Teen recovers from 'Jackass' stunt

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BY MARK ANDERSEN / Lincoln Journal Star

Recall the dumbest of all the stupid things you did in high school? Joe White can’t.

Rather than go to his homecoming dance Sept. 29, the 18-year-old got drunk and jumped from a car going 35 mph while someone inside recorded the stunt on film.

The Topeka, Kan., teenager had seen the “Jackass” sequel the night before. The movie was spun from a former MTV program featuring skateboarders and others doing reckless stunts.

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Joe White, in gray clothes, tried a stunt from "Jackass" and almost cost him his life. (Michelle Le)

Joe White, in gray clothes, tried a stunt from "Jackass" and almost cost him his life. (Michelle Le)

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Audio Slideshow: Joe and Bob White, physical therapy

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According to those with him, Joe jumped at 11:45 p.m., shortly after leaving a party. It was a Friday.

By Sunday night, he’d undergone surgery to ease pressure from an egg-sized clot on his brain.

It didn’t appear to be working.

“His numbers were all whacked,” said his mother, Rose House of Eudora, Kan. “They let all of us in the (hospital) room. There were nine of us. There were only supposed to be two at a time.

“He’s not going to make it, is he?” she asked a teary-eyed nurse.

The nurse shook her head. “‘It doesn’t look good,’” House said she was told.

A Catholic priest anointed Joe as the family gathered around, but then, “His numbers evened out again,” House said. Nurses ushered the family from the room.

There was the sense, “It’s not over yet,” House said.

Now, Joe is at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital learning again to feed himself. He struggles to stand with assistance from  therapists and can’t speak. He faces an uncertain and long recovery, although it’s unlikely he’ll ever be exactly as he was.

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but with “Jackass,” it’s often been a ticket to the emergency room:

* In 2003, a 26-year-old Australian was left incontinent and unable to have sex after imitating a stunt in which he placed firecrackers between his buttocks.

* In 2002, 15-year-old Kelvin Wu of Bellevue, Wash., suffered severe burns to his torso, arms, face, head and ears after setting his shirt on fire while friends videotaped him trying to re-create a stunt he’d seen on “Jackass.”

* In 2001, 11-year-old Jose Serrano of Hartford, Conn., copied the show, pouring gasoline over his legs and setting them on fire. In “Jackass,” the stunt was performed with a flame-retardant suit.

An avid film buff, Joe White carried his expensive camera everywhere. He planned to study film at the University of Kansas, said his mother. His independent studies teacher gave him high marks in creativity.

Joe lives in Topeka with his father and stepmother, Bob and Kristen White. On homecoming night, he told his father he was going to the dance but went instead to a party, where he played a drinking game, said his mother.

He left with others at 11:30 p.m.

Fifteen minutes later, the car’s rear door opened on Joe’s new life.

“I don’t blame anyone for this accident,” House said. “Eighteen-year-olds are invincible,” or think they are, she said.

It could happen to any kid.

“Joe made this decision,” she said. “And it’s forever impacted all of our lives.”

He was drunk.

“But I love him no less. … I never really knew how deeply I loved him until I saw him like this,” she said.

Everybody does stupid things as a kid, she said. “There’s always a small percentage that get caught and it forever changes their lives.”

She’d like to warn parents, but even more urge them: “Tell your children how important they are to you, how much you love them, because you don’t know.”

Kristen, his stepmother, has lived with Joe nearly six years.

He’s the typical American teen, she said. “The average Joe … The boy next door.”

Friends call him the Halo master because of his mastery of the video game “Halo.” He has a cat, Spike, and plays Texas Hold ’Em poker. Friends say he’s “tight."

“He’s usually so cautious and conservative,” Kristen said.

She wonders exactly what happened in that car. The boys with him weren’t those he normally hangs with, she said.

According to their version, Joe was the only one drinking (the others weren’t tested). Suddenly, he supposedly said, “OK, guys, I’m going to bail,” and then jumped.

Added Kristen: “They’re trying to say they couldn’t have prevented it.”

She’s asked the police for a copy of the film but says, according to those who have seen it, Joe landed on his feet, running.

“Like he was going on a really fast treadmill, and the body goes out from under you, and smack, he went down and hit the ground ... with his right temple.”

Inside his skull, the brain rebounded, damaging itself on the back left side and brain stem.

Apparently after seeing “Jackass,” Kristen said, Joe and others put together a list of stunts to film. They planned to sell it and make a bunch of money, she said.

Joe already had recorded a friend shooting him in the chest with a BB gun, which left a bloody welt.

Joe’s father recovered his son’s cell phone, which had six messages from one kid.

“C’mon man,” Kristen said imitating one call, “We’ve got to get these segs (segments) in order to make some money.”

Joe’s mother, Rose, said she’s a huge supporter of free speech but wonders if those who make movies like “Jackass” shouldn’t be held responsible for the danger they foster.

A study published in April 2003 by Academic Emergency Medicine reported that of 100 kids coming to two hospital emergency rooms over four months, 44 percent knew of an incident in which a child had hurt himself by copying something he had seen in the media.

Kristen said the family is considering a lawsuit, although she thinks it unlikely because nobody has successfully sued “Jackass.”

She has agreed to appear on the Tyra Banks TV show and dreams of launching a nonprofit organization called Intercept, which would encourage teen friends to step in — to intercept — when someone makes bad decisions.

Of her six kids, she said, Joe was not one she would have expected to jump out of a car.

“Nobody should feel like their kids are making good decisions,” she said. If it can happen to Joe, it can happen to anyone.

That’s why it’s important to reach the kids. If the others in the car had said, Stop! Don’t!

“Kids need to stick up for each other,” she said.

It’s a message she knows is easily repelled by the armor of youth.

Even after the accident, in talking to her 21-year-old son, he still doesn’t see how alcohol impaired his step-brother’s judgment.

“Joe’s his best friend and he still doesn’t get it,” she said in frustration. “It still isn’t coming home.”

Reach Mark Andersen at 473-7238 or mandersen@journalstar.com.