I graduated from high school in the early 1990s, so maybe things have changed since then. However, my high school coach at the time told us that if you were running a race, then you had the right of way if someone was on the track in your way. He told us to yell “track!” and if the person in the way didn’t move, we were to push that person out of the way and continue running because he didn’t want us to get hurt stopping abruptly. Granted, these instructions were for what to do when someone who was not paying attention walked into our running track path….
In this instance, the circumstances were far worse because the black guy was intentionally standing in the way and then behaved like a true piece of human excrement. The black kid should be sent to Juvenile Hall (if they still have those) for committing such an extreme act of violence when he was completely in the wrong from the beginning.
Just about everyone who posts here has probably run a 1600m run and you know how much effort you put into a race like that trying to do your best. Imagine having the thought in your head that a lowlife piece of garbage might run up and viciously attack you from behind - there’s no way you would be prepared for something like that to happen.
Please stop. I grew up in one of the most violent cities in America and went to college in a very rural city that was overwhelmingly Trump. Ive been on letsrun long enough to understand the typical distance runner jokes y’all play but I’m not that. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to different cultures as well, including the letsrun culture but I’m still from where I’m from and I can’t change that
“Overwhelmingly Trump”? You mean rural or a more conservative city / state? If so then statistically you would have been exposed to considerably less violent crime than non-Trump parts of America. Look at the top 10 most violent cities / neighbors in America and see how they voted. For the record, I’m not American and don’t live there, but have in the past in several different cities.
Less crimes towards each other does not mean less crime and discrimination towards a group of ppl they don’t like.
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.
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.
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.
Yeah if this is how he responds in this situation, he needs help from a team of qualified individuals. At the very least he needs some time away from society.
I’m not saying the kid who sucker punched the runner should be sentence to 30 years hard labor,
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.
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.
Yeah if this is how he responds in this situation, he needs help from a team of qualified individuals. At the very least he needs some time away from society.
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.
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.
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.
Baloney...His ancestors might have been slaves so he should be able to do whatever he wants...
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.
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.
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.