
— Social distancing champ (@LadyGriz) December 18, 2023
*Darwin has exited the chat*
— Abe Froman™ (@WerIstDeinPa) December 18, 2023
Natural Selection is a beautiful thing in action.
I chuckled, I’ll admit.
— Joshua Walker (@RedsRepair95) December 18, 2023
Don’t mind me. Just cheering for natural selection
— Mr30Below (@mr30below) December 18, 2023
And Darwin claims more victims.
— Festivus96 (@Festivus96) December 18, 2023
How are those kids not dead??
— Trad Strength Coach (@based_coach1) December 18, 2023
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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