5 High Schoolers Charged in Beatings
The Toms River North seniors went "bum hunting," beating three homeless people, according to police.
Associated Press
TOMS RIVER, N.J. - Police in Dover Township charged five high school seniors with severely beating three homeless people, and authorities said the youths went "bum hunting" because they were bored.
The four 17-year-olds and one 18-year-old, all students at Toms River High School North, went searching for victims in the woods off Route 37 where up to 20 people are believed to be living in tents and other structures, Police Chief Michael Mastronardy said.
The teens were charged Tuesday night. The most recent incident occurred last Friday when a 50-year-old man who lives in the woods was attacked.
The man told police a group beat him with pipes and baseball bats as he slept. He was taken to Community Medical Center with five broken ribs, a punctured lung and a fractured arm, police said. He told authorities the group also threw hockey pucks at him, Detective Raymond Maloney said.
"Apparently they were actually searching people out who are residentially challenged, or homeless... merely because of their stature in life," Mastronardy told the Star-Ledger of Newark for yesterday's newspapers.
Mastronardy said the assaults in the Ocean County community were "just something to do" for the teens. He said area youths call such activities "bum hunting."
The first thing I would do is take these five young men and beat them with pipes and baseball bats. Then I would take the Police Chief and beat him with pipes and baseball bats for using the term "residentially challenged."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I agree that what these kids did was deplorable & it makes me cry. I am very sad to say the one of those kids was my nephew & I can't tell you what this has done to the family not just for what he did but for the poor people that he hurt. I watched the interview of the man from the last beating on the news before I knew of my nephews’ involvement & I was sick. I watched it again after knowing he was involved & I cried. We don't know why he did this. No one in this family would treat anyone that way let alone someone that is so down already. I do think that the punishment if they are found guilty & sentenced to the maximum time is much too harsh. Before you start getting angry & yelling at your computer screen at me. Let me get one thing clear. THEY NEED TO BE PUNISHED & something has to be done to stop this. I just feel that putting these kids into an adult prison at the age of 17 and keeping them there for 10yrs would not help anyone. The only thing we are going to get is career criminals’ back. Yes, I know that it seems we have that already but one thing people need to know. I don't know about the rest of the kids but my nephew has never done anything like this before. He has never had any run in with the police before. Does locking him up in an adult prison for 10 yrs (longer than most rapists & child molesters) going to rehabilitate him or make him worse? My personal opinion is that the kids (only if this is their first offence & have had no prior problems with the police) be put into the toughest & best boot camp type survivalist program. Then, if & when they pass that (program & the court's satisfaction) make them do community service helping these same people that they hurt. They should also have to pay restitution for any medical bills that were incurred because of their behavior. If they can't complete that & keep themselves out of trouble THEN go ahead with the jail time. To do this any other way when these kids get out & they will be before they are 27, we have career criminals that are worse than they ever were when they went in. Which would you rather have? I have tried to ask myself if I would feel the same way if one of these kids were not my family and I really believe the answer is yes. To throw these kids away now is only going to make things worse for everyone in the future.
I think your nephew and his friends are a bunch of lowlife scumbags who deserve to be put in prison. A nice hefty prison sentence will straighten these dirtbags out. Who cares that they will be raped and become some guy's bitch. They committed a crime they deserve to do the time. Its bad enough these people are homeless now they have these idiot kids beating on them for thrills. I hope they like getting pounded in the butt because inmates will be doing that for thrills. It will teach them a nice lesson. When they finally do get out of prison they will most likely become career criminals because employers don't like hiring trash. But this was how they chose to live so leaving them on the street isn't safe so prison is where they should stay. I say lock them up and let the other inmates punish them, that is what they deserve. But with the court system the way it is today they will either be shown leniency or made examples of. I prefer the latter.
Post a Comment