Parents Sue Over Game Linked to Shooting
Wed Oct 22, 3:56 AM ET Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!
By DUNCAN MANSFIELD, Associated Press Writer
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - A $246 million lawsuit was filed against the designer, marketer and a retailer of the video game series " Grand Theft Auto" by the families of two people shot by teenagers apparently inspired by the game.
The suit claims marketer Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., designers Take-Two Interactive Software and Rockstar Games, and Wal-Mart, are liable for $46 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages.
Aaron Hamel, 45, a registered nurse, was killed and Kimberly Bede, 19, of Moneta, Va., was seriously wounded when their cars were hit June 25 by .22-caliber bullets as they passed through the Great Smoky Mountains.
Stepbrothers William Buckner, 16, and Joshua Buckner, 14, of Newport, were sentenced in August to an indefinite term in state custody after pleading guilty in juvenile court to reckless homicide, endangerment and assault.
The boys told investigators they got the rifles from a locked room in their home and decided to randomly shoot at tractor-trailer rigs, just like in the video game " Grand Theft Auto III."
In a suit filed Monday in Cocke County Circuit Court on behalf of the victims, Miami lawyer Jack Thompson and local lawyer Richard Talley alleged the game " inspires and trains players to shoot at vehicles and persons."
" These kids simply decided to take the thrill of that game out to Interstate 40 and started pointing at cars," Thompson said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
Thompson, who said he sent letters to Sony and Wal-Mart to drop the game before the shootings, said, " It' s not like this is coming out of the blue, they chose to ignore this danger."
San Mateo, Calif.-based Sony and Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart did not return calls for comment Tuesday. The lawsuit alleges the retail giant sold the game to the Buckners about a year before the shootings.
Douglas Lowenstein, president of the industry Entertainment Software Association, called the shootings " an unspeakable tragedy" but said blaming a game played by millions for the boys' actions was " misguided and counterproductive."
" There is no credible evidence that violent games lead to violent behavior," he said. " While video games may provide a simple excuse for the teenagers involved in this incident, responsibility for violent acts belongs to those who commit them."
Thompson has made similar claims in the past and lost, notably a $33 million lawsuit against video game makers stemming from the 1997 school shooting near Paducah, Ky., by a 14-year-old boy.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites) ruled in the case last year that it was " simply to far a leap from shooting characters on a video screen to shooting people in a classroom."
Ya know, thats just great. Why don' t we blame everyone but the kids themeselves?
Quote:
Thompson has made similar claims in the past and lost, notably a $33 million lawsuit against video game makers stemming from the 1997 school shooting near Paducah, Ky., by a 14-year-old boy.
reminds me of the lawsuits against firearms manufactures for what criminally minded people did with thier product ,
maybe the victims families should sue the two boys family for actions taken by persons ( the two boys ) they created and failed to properly guide in life along the lines of right and wrong . just passing the blame
So could hollywood be sued for violence caused by gangbangers who got their ideas from watching violent movies about street gangs? [:-]
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I' m kind of " torn" on an issue like this. I am a strong proponent for a person being responsable for their own actions. But a few of the current video games are more than a little " over the top" .
I' ve never had the patience to play video games, but the concept was generally the good guys vs. the bad guys. The " player" was always the " good" guy.
The trend now seems to be for the " player" to be the bad guy with the object of the game to be; kill as many cops and pedestrians as possable.
Anyone who does not see the potential ramifications is just not looking.
I just think it is sad that there are kids that old that don' t know the difference between " make believe" and reality. As far as I' m concerned if they are so disconnected that they can' t determine the difference, they need to be in jail anyway. It' s just a matter of time before they commit a violent crime anyway. I simply can' t see the game as the sole reason they went out and started shooting at cars. These boys are 14 and 16, not 4 and 6.
People commit crimes of violence not video games, guns or anything else. It all goes back to parenting and teaching kids to be accountable for their actions.
More Greed
