Life and Death
ray a
5,703 Posts
The headlines in today's paper were about a 23 year old guy who killed his 12 year old brother. Both parents are in jail and the boys lived with a grandmother. I think the older must have kicked his brother but is only admitting to pressing his foot hard against his abdomen during an argument when he had him pinned to the floor. The boy died of internal injuries. The grandmother is in the hospital having open heart surgery.
The older kid stayed with a friend after his brother died and told no one, another relative found the body and called the police. Towards the end of the article they told about the father and why he was in jail.
It struck me.... the father worked for me back in the early 80s when I was a mfg supervisor and I had him arrested for attacking me at work. He must have been smoking something and was high.... he swung at me and tried to kick me, but was too spacey. At the town hall a couple weeks later, I could hear him and his mother crying in another room saying he had a new job and that he'd be a good boy - they were begging for leniency. The assistant DA came out and told me the options. I chose the lesser of the two just to send him a message but not to destroy him. The DA winced and told me if I had chosen the other option the guy would have gone to jail for a minimum of 1 year with no chance of parole because he had a record as long as my arm. I made a mistake by being too easy.
Less than 1 year later this same guy shot a guy in the stomach over a parking place at a local fields days event. I felt horrible knowing if I put him away that guy would not have been shot. Then he reproduced and his oldest son ends up killing the younger.
Amazing how our lives can intertwine.
The older kid stayed with a friend after his brother died and told no one, another relative found the body and called the police. Towards the end of the article they told about the father and why he was in jail.
It struck me.... the father worked for me back in the early 80s when I was a mfg supervisor and I had him arrested for attacking me at work. He must have been smoking something and was high.... he swung at me and tried to kick me, but was too spacey. At the town hall a couple weeks later, I could hear him and his mother crying in another room saying he had a new job and that he'd be a good boy - they were begging for leniency. The assistant DA came out and told me the options. I chose the lesser of the two just to send him a message but not to destroy him. The DA winced and told me if I had chosen the other option the guy would have gone to jail for a minimum of 1 year with no chance of parole because he had a record as long as my arm. I made a mistake by being too easy.
Less than 1 year later this same guy shot a guy in the stomach over a parking place at a local fields days event. I felt horrible knowing if I put him away that guy would not have been shot. Then he reproduced and his oldest son ends up killing the younger.
Amazing how our lives can intertwine.
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