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Beating of innocent teen a cowardly act
Beating of innocent teen a cowardly act. - The Markham Economist & Sun - August 31, 1999
by Rick Evans, Stouffville
Recently, the evening television news aired a follow-up to the Jonathan Wamback story, a 15-year-old Newmarket boy who was
beaten up by a gang of teens.
As many viewed the broadcast we were angered as we thought of the senseless act of violence. It seemed it was only minutes
after the news story was completed that my telephone rang. The caller informed me that a friend's son had just been beaten up
at a Stouffville donut shop.
I'd seen my friend's son there that night. Let's call him Bob. He was sitting with four young ladies from his church youth
group. They had just come from a youth night at our church and had gone there for a pop. Just like they often do after the
group meets. My daughters would be part of this same event on many nights.
This night became ugly as five young guys walked in. It became apparent that they'd been drinking. One walked up to their
table. Let's call him the lead coward. His intentions were simple, to pick up one of the girls and take her to a party in
Uxbridge.
She declined,and as he persisted, Bob told him she's not interested. The guy left with his friends. At least that's what they
thought.
Bob and the girls got up to leave about 10 minutes later and as they walked outside the five guys were waiting.They had
daddy's Caddy backed into a parking spot to make a quick exit. They had drank enough courage to proceed to lay a beating on
Bob.
The lead coward, despite requests from Bob not to do this, threw the first punch. The next punch came from the second guy in
the crowd.Let's call him the coward follower. They took turns punching Bob in the face. The other cowards jumped in their car
and got it started, doors open, waiting.
Bob chose not to fight back. He told us later that he just wanted to get the girls home and that if had fought back it could
have escalated to something worse.
How many blows to the head does it take to put someone into a coma? Bob took three or four from these two guys, along with
being kicked in the chest. It's likely these guys will get away with this act. Their parents probably wouldn't think that
their boys would do such a thing. How many more people have to be beat up before we wake up? Next time it might be a knife.
Parent: You have a responsibility here. I believe the only way kids become responsible is to face the consequences of their
actions. Otherwise we end up with adults who are still children.
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