Steven Curtis Chapman's son hits, kills 5-year-old sister with SUV

Can't say I care for his music, but no one deserves this.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The 5-year-old daughter of Grammy-winning Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman was struck and killed Wednesday by a sport utility vehicle driven by her brother, authorities said.

The girl, Maria, was hit in the driveway of the family's home Wednesday afternoon by a Toyota Land Cruiser driven by her teenage brother, said Laura McPherson, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

The brother, whose name and exact age weren't available, apparently did not see the girl, McPherson said. No charges are expected.

"It looks like a tragic accident," she said.

...

Chapman, who is originally from Paducah, Ky., and his wife have promoted international adoption and have three daughters from China, including Maria. They have three biological children.

 

I'm a big fan of Steven Curtis Chapman and have met him on several occasions. The last time I saw him his daughter was with him and she was smiling and laughing and talking with people.

This is sad.

 

From everything I've read, he is truly one of the good guys. His song, "I Will Be Here," is a popular pick for weddings, including my own.
What a terrible, terrible thing.

 

This type of accident seems to happen once a week in the D-F-Dub. Usually it's a parent who runs over the 2-year-old that they can't see. (It's almost always a 2-year-old.)

Latest one was a dad and his son who were out looking at stars while laying in the driveway. Dad dozes off, and mom returns home and doesn't see the kid:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5794016.html

Utterly tragic.

 

Horrible, just horrible. Obviously feel for the parents and the little girl, but it also just aches to think of the guilt that the brother will now have to live with. Very, very sad.

This is nowhere near the level of tragedy in this story, but...when I was about 11, I was teaching my little sister, 8, to pitch a whiffleball. Instead of a whiffle bat, however, I was using, for some idiotic reason, a small broomstick. On my very last "at bat," I swung and the broomstick slipped out of my hands, flew (seemingly in slow motion) and hit her straight-on mere centimeters under her left eye. She dropped, holding her eye, screaming bloody murder, and for a second I thought I'd poked her eye out....turns out, it barely missed, she had an ugly cut on her upper cheek, but I was still utterly devastated for weeks afterward, realizing that I almost HAD poked her eye out and could have disfigured this beautiful little girl for life. But even with that relatively minor (when compared to this terrible story) but still cringe-worthy memory of pain I caused a sibling, I can't imagine what this poor girl's brother must be feeling right now. My heart goes out to him and the whole family.

 

This kind of hits pretty near to me, because when I was in first grade, I nearly was killed by a truck when I shot out into the street without looking. On Mother's Day, no less. Spent three weeks in the hospital and another four weeks bedridden.

 

Ouch, AA.

I can't imagine how awful Chapman must feel.

 

Heard this morning and it made me sick to my stomach. Could happen to anyone......

 

One of the local Christian radio stations in Louisville (WJIE) has been playing a lot of his songs all day today.

And my boss, who has adopted a girl from China and is starting the process for his second adoption, didn't take the news well last night when I told him about it after reading it on here.

 

Don't know anything about his music, since I'm not a country fan, but I feel terribly for him.

One of my biggest fears is hitting one of my kids when I'm backing out. I always tell them to get in the back yard, where I can see them. However, I have a couple of neighbor kids who tend to not look at where they are walking.

 

He's not a country musician; he's a contemporary Christian artist.

 

It's contemporary Christian music, not country.