New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has called on the adults and influencers driving the run it straight craze to think strongly about what they’re doing.
This week, 19-year-old Ryan Satterthwaite died from critical injuries after playing a RUNIT style game following a 21st party the night before.
“It’s incredibly tragic for for the young person involved with their family, for their friends,” Luxon told radio show Newstalk ZB today.
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“I mean, it’s just an absolute tragedy.
“It’s a good reminder for people to take personal responsibility, for individual responsibility, to think about the activity.
“But I’d also say to adults and sports influencers and celebrity influencers, or whatever it is driving this sort of craze, they should be thinking and reflecting very strongly right now.
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“It’s not something you can practically ban at a government level, but it’s just calling for people to exercise individual responsibility, but also for the adults involved in all of this to think very deeply about what they’re doing.”
Ryan’s uncle Peter Satterthwaite told the NZ Herald that the 19-year-old hitting his head was a “freak accident”.
He said the group of friends had “carried on celebrating, knew about the game, thought it’d be good fun to play” on Sunday after the 21st birthday the night before.
The format of the game mimicked the high-impact RUNIT sport, where two players sprint directly at each other – one as a tackler, the other a ball runner – with the goal of knocking the other down.
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The NZ Herald reported the teen had emergency surgery on Sunday but couldn’t be saved from his brain injuries.
His life support was turned off on Monday night.
Manawatū area commander Inspector Ross Grantham told RNZ’s Checkpoint the tackle that injured Satterthwaite was captured on film, and was “pretty unspectacular.”
“It doesn’t look like his head has hit anything hard, hasn’t hit the ground or his mate’s body or head. It’s the movement that has caused this injury,” Grantham told Checkpoint’s Lisa Owen.
“It was just an impromptu event with some mates that got together, and the two men run towards each other, and from that collision, this young man Ryan has received such a terrible injury that it’s been fatal.”
This article was originally published by Stuff.co.nz and has been reproduced here with permission.
