posted on April 8, 2003 06:25:36 PM new
Associate Press - April 8, 2003
HARTFORD, Conn. — Three teenagers beat and kicked a mentally retarded man to death in the lobby of his apartment building, authorities said.
Ricky Whistnant, 39, died at the scene Saturday. He fell and hit his head on a radiator after the teens pelted him with bottles of soda he had just bought, authorities who viewed a security video of the attack said. Even after Whistnant collapsed, police said, the boys continued kicking and pouring soda on him.
The three fled after tenants called 911 but were arrested several hours later.
"I'm so upset. I'm in such grief. I adored him," Jean Bowen, executive director of the Western Connecticut Association for Human Rights, said Monday.
The teens were charged with assault on a mentally retarded person but could face more serious charges depending on the outcome of an autopsy.
Two of the boys, Jermaine Lee and Joseph Bonner, both 14, will be tried as adults as allowed by state law for youths 14 or older accused of serious crimes. The 13-year-old will be treated as a juvenile.
Whistnant's neighbors and workers in the apartment building said they don't know why Whistnant was attacked.
He was known as "Batman" because he occasionally stood outside wearing a homemade costume and told neighbors he was guarding against crime, building superintendent Oscar Negron said.
"Kids would tease him — it was mean, not fun — but he never provoked anyone, he never caused trouble," Negron said. "He was afraid of people. There wasn't any reason to do this to him."
Whistnant had moved recently to Hartford from an apartment in Manchester. Before that, he had lived in an institution for mentally retarded people.
Peg Dignoti of the Association of Retarded Citizens of Connecticut said Whistnant functioned well enough that he shouldn't have been in the institution, but he shouldn't have been a completely unsupervised, either.
Whistnant, who weighed 300 pounds, "was a great big guy with a great big heart," Dignoti said. "There was a goodheartedness about him, a kindness about him."
These "kids" should not be allowed to linger long in our society... this is an example of very poor parenting and they should be punished by watching their maggots die...
posted on April 8, 2003 07:59:59 PM newThese "kids" should not be allowed to linger long in our society... this is an example of very poor parenting and they should be punished by watching their maggots die...
Sorry to see your Anger Management course didn't help you Twelvepole.
posted on April 8, 2003 08:14:48 PM new
I agree that the need for the death penalty applies here.
These idiots choose their victims, as criminals will choose their victims for only one reason. That is, because they are certian the victim will not be able to defend themselves. They wouldn't have tried to rob a 25 year old weight lifter with a vee chest. They may try to rob a 75 year old man walking with a cane.
These punks would have gone one to another victim after this one if they weren't caught. The argument that he shouldn't have been left alone might carry some weight, but there are some many people in our world that are not completely capable taking care of themselves. Only the scum of the earth prey on them. These people could be children, the eldery, or the mentally impaired. Or in some cases, depending on the person choosing to cause harm, animals.
I agree this is also a perfect example of rotten parenting. These individuals were 14 years old. In 14 years, there are 5,110 days that the parents could have molded better citizens. What happened? What were they doing that was so important that they could not have spent more time with there kids showing them a better way to conduct themselves??
What caused them to think it was OK to do this? After they started, the man very likely show signs of discomfort or pain, they continued. Why would they continue? Do you think they have any human compassion? Do you think they have the ability to function in an organized society? I don't!!
Why should the taxpayers have to spend $35,000 a year for a prison cell?
I agree they shouldn't be allowed to linger in our society. We should ship them to Canada where they could live in the same neighborhood as you grandparents. Eh!
Additionally, kraft doesn't understand that in many states, the death penalty is the rule of the land. It was put in place by a vote of the people, or the state representitives. It not a matter of being angry. It's a matter of an eye for an eye. The scumbags are lucky they don't live in Texas, the state with the reputation of death penalty production line.
Anyway, for them going to prison at 14 won't be a picinic. All of the sudden, they will be victimized. They will wish they were DEAD. When the prison cell door is slammed behind them, reality will set in. It will only take a matter of seconds.
posted on April 9, 2003 11:32:16 AM new
As if the maggot statement wasn't made out of anger Twelve. I've said the same things about child killers. I get so mad, I could kill them myself but I've come to understand that putting all the bad people in the world to death doesn't solve the problems either because 10 more will pop up to take their place.
It makes me wonder too, how the U.S. can come up with so many billions for the war yet won't spend any money on rehab for their own criminals. Priorities I guess.
posted on April 9, 2003 11:45:03 AM new
no, sending kids to prison makes them life long crimminals in most cases... better to end their pathetic lives than to see that happen.
posted on April 9, 2003 12:22:59 PM new
Exactly Twelvepole! Sending kids to prison doesn't work because there's little, if any, rehabilitation involved. Maybe the parents should go to jail for producing bad kids. Maybe the government could come up with some type of implant that would tell an expectant mother whether her child would end up being bad or good so she could get rid of it before it polluted the world. Think of the money saved!!
posted on April 9, 2003 01:29:56 PM new
I think there needs to be an evaluation of the kids before any decision is made. The act is heinous but at this age before you decide on death penalty I would like to know how they have reacted to it. For some it will cause repulsion, they may have gotten caught up in th moment and their friends and adrenelin - the whole mob mentality thing (which, noI am not saying is an excuse) but it is the effect of the act afterwods that I am interested. Is the reaction dispssionate? Is there regret? Are there only attempts at justification?
In otherwords, did it envoke revulsion in a weak but rehabilatable child or just awaken the bloodlust of mini pyshcopath. Until those determinations I withhold jusgement. But I feel pretty confident that the will be at least one child in each of those catagories, it's just a question of how many.
posted on April 9, 2003 02:23:41 PM new
Preemptive enforcement is in order here. Although it is too late for these particular offenders all attempts must be made to identify other potential offenders using genetic/cultural identifiers and the risks must be minimized immediately. Of specific interest should be any siblings or potential siblings.
posted on April 9, 2003 02:42:10 PM new
Neon, I see your points, but then again that is passing on teaching and "parenting" to society and letting the parents off the hook... we are devloving in the area of parenting and it is time to start taking tough measures.
Kraft you are a silly liitle woman aren't you... LOL
posted on April 9, 2003 04:33:52 PM new
Sorry Twelvepole. Maybe just moody lately.
It's difficult to try and understand what to do with children that commit crimes because they don't understand what consequences their actions can bring. An evil act doesn't necessarily mean that the person is evil. While I don't agree with the death penalty, I can understand it in regards to adults. If it ever starts applying to children though, I think that would be evil.
posted on April 9, 2003 04:49:26 PM new
::Neon, I see your points, but then again that is passing on teaching and "parenting" to society and letting the parents off the hook... we are devloving in the area of parenting and it is time to start taking tough measures. ::
I agree that parenting today is is not close to where it should be but I was not passing the buck regarding the parents, I was not addressing them at all. A sociopathic or psychopathic 13 year old child is beyond the reach of the parents. I would look into the state of mind of other kids in their household but punishing them accomplishes nothing. As long as there are no other kids they are not neccessarily going to become repeat offenders. If there are other kids there needs to be an evaluation of whether the childs action and state of mind are the result of nature or nurture. Is there a chemical imbalance that was never diagosed or was little Timmy beaten into a state of calous indifference?
Is your concept of punishing parents going after them for neglect of the child or as an accessory(sp?) to the crime?
While I would like to see an increase in parental involvement, I don't think it will happen successfully at gun point. An individual forced to parent under fear of legal action is not the parent that any child needs.
Quite frankly, I don't know what the answer to the parenting issues today are. There re a lot of issues and arguements to be made on both sides. The person that comes up with the final viablee solution is going to make a fortune on book sales though.
posted on April 9, 2003 04:59:47 PM new
::It's difficult to try and understand what to do with children that commit crimes because they don't understand what consequences their actions can bring.::
I unfortuntely do not think that's a statement that can safely be made anymore. Kids are growing up faster these day and intercity kids definately know what can happen, they don't care. One of the stations out here did a story last month on "Tennis Shoe Pimps", These are kids too young to own a car that are pimping young girls out on the street. They may have to take a bus to the boulevard but they are there and they are armed.
Kids today are much more aware of what the realities of life are. We tend to cry foul when they commit the most heinous of crimes because it is much more comfortable for us to believe that they simply did not understand the consequences of their actions than to accept that most of the time, they just don't care.
[ edited by neonmania on Apr 9, 2003 05:19 PM ]
posted on April 9, 2003 06:02:34 PM new
I don't agree neon. While a child may be a pimp at 13 and be good at it, doesn't mean he has full knowledge of what he's doing. If that was the case, we'd have no problem with hiring children as lawyers, judges, etc.
The boys in question were full of rage. A lot of kids seem full of rage. I think it's more important to try and find out where that rage stems from so we can help them and other kids that feel this way. What if an autopsy were performed on a child killer and it turned out that his brain was loaded with toxins from a nearby factory, etc. There might be a cause other than bad parenting, so putting these children to death would be barbaric if the causes were unknown.
posted on April 9, 2003 06:13:13 PM new
Kraft, at 14 kids know that beating someone to death is wrong... If these kids were so full of rage that you speak of, then don't you think any parent should of seen it... most times these kids go from small animals up the chain...
I can agree some child crimes are "rehab" cases, petty theft, joy riding, some vandalisim... but murder? No.... they deserve to die and I am a believer if by their dying it keeps one kid from doing this... it will be worth it.
Neon, there are no easy answers to parenting and that is part of today's problems... people want easy answers
posted on April 9, 2003 06:27:29 PM new
::The boys in question were full of rage. A lot of kids seem full of rage. I think it's more important to try and find out where that rage stems from so we can help them and other kids that feel this way.::
Kraft, that's why I stated that they should be an evaluation of each child but if we do this evaluation and find that what you have on your hands is a 13 year old sociopath/psychopath who has now awoken a bloodlust, lets not play games and pretend it's fixable.
posted on April 9, 2003 07:22:01 PM new
Also wanted to add that children today are treated with too much kid gloves,they should be taught respect and treated with respect but at the same time they are not adults and parents seem not to want to issue any boundries... and then follow through if the boundry they do issue is crossed.
posted on April 9, 2003 07:57:33 PM new
I agree with you neon. On the same hand, let's not pretend something isn't fixable simply because it costs too much to fix.
I'm wondering why you agree with rehab for adults and not children Twelvepole?
posted on April 9, 2003 08:03:51 PM new
kraft says,
What if an autopsy were performed on a child killer and it turned out that his brain was loaded with toxins from a nearby factory, etc.
Sorry, that argument doesn't hold any water. If these monsters, let's say, breathed the air for 14 years causing the toxic condition that you propose, then ALL kids in the neighborhood, past and present who have lived in that neighborhood for about 14 years would have the same condition.
I don't think that is the case here. The case IS that out of control teenagers made a choice to hurt someone. When I was 14 I knew better and my parents, even though being poor and uneducated made sure that I knew.
I DO NOT agree with the "O.K., we are going to take your bike away for a week approach."
Sorry, better think of something stronger than that.
