TRIPPING PRANK leaves students nursing injuries

Simone Morgan-Lindo

A schoolgirl who was hurt in the dangerous 'Jump Trip Challenge' said she thought that jumping in front of her fellow students was part of a routine worked out by two group members with whom she was making a presentation.

"I honestly didn't know that it was a prank or challenge. Is after mi drop, I know about the challenge. I never even heard about it. We were about to have a presentation in class and before it started, the students called me up at the front of the class and told me that they were going jump same time and I should jump after," Crystal Hutchinson, a Grade 10 student of Kingston Technical High School, told THE STAR.

"I didn't make much of it or anything so when I jump dem trip me and mi drop and lick mi head," she said.

The ministry of education yesterday advised parents and teachers to be on the lookout for the prank.

"The prank is a horrific act and demonstrates a lack of good judgement on the part of those involved and should not be tolerated. Students are partaking in the prank, not realising that a fall of such nature can cause serious physical, mental and emotional damage with great legal and financial implications," the ministry said.

Unsuspecting persons

The challenge, is believed to have originated in the United States of America. Unsuspecting persons are tricked by 'friends', who stand on either side of them, to jump. Their legs are swept off the ground from behind and often result in the person falling flat on the ground.

Several ugly 'Jump Trip Challenge' have gone viral, among them being the one involving Hutchinson, who was tripped by the two female students at her school.

"It wasn't my daughter who tell mi about it," Hutchinson's mother, Karen McDonald-Robinson, told THE STAR. "It was my son who saw the video on Instagram and bring it to my attention. She probably didn't tell mi because she didn't take it serious but on Wednesday she started having headaches that are not going away even though I am giving her pain killers."

Sashanna Brown, the mother of the one of the girls who tripped Hutchinson, said she is extremely sorry about her daughter's actions.

"Mi feel really bad and I talked to my daughter hard about it and she says she is extremely sorry. I keep telling her that it could have been worse because this practice is really dangerous. Mi know that mi daughter is not the type to bully anyone, so I don't know why she gone a school gone do that for. Mi can't even tell yuh how bad me feel about all a this," Brown said.

"She has called the girl that it happen to and has apologised. Mi make sure warn her and tell her don't let it happen again," Brown added.

The 'Jump Trip Challenge' left a Meadowbrook High School male student nursing a broken arm. Kerrisa Dockery, the mother of Rasheed Bullock, the 14-year-old Meadowbrook student whose arm was fractured, said her son was offered $100 to engage in the challenge.

"Him never know anything about the game, and if you watch the video, you will see that him clearly never know anything about it.

"Those two boys are not his friends. He doesn't know them. The other boys are in fourth form, and he is in third form. Right now, I am stressed. I don't sleep, and I don't eat," Dockery said.