A New Jersey woman is devastated that her precious sports car -- just repaired and fully gassed up -- was wrecked by a suicidal man's 40-story attempted death leap on the Upper West Side.It's not that she thinks he has an answer, like he picked her car, she just wants to say "Why? Why?" at him.
"I miss it. It's my baby," moaned Maria McCormack, who regrets lending her husband the 2008 Dodge Charger Tuesday for work. "I want to meet [Tom Magill] and say, 'Why? Why my car out of all the cars in the city?' "
"I wonder how he feels now that he made it. Does he feel like an idiot?" said Maria. "I hope he's OK. But I just want to know why."Well, Magill is in the hospital after having rods inserted in his legs and some operation to "relieve the clotting" in his groin, so maybe you could go over there and interrogate him about whether he feels like an idiot.
If you think this sounds like an episode of "Seinfeld," it's "The Bris":
"Well, I just got the estimate. It's going to cost more to fix that roof than the car's worth... Someone's paying for that damage and it's not gonna be me.... swan dives from twenty floors, lands right on to it. What do I have a bulls eye on there? He couldn't move over two feet? Land on the sidewalk. That's city property. What are the chances, what are the odds? He couldn't do it again if his life depended on it..."Maria, how does it feel to be George Costanza?
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63 comments:
Not a "nyuk nyuk nyuk" attempt by the owner?
How do reporters get people to so willingly make complete and utter fools of themselves? It was a 2008 Dodge Charger. It's not as if it were a '64 Mustang convertible. Get a grip!
Superb journalism from the Post, love how they worked moaned Maria McCormack in there. Using alliteration like that to describe the sound of someone whining is Pulitzer-worthy stuff.
"He couldn't move over two feet?"
LOL
Do any insurance plans cover failed suicide attempts? I can't imagine the hospital bill this guy is going to face will make him any happier to be alive.
Not that I think insurance should cover it.
While I sympathize with the fact that her car's damaged, I do have one thing I'd like to say to her:
GET OVER YOUR SELF-ABSORPTION, LADY!!!!
GET OVER YOUR SELF-ABSORPTION, LADY!!!
I imagine she feels the same about the guy who jumped.
I'm with the owner. Have some consideration for others when planning your suicide.
I sympathize. But she sounds like my kids whining That's not fair.
Maria, how does it feel to be George Costanza?
That's perfect.
Do any insurance plans cover failed suicide attempts?
I wondered the same thing. The building's general liability policy perhaps?
Maybe she can sue him. Sounds like she'd like to.
Isn't "bris" a kind of fromage?
I'm with the owner. Have some consideration for others when planning your suicide
True. He could have landed on someone and killed an innocent person who was just walking along, instead of smashing this lady's valuable(to her) car.
To be on her side for a bit. Some people do not have very much money or ability to replace an asset that has been destroyed. 14K might not sound like much to some people, who have tenured jobs and good salaries, but to others it can be an insurmountable loss.
She had a bad day. Tomorrow all will seem better until another suicide splats her property. The kid who took the dive should become a born again Christian and buy the smashed car and take it with him on a anti-suicide lecture tour of the churches.
Note how the husband looks like an older version of the jumper. Strange, strange...
And Maria is a fattie! Her lazy, selfish, whiny attitude about her vehicle is in line with her seemingly lazy, selfish, whiny attitude about her body.
Poor husband! This situation fell upon him and he's stuck with a fat wife showing off her self-centeredness in the NYPost, and the bill. I think God is telling him that it is time to move on.
It would have been great if Johnny Knoxville was at the base of the building and said, "Hi. I'm Johnny Knoxvill and this is Jackass." just as the camera pans up and see this fool take a dive into the car, then to hear him scream, "My leg!!! My leg!!" only to have Johnny Knoxville and his cohorts behind the camera laughing their asses off at his predicament and then Johnny comes up behind him and hits him in the head with a 2x4, just as this idiot woman comes up to the car and says, "Holy shit!!! My car!!! Couldn't you have moved over 2 feet!?!?!" and the Jackass guys in the back laugh even harder.
Dead Julius said...
Note how the husband looks like an older version of the jumper. Strange, strange...
And Maria is a fattie! Her lazy, selfish, whiny attitude about her vehicle is in line with her seemingly lazy, selfish, whiny attitude about her body.
Poor husband! This situation fell upon him and he's stuck with a fat wife showing off her self-centeredness in the NYPost, and the bill. I think God is telling him that it is time to move on.
These are just rat-faced, toxic waste mutant east-coasting new yorkers that are about as vapid of a human example as they come. This is to be expected from that side of the country. They live in a shit infested city of nothing but human rats to get along with. Besides, what kind of narcissistic pig buys a car to drive in NYC. It's pointless.
Methadras said...
These are just rat-faced, toxic waste mutant east-coasting new yorkers that are about as vapid of a human example as they come... Besides, what kind of narcissistic pig buys a car to drive in NYC. It's pointless.
Well, obviously you refer to the fact that they are Jooos. They look like typical New York Jooos, don't they? And McCormick is a jewish name, isn't it?
Methadras was condemning them for their actions. Dead Julius condemned for their heritage/status.
...hm.
Maybe she can sue him. Sounds like she'd like to.
Not only will she sue for damages. She'll demand compensation for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
I honestly don’t see how this woman isn’t wholly justified in being upset.
She was an innocent bystander who was harmed by someone else’s reckless behavior.
The fact that this POS didn’t hurt or kill someone else when he decided to jump off a building into an area where innocent might be standing, walking or parked doesn’t in anyway alter the fact that he did in fact cause harm to an innocent person.
Saying “it could have been worse” doesn’t change that fact that someone bad was done to someone and that person is entitled to both feel aggrieved and to demand to be made whole (whether she will be is another matter).
I used to ride the commuter train here in San Diego. A couple times a year I'd end up being late for work because someone decided to commit suicide on the tracks, delaying the train by an hour or two and traumatizing the driver.
My reaction was always "what an inconsiderate way to commit suicide".
Dead Julius said...
Well, obviously you refer to the fact that they are Jooos. They look like typical New York Jooos, don't they? And McCormick is a jewish name, isn't it?
What? I've never referred to them being Jews or implied it. I don't know if they are Jews or not, nor do I care. However, McCormick is not a Jewish name to my understanding, but who the fuck cares anyway. What are you getting it? Are you trying to say that I'm an anti-semite because they are New York, east-coast, vapid, self-absorbed, narcissistic filth?
Revenant said...
I used to ride the commuter train here in San Diego. A couple times a year I'd end up being late for work because someone decided to commit suicide on the tracks, delaying the train by an hour or two and traumatizing the driver.
My reaction was always "what an inconsiderate way to commit suicide".
Are you talking about the Coaster? If you are, then generally, if I remember right those suicides or 'accidental' deaths usually happened around Solana Beach/Encinitas and i used to think the same thing. A little more harshly though.
Coaster-kill happened to me once. I was taking the train from home in Oceanside to (I think) a sales meeting in Downtown. Guy hit near Old Town. Fucking two-hour delay. Really pissed me off.
I sense a new commerical coming:
"Meanwhile, a Dodge spokesman credited the car's "high-strength steel structure" for helping absorb the blow.
"We are glad that Mr. Magill survived the 40-story free-fall and that our Dodge Charger was able to cushion his landing," said company spokesman Jiyan Cadiz. "We hope that Mr. Magill gets well."
"...company spokesman Jiyan Cadiz."
What's in a name? Everything.
She is right, it cost her money.He did not value his life. Interpersonal comparative sense of value
When you crash into another car , you must pay, no matter is you end injured,
The family of Kennedy´s wife sued because they though his lack of experience as pilot caused the damage
""We are glad that Mr. Magill survived the 40-story free-fall and that our Dodge Charger was able to cushion his landing," said company spokesman Jiyan Cadiz. "We hope that Mr. Magill gets well.""
If the ad people at Dodge have any brains they will give the lady a brand-spanking-new Charger and write a commercial around it.
Do any insurance plans cover failed suicide attempts?
Forget his insurance (what makes you think the taxpayers aren't covering this?). Does her insurance cover damage caused by bodies falling out of the sky?
No, she's right to be mad. The jerk who fell on it could have killed himself some other way.
Suicide is fundamentally selfish. Why give suicides a break when they screw things up for everyone else?
Is it OK to destroy someone's car when you aren't killing yourself? Why is it OK if you are trying to die?
Sure, a human life is more important than a car. But it's the man trying to kill himself making the choice, not the owner of the car.
The woman is just saying she lost a nice car.
I imagine that each of us would feel the same way...if our car or house was wrecked by some falling plane. And normally, we would expect someone to pay for property destruction (outside real war).
It is NOT callous and "hurtful to the victim/victim's family" to observe this.
As is, the husband is generous. Rather than sue, he said:
"Guy McCormack, 40, was far more merciful -- agreeing to pony up the $500 insurance deductible.
"Geico said I could sue him . . . but I'm not going to do that. He has enough to worry about," said the construction worker. "It's a very small price to pay."
She will have to replace the car because the jumper would not face up to his problems and get a grip on them. It ain't easy, but people do it all the time, so his call on other people's compassion is going to hit a lot of bumps. Between this guy and the idiot at the Discovery Channel, sympathy for the mentally deranged is taking quite a nosedive nationwide, I'm guessing.
shirley elizabeth said...
Do any insurance plans cover failed suicide attempts?
Hopefully, something in the woman's comp coverage might help, but that's a good point. Said wingnut will probably expect the taxpayers to foot his medical bills.
I was laughing so hard reading this.
But to change the subject slightly, a couple people mentioned inconsiderate suicides. I will never understand how people blow their brains out, knowing a relative will find them. Is it that damn hard to imagine their reaction?
On the other hand, there are the considerate suicides, who slit their wrists in the bathtub. My female cousin's ex did it that way. So sad.
""Geico said I could sue him . . . but I'm not going to do that. He has enough to worry about," said the construction worker. "It's a very small price to pay.""
Aw.
The Dodge Charger is, based on my limited survey, the most poorly driven car on American roads today...number two is anything with an Indiana temp tag. The Chevy Impala is at #3. Never assume anyone driving any of the cars listed above has even a modicum of sense or two brain cells to rub together.
Odds are 10 to 1 she's a tea partier: selfishness, self-centeredness, and a healthy side of sociopathy.
I wonder if you could create some manner of regional thought game from this situation.
"Man leaps from building in despair, lands on woman's car which is destroyed yet saves his life. She is livid over loss of her car. This occurs in
A. Pacific Northwest
B. New York City/Tristate
C. Plains"
I was once late in Boston as they cleared a sad soul from the sub tracks and folks shook their heads in anger, frustration, sadness etc.
But no one suggested they were shoved onto the tracks, which is how I could tell I wasn't in NYC.
I will never understand how people blow their brains out, knowing a relative will find them. Is it that damn hard to imagine their reaction?
Isn't that the point, though? In many cases suicide is at least partially a way to punish the people around you for not giving you what you need, emotionally. I mean, why jump off a building instead of downing a bottle of sleeping pills? Because it's public.
Dick.
"A New Jersey woman is devastated that her precious sports car -- just repaired and fully gassed up --"
Fully gassed up? A full tank of gas is more important than a man's life? Really? "Dude, I had just replaced the wiper blades! It's so unfair!"
Stupid conflicting edits!!!
Fully gassed up?
Yes, I'm not seeing the relevance of that.
""Geico said I could sue him . . . but I'm not going to do that. He has enough to worry about," said the construction worker. "It's a very small price to pay.""
Nice husband. (although I'm not sure if Geico will be happy since most of the money will come from them, right?) I'm sorry that people get to that point where they feel the need to commit suicide and I hope this guy gets help, but it is inconsiderate. He could have hit a person and killed them, instead of himself. He probably wasn't thinking rationally though.
She wants to know why? At this point, does it really matter? It's not going to bring the car back. She's just on the receiving end of some bad luck. Meh, it happens.
As for the jumper, hopefully, he eventually sees it as a stroke of good luck. Her car DID save his life. Maybe she'll come around, too.
Glenn Reynolds lede is "In the future everyone will be George Costanza for 15 minutes"
What I'm looking forward to is a future in which I'm NOT George Costanza for 15 minutes.
Suicide is fundamentally selfish.
Until you know this guy's medical history, including any psychoactive substances his pill-pushing doctor convinced him to ingest, you don't know that.
And thank God for HIPAA. It gives the ignorant and judgmental among us a chance to show everyone their true nature.
Im with the owner. Do what you want with your life, but trespass on other's pursuit of happiness and rights (private property) not one bit.
Suicide is often, in many cases, a self absorbed act.
If your going to off yourself, at least be considerate! Dont leave a corpse that will haunt your children who discover you, etc etc.
Life is precious. Dont infringe on others, even if you dont value your own.
What Shanna (and Thorley) said.
The attempted suicide is not in a position to demand respect and consideration from the completely innocent person whose day (week?) (and property) he ruined.
Jim: Sod "the man's life" - she didn't do anything to him.
She didn't hit him with the car.
She didn't drive him to attempt suicide.
Her car and gas are, quite reasonably more important to her than the selfish jerk who jumped on her car, wrecking it.
She owes him nothing more than to not do any active harm to him, just as everyone owes every other complete stranger.
(Even assuming a duty to help those in desperate need if one is able, which I'm willing to accept, she still doesn't owe him sympathy for his actions which did serious harm to her.)
She has no duty to feel that his attention-getting attempt to end his life is "more important" than her property which was destroyed by it.
(If he wasn't aiming for death and attention there are much less public ways of ending one's life, aren't there?
The chosen means are information, not to be ignored.)
Ignorant of his medical history? Sure I am. Ignorant of suicide? No, I'm not. Dude made the choice to jump there, and he's responsible. I don't accept that people are forced to kill themselves, or that they aren't responsible for the consequences.
Judgmental? Damn right. If I don't decide what's right and wrong, someone else is doing it for me. Either we accept the narrative of "poor suicidal guy and selfish car owner," or we don't. I don't. That's my judgment, and I'm happy to use it.
We're all "judgmental." We are all responsible for our decisions. If you are throwing that word around, it just means you disagree with someone else for not accepting your judgment.
The next step is to say "close-minded." I love that one, too.
Suicide is fundamentally selfish.
And living is causing all the damn death, right?
What a fundamentally stupid assertion that is. Self-destruction and self-interest are antithetical.
@KLDAVIS: You evidently haven't driven much in Michigan. An old joke.
Q. Why are there no Michigan drivers in NACCAR?
A. NASCAR has only two rules: go fast and turn left. Michiganders don't know how to turn left.
She has every right to be mad. The jumper made a decision to do something harmful to himself AND potentially harmful to others. If somebody does something stupid and hurts you or damages your property, you should be mad at them!
To DKWalser who said, "It was a 2008 Dodge Charger. It's not as if it were a '64 Mustang convertible. Get a grip!" ... how would you feel if your two-year old car, probably less than half paid-off, was totaled by somebody else's irresponsibility?
I hope the jumper gets better, and certainly don't wish him ill, but he is also responsible for causing major damage to somebody else's property. His injuries don't remove his responsibility.
This woman is a married mother of three, her husband is a construction worker, so my guess is that this is a very significant financial hit to that family.
She mentioned that they live in Jersey, and a car is more important there than in NYC, where there are more transportation options. She also mentioned that she needs the car to bring the kids to various sports practices, etc. She has a right to be upset.
The commenters here have been pretty harsh on the 22 year old who attempted suicide. This is a very desperate act, we have no idea regarding what his problems are, and he needs some compassion. None of us would have been as harsh with, oh, say a pretty fifteen year old who had been relentlessly bullied by her classmates into hanging herself.
This woman is a married mother of three, her husband is a construction worker, so my guess is that this is a very significant financial hit to that family.
She mentioned that they live in Jersey, and a car is more important there than in NYC, where there are more transportation options. She also mentioned that she needs the car to bring the kids to various sports practices, etc. She has a right to be upset.
The commenters here have been pretty harsh on the 22 year old who attempted suicide. This is a very desperate act, we have no idea regarding what his problems are, and he needs some compassion. None of us would have been as harsh with, oh, say a pretty fifteen year old who had been relentlessly bullied by her classmates into hanging herself.
Jumper: "How does it feel to be an idiot?"
Painful, very painful.
Not only was he a moron, but he was an incompetent moron. I think he is most likely liable to the car owner for reckless destruction of personal property. Good luck to her trying to recover something. He probably doesn't have any assets.
Car Owner: Don't whine. Nobody cares.
Not only was it a 2008 Dodge Charger -- the Dealer probably still has some new ones on his lot -- and it wasn't a 1964 Mustang, it wasn't even a Toyota Camry. She was probably upside down on the note, too.
Her comprehensive insurance coverage will pay for the car. She can buy a new one, a 2008 Charger if she so desires. It was only a car and not a good one.
All you folks mocking this woman for valuing her car over his life:
He was committing suicide. He is the one who set the value of his life versus the value of her car -- no, wait, that's not right.
He's the one who placed the value of making a dramatic exit over the value of her car -- not to you folks who don't like Dodge Chargers, but to its owner.
He unilaterally set the terms and the stakes, just like any thug.
He should be charged with armed robbery and car jacking.
I have zero sympathy for him. Let him recover in a jail infirmary.
Her comprehensive insurance coverage will pay for the car. She can buy a new one, a 2008 Charger if she so desires. It was only a car and not a good one.
No. Her insurance will not pay for a new car. She is going to get 14K, which is what the insurance company determed is the value of her 'totaled out' vechicle.
It isn't enough to buy a new car and it may not even be enough to pay for the rest of the loan that she may have on the car.
Just because you don't like the care doesn't mean that it doesn't have value for her.
In fact, it might have been their ONLY vehicle.
As I said before. Some people do not have much money or many things and as such, what they do have is valuable to them
The idiot who jumped put no value on his own life, yet he gets to retain it.
None of us would have been as harsh with, oh, say a pretty fifteen year old who had been relentlessly bullied by her classmates into hanging herself.
Wanna bet?
None of us would have been as harsh with, oh, say a pretty fifteen year old who had been relentlessly bullied by her classmates into hanging herself.
That theoretical girl wouldn't have caused the risk and damage to others that this guy did, so no.
McCormack may seem a little callous (though she does wish the guy well), but she didn't know him, and didn't ask or deserve to be a participant in his little psychodrama.
WV: ailles. Goode for what ailles you.
John Lynch: I hope that when you find yourself in despair and alone, fearing death or welcoming it, that someone is there to show you the compassion and support you need.
hi, i know this family very welll ! and they are very nice people, they were just caught up in the stress of having a man falling on there car. so have some respect, you have no idea what you are saying nor will you ever. thank you have a wonderful day/
Bill:
Been there, done that. I got over it. Why do you think I'm commenting on it?
Suicide comes from self absorption and lack of perspective. It's selfish, and it hurts everyone close to you.
I've lost everything several times. I've been rich, poor, and in between. I've been betrayed and cast aside. I've lost jobs, lost people, lost money, lost cars, and lost all hope.
I'm not special for it, nor is it any special distinction to be suicidal. Anyone can have their life fall apart. At one time or another, almost everyone has something terrible happen. If you live long enough it will happen to you.
I'm not heartless to hold people responsible for their actions. It's holding myself responsible that gets me through life. If you aren't responsible for what you do, then you aren't anything at all.
Really, what we should reward isn't people who give up and die but people who continue on despite terrible pain and suffering. That's humanity, not throwing yourself onto a car. What if someone had been in it?
Really, shit happens. Life is finding it in yourself to deal with it.
Judging from all the classy comments piling on the guy who tried to kill himself I'd say a lot of folks out there are already George Constanza and not just for fifteen minutes.
@Ofc. Krupke 9/3/10:
That theoretical girl wouldn't have caused the risk and damage to others that this guy did, so no.
That girl wasn't theoretical, she was real. Her name was Phoebe Prince. And it turns out the bullying was real, too, including assault and battery, but the authority figures at her school couldn't have cared less, so her attempts to get help went unheeded. Nobody ever bore any consequences for their crimes, until her fear and isolation drove her to suicide.
We're told from day one in school, that we are supposed to abide by the rules, keep our noses clean, and that's how we'll get ahead. But then a real victim blows the whistle and gets... told to go away. Repeatedly.
Take your precious judgments and put them where the sun doesn't shine.
Tom Mcgill should pay for his insensitive and selfish act. What if he had landed on another human being?! I defy anyone, put in the car owners position, to laugh it off and merrily walk to the nearest car rental agency. It must be great living in an ivory tower and making judgments on people you know nothing about, except what Matt Lauer says. The Post is a rag and I wouldn't even buy it to wipe my butt. If the jumper is worried about being unemployed, perhaps he can get a job as a stuntman. But the rods in his legs will make him heavier. Pick a Mercedes, next time, Mr. Mcgill, they are engineered like no other car.
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