HS sucker punched during race in Florida

Less crimes towards each other does not mean less crime and discrimination towards a group of ppl they don’t like.

Made front page of NY Post

The other piece that's not being discussed is that the runner was sucker punched. Such a tough guy to punch someone from behind. So many people think they are tough by hitting someone when they aren't expecting it.

Wondering if this coward would square up with him had the runner been turned around and ready to defend himself, or even worse, ready to drop the first hammer.

He is f…d He definitely should be arrested.

Zero tolerance to this c… sorry but what kind of teen does this in the middle of a race with hundreds of people watching. It might be premature but I can call this dude a thug and a future criminal.

No that would be far too soft. He should be sent to hard labor for life - no trial is even required as everything is caught on camera. His family should be put on trial and punished for producing such a menace to our society. I would say heavy fines or prison labor of 1 to 2 years for the parents. This kind of stuff is far too rampant in today's society and it underlies many of the much more serious crimes that arise. It has to be stamped out.

Idk of it's actually true that law enforcement determined that it was a "mutual combatant" situation. However, that's the law in many southern and western states, including Florida.

It's ultimately up to law enforcement, the DA, and courts, but basically, under mutual combatant laws, one can respond to even minor [intentional] physical contract with seemingly unreasonable force, and not be liable criminally. There have been situations where a guy ("initial aggressor") pushes an MMA fighter out of their way at a bar, and the MMA fighter turns around an bashes the initial aggressor's face in. The MMA fighter used completely unreasonable force compared to the initial aggressor, but was nevertheless not held criminally liable because he was not the initial physical aggressor, as it was a mutual combat situation. The southern/western mindset is the old school "never start something you can't finish."

Again, idk if that's actually been determined in this situation, but it's not out of the realm of possibility that that's the way this would play out under Florida criminal law if the miler really did cause the initial physical contact (even if the contact may have been reasonable under the circumstances and morally justified).

The sprinter could potentially still be civilly liable to the miler for the miler's injuries and pain/suffering, but wtf if the miler going to realistically recover from that kid?

The sprinter is also not immune from punishment by his school district or the athletic association. Hopefully he's mandated into anger management/counseling/whatever he needs to develop skills to reasonably function in society.

A similar situation played out in Texas where a high school football player with a history of previous anger management issues ended up body slamming a ref at a high school football game (wasn't mutual combat and the kid got arrested for attacking an innocent defenseless person). The kid had a potentially promising colligate athletic future prior to the body slam. However, little was done initially to address the player's history of anger issues, and body slamming the ref resulted in the kid losing most his best opportunities to play at the next level and broaden his future earning potential.

The puncher was the initial and only aggressor, and the only combatant, so the mutual combatants idea is way off the mark.

The attacker jumped in front of, blocked and impeded the runner on the track while the runner was in a race on the track, intensified that same action the following lap, then sprinted up behind the runner and attacked him from behind.

At no point in that sequence was the runner ever an aggressor but simply trying to defend himself from the attacker while competing in a race, which the attacker was not part of.

What does this have to do with basketball?

I don’t see how you can be a “mutual combatant” if you have your back to them and have run 50 meters away already. I just don’t see how that holds up at all.

You're such a loser.

It's the typical racist anonymous LR poster conflating a sport with a race they are afraid of and would never say to their face. Same thing happens in towns where basketball hoops are removed from parks because they attract young people who yell and swear and look scary.

anybody doxxed the puncher?

The puncher is a COWARD. If you feel disrespected and want to show how tough you are, fight the kid face to face. Instead, this wimp decides to sucker punch him in the back of the head. That's the most coward-like thing you can do.

He should be ARRESTED and locked away for a long time.

For the record, he punches like a girl.

Early/Mid-80s HS, our cross country practices were on the track surrounding the football practice field. The football players frequently stood in the first or second lane behind their bench area while we ran 400 and 800 repeats - usually they responded to our "track" calls but sometimes they didn't. My senior year a D lineman ignored repeated "track" calls over several laps, so on the next lap I called "track" and then plowed into him from behind, knocking him to the ground. At that time, I was 5'7" and 135 and he was probably 6'2" 200+, but a skinny dude with 400M last 50m sprint speed carries a fair amount of momentum and he was looking the other way when I hit him. He got up and tried to run me down but the football coach was also the track coach and yelled at him that he was in the wrong and got what he deserved.