High school sprinkler prank costs B.C. family $48Gs
By Michael Mui, 24 Hours Vancouver
First posted: Thursday, January 08, 2015 06:11 PM EST | Updated: Thursday, January 08, 2015 06:38 PM EST
VANCOUVER — A Vancouver Island high school student and his family have been ordered to pay $48,630 after the boy triggered an entire school's sprinklers — requiring the premises be evacuated — during a prank on a friend.
The boy, who QMI Agency has chosen not to name because of his age, was 14 when played out the prank at Wellington Secondary in Nanaimo, B.C., in 2012.
During lunch break in January 2012, the boy got hold of a friend's padlock and was looking for a place to secure it as a "prank," according to the B.C. Supreme Court judgment made public Wednesday.
The court detailed how the boy, now 17, first tried placing the lock on the metal bar of a door, but "was witnessed by the lunch supervisor," who ordered him to remove it.
He moved on. That's when he noticed a sprinkler head on the ceiling of an upstairs hallway.
"(The boy) decided to attach the padlock to the sprinkler head. The ceiling is eight feet tall," Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick wrote.
Soon, an audience gathered and the boy was joined in a "jumping exercise" to get the padlock attached to the sprinkler head.
At some point, a friend even warned him, "this is a bad idea, you're being a dumbass," according to the court.
"Shortly after (the boy's) last jump toward the sprinkler head, the red filament inside the sprinkler head was disturbed and, as sprinkler heads are intended to operate, it immediately began spraying water," Fitzpatrick continued.
This activation triggered the school's entire sprinkler system and the fire alarm. The school was evacuated. The court noted the boy immediately confessed his actions to a teacher.
"This was clearly the result of a young boy misbehaving and thinking that the only grief to come of it would be to (his friend) and perhaps the janitor in removing the padlock," Fitzpatrick wrote.
"Obviously, more dire consequences followed."
Email Michael
High school sprinkler prank costs B.C. family $48Gs | Canada | News | Toronto Su
By Michael Mui, 24 Hours Vancouver
First posted: Thursday, January 08, 2015 06:11 PM EST | Updated: Thursday, January 08, 2015 06:38 PM EST
VANCOUVER — A Vancouver Island high school student and his family have been ordered to pay $48,630 after the boy triggered an entire school's sprinklers — requiring the premises be evacuated — during a prank on a friend.
The boy, who QMI Agency has chosen not to name because of his age, was 14 when played out the prank at Wellington Secondary in Nanaimo, B.C., in 2012.
During lunch break in January 2012, the boy got hold of a friend's padlock and was looking for a place to secure it as a "prank," according to the B.C. Supreme Court judgment made public Wednesday.
The court detailed how the boy, now 17, first tried placing the lock on the metal bar of a door, but "was witnessed by the lunch supervisor," who ordered him to remove it.
He moved on. That's when he noticed a sprinkler head on the ceiling of an upstairs hallway.
"(The boy) decided to attach the padlock to the sprinkler head. The ceiling is eight feet tall," Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick wrote.
Soon, an audience gathered and the boy was joined in a "jumping exercise" to get the padlock attached to the sprinkler head.
At some point, a friend even warned him, "this is a bad idea, you're being a dumbass," according to the court.
"Shortly after (the boy's) last jump toward the sprinkler head, the red filament inside the sprinkler head was disturbed and, as sprinkler heads are intended to operate, it immediately began spraying water," Fitzpatrick continued.
This activation triggered the school's entire sprinkler system and the fire alarm. The school was evacuated. The court noted the boy immediately confessed his actions to a teacher.
"This was clearly the result of a young boy misbehaving and thinking that the only grief to come of it would be to (his friend) and perhaps the janitor in removing the padlock," Fitzpatrick wrote.
"Obviously, more dire consequences followed."
Email Michael
High school sprinkler prank costs B.C. family $48Gs | Canada | News | Toronto Su
