Interesting ideas. I wonder if anyone ever saw Max carry his scooter over his shoulder?
IIRC, the scooter was a birthday gift, and so he had not had it very long. It has never been revealed who bought it for him-- and I think that info could be very interesting if it was Dina or Jonah who purchased it for Max.
As a new/ novel toy, it sounds like he played with it indoors a lot in the days leading up to the fall. XZ was quoted in her LE interview as saying Maxie was excited to demonstrate and show her how he could ride his scooter. XZ said Max did this indoors and upstairs in the hallway.
IMO, everyone in the house knew Max had his scooter upstairs, and since no adult (parent) insisted it be taken outside, that appears to me to be tacit approval of this activity indoors.
Added thought.
The model Max had weighed 8.25 pounds, according to the specs on the amazon ad.
On one occasion my oldest was playing outdoors with a friend, and they were both intentionally spinning the razor scooter deck in a circle OVER their heads, holding the stem up high like a flagpole. I put a stop to that as soon as I saw it. But your ideas abut the scooter over his shoulder gave me a flashback to that experience. Certainly 8.25 pounds above a child's waist would change their COG. I suppose it's possible he was swinging the scooter in an exuberant fashion, or playing out an imaginary scenario, and that changed his COG enough to cause the fall. Makes more sense to me that a 6 yo would do something like that, rather than try to balance on the newel post or something. He was quite an active, physical little boy, from all indications and comments.
This is a youtube video of one very exhuberent person with a scooter. He can barely remain standing. I'm not suggesting Max was swinging the scooter like this, but using it to illustrate what kids sometimes spontaneously do with these scooters. I think the scooter was involved in the fall somehow. (And I think the person who purchased the scooter for Max probably has a lot of guilt about it being involved in the accident that killed him. JMO.)
me spinning a scooter - YouTube
Fantastic post! Thank you. Yes, an interesting possibility indeed. Sadly, we might never really find out exactly what Maxie was doing when the accident happened. He might've just been playing with it as you suggest, but I find it highly unlikely given the width of the hallway.
Like elfie, I also find of interest the mark half-way down/up the newel post. However, I don't think of it much because it doesn't really matter how that mark was made in my opinion, it could've easily been made the night before when Maxie was showing XZ his riding skills. However, if we tried to fit it into our still developing scenario just for discussion sake, it might go something like this:
Maxie could've tried to lift it by the handle to carry it downstairs, as most kids his age would likely do, only to bang the newel post. I can easily see a 6-year-old panicking over the damage to the post and choosing instead to try to put it over his shoulder, even if he had never carried it that way before. And, yes, the scooter looked pretty new to me too and now I also understand why thanks to your willingness to play with me!
In regards to the paint on the front wheel, there before the accident. And the scrape on the clamp/nuts on the steerer tube, no doubt the result of hitting the chandelier.
As to the mechanism that triggered the fall, in that regards all the experts were right - it is indeed all about the COG. BTW, I meant roughly 7 pounds were swinging wildly at the other end of the very long lever, because the lever itself - the steerer tube and handle - must also be weighed and included in the calculations in their respective assumed positions, not at the end of the lever - does that make more sense now?
Your mission, K_Z, if you choose to please accept it, is to help us all understand how the injuries on poor Maxie's back could have all been due to the scooter falling on his back and bouncing, as I suspected based on all the wonderful insight posted to this forum. And also whether the sharp edge on the board could've caused the injuries I had referred to as "carpet burns" in my earlier posts. They still remind me of my sister's injuries, but now that I believe we can explain the mechanism behind the fall, all other speculation and theories that they pointed to some sort of foul or simply rough play are out the window - and not a moment too soon.
The other possibility is that perhaps they were caused by Maxie bouncing face up onto the banister further down before he rolled and hit the ground head first, just as LE proposed. That part of their scenario is still compatible with ours. The rest of their scenario was simply very inept people instinctively knowing that it was an accident but not trying very hard to explain it! Anyhow, what do you and your colleagues think of his injuries when viewed in the context of our new theory? And I sure hope no one objects to my calling it our new theory, if you don't want to play, just pick up your ball and go home.
BTW, I don't think he suffered cuts from the chandelier on his hands and arms because it was the scooter being propelled into it that knocked it down - not Maxie, that would've no doubt cut him up bad. What do you think on that too from your Medical perspective?
And, if you happen to have the time, can you please also review Dr. Bove's report and his autopsy report to try to account for anything the experts could not explain in their reports?
What other mysteries are there about the fall? At the moment I am only interested in what triggered the fall, and on accounting for all his injuries, which all of the experts failed to do conclusively. Can you and your colleagues or anyone else following this case please help us with this too?
Your help would be greatly appreciated - by a great many people no doubt.
As for me, I'll be very happy to just be sitting home with a glass of wine in my hand, smiling happily to see you guys/ladies go on Dr. Phil's show to explain how the Websleuths on this forum solved the mysteries of the fall, and how you contributed your time, knowledge and creativity into putting together the animation and otherwise assisting with all the hard work still to be done. BTW, we also need someone to please assist with the math and physics if we are to prove this. Any takers?
Thanks again!
lease:
