Family and friends assault homeless man based on child's lies

*Graphic content at video*



So this ten year old was late getting home. He said that he had stopped by a gas station to pump gas for people in order to earn a little extra cash. While there he claimed that a homeless man assaulted him. While the homeless man and the boy apparently got into a verbal confrontation, the homeless man did not assault the boy.

The boy came home and told his mother, who promptly formed a little posse, loaded up a minivan and went to exact vengeance.

Joachim was carrying the Mace and sprayed it, but she missed, instead hitting a young man in the group, one of Gillard's sons, in the face, Brooks said.

Another woman, one who police are seeking help in identifying, swung a hammer, hitting the victim repeatedly. Other, younger attackers, stomped and kicked the man's head as he lay prone on the ground.

Finally, Gillard walked up to the man and beat him with the piece of the rocking chair, hitting him so hard in his head and face that the wood splintered in her hands, Brooks said.

Then, as quickly as they arrived, the group got back in the van and prepared to leave.

But before they did, Gillard hesitated. She pulled her son, the one at the center of the incident, toward the man, lying broken and bleeding on the pavement.

She wanted to him to see that they had stood up for him, Brooks said.

Freaking animals. I understand that I would be full of rage if I heard someone assaulted my child, but they took it WAY too far. I hope they all get attempted murder charges. You don't beat a man with a hammer while he's lying on the ground.

I'm interested to see people's reactions to this. There is an awful lot of talk on ATS about doing this exact thing, not calling the cops and making things right the old fashioned way, especially when children are involved. To me, this highlights why police should be involved almost 100% of the time (if I catch someone in the act it's a bit different). People lie, words get twisted, and people that don't deserve it wind up in critical condition in medically induced comas with fractured skulls.

ETA: Tipsters can call 215-686-8477.

a reply to: Domo1

Besides the assault on this man. What saddens me the most is I was relatively sure of the ethnic background of the attackers before I even watched the video. (Sigh)

Your description was enough, so I did't watch the video. I am thoroughly disturbed that people have come to this point in our society. I cannot imagine we have long as a society with people acting so violently, unwilling to investigate even a little bit before they attempted murder in my book. They should all be brought up on attempted murder, murder if he dies/died.

a reply to: BlueJacket

Agreed.

One thing that irks me is that the kid (who clearly wasn't well parented to begin with) is now most likely not going to see his mom for a long time without visiting lockup.

And the cycle repeats.

If she really wanted to protect her kid, she wouldn't risk murder charges. She would have called the police and let them sort it out. I get that's not always popular, but if I had kids my thirst for vengeance would be stayed by my desire that my child not end up missing a parent for years.

Apples seldom fall far from the tree. The fact that the "family" would do this means that there is an underlying problem that the kid has been conditioned to. Thus the implication and escalation.

a reply to: Domo1

I have a child, and though protecting her evokes extremely powerful emotions, my need to BE THERE to protect her all along the way centers my protective instincts more in my head than the gut.

You are dead on right that poor kid, already missing out on far too much in the ways of parenting (by the looks of things), is now out even more, plus he has been fed another charming lesson on how to "act."

I mentioned this attack in another thread. The idea of entire family including teenage girls randomly assaulting this way is insane, deplorable ....choose your adjective for they are all deserved. Sad and telling of a new ethic of violence that seems to be catching on. I don't think this is something that has always been around but a new phenomena driven by social engineering.

a reply to: Domo1

Pharmakós

Or,

Scapegoating

Or

Mimetic Contagion

Or whatever you want to call it. This primal compulsion is part and parcel to the human condition and responsible for more human misery than any other inherent force within us. It is not just used to randomly beat strangers, it is used to motivate and justify any number of the darkest and most destructive behaviors that we engage in, from wars to out and out genocide.

Whether one man or many or an entire nation, it is all the same. It is an animal impulse at its core and I no longer believe that we can ever be rid of it, only mitigate it as best we can.

a reply to: Domo1

why thank you domo1-dono i'm experiancing the forum equivalent just now,
hope you don't mind my posting a link to your thread there,
maybe someone whose been here awhile can get through their veils of ignorance
I'll bow out if they bring their MOB MENTALITY here though, so as to allow them no excuse to derail

originally posted by: redhorse
a reply to: Domo1

Pharmakós

Or,

Scapegoating

Or

Mimetic Contagion

Or whatever you want to call it. This primal compulsion is part and parcel to the human condition and responsible for more human misery than any other inherent force within us. It is not just used to randomly beat strangers, it is used to motivate and justify any number of the darkest and most destructive behaviors that we engage in, from wars to out and out genocide.

Whether one man or many or an entire nation, it is all the same. It is an animal impulse at its core and I no longer believe that we can ever be rid of it, only mitigate it as best we can.

quoted for truth, though it seems to be way over the heads of those who only see it as an opportunity to refer to negroes as animals, [as if caucasians never ever mob people, but i digress]

the treatment, [there being no cure, as this is linked to empathy] is developing fully as an INDIVIDUAL.
the many headed monster COLLECTIVISM is all over the place from pre-kinder classes to discussion of spiritual topics
[we are all one crowd]

a reply to: Domo1

Animal mentality, if an entire family can be this violent, I can bet 10 to 1 a majority of them will be locked away by the time they're 30. Judging how violent and mean spirited teens are today, I'm not surprised were seeing more and more of this animal mentality.

a reply to: WeRpeons

I'm hoping they get locked up for this.

It's a good thing she missed with the pepper spray and got the other guy instead, and distracted them from the beating.

Well, even though the kid lied, I can understand the family's reaction. Just because people in the West are soft these days doesn't mean that protecting one's own is inherently wrong. I feel sorry for the old man, he didn't deserve what happened to him. But it looks like he chose the wrong kid to chastise, luck is fickle.

I've been meaning to do a thread on a subject of this type for a long time. In fact, if I was wealthy I would probably get a Phd and do a study on this type of behavior.

It seems many people of this pent up animal instinct and they are just waiting for any justification to spew hatred and violence.

Years ago it might have been socially acceptable to target blacks and gays. Doing this today will get you sued, so people have moved on to others.

It's still cool in some circles to target poor or unattractive people. (think about that ESPN newscaster).

But the most socially acceptable way is to attack people accused of crimes. Really once some is accused, they are now fair game for any physical or emotional attack.

Sociopaths know this loophole and often exploit it.

Thing just haven't been the same since Sesame Street dumbed itself down and kids no longer got to know the people in their neighborhood. If this had happened in our neck of the woods there would be Mothers administering butt-whoppings on their little rears for fibbing instead of just violently jumping on a homeless guy without further conferring with other eyewitness adults.

Sad times when the family unit becomes so far removed from the larger community.

a reply to: Domo1

what this realy highlights is the importance of teaching morals to our children, apart of those morals ought to include innocent until proven guilty, it is imoral to assume the guilt of another based solely on the word of one. NO ONE in that group had that morale,


i suspect your solution of leaving it to the justice system is unfortunately not any guarantee of such morale being enforced. even though it ought to be.