Spanaway boy dies trying to flee angry driver

M

Maphusio

Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
edit- next time include quotes.
10:47 PM PDT on Friday, July 15, 2005

Associated Press

SPANAWAY, Wash. - A driver angry that a 12-year-old Tacoma boy was shooting bottle rockets at cars early Friday got out of his vehicle and chased the boy into traffic, where he was struck and killed by another car, authorities said.

Witnesses tried unsuccessfully to revive the boy, Garnet Wilis II.

Two men were arrested shortly afterward for investigation of manslaughter, the Washington State Patrol said.

The episode happened around midnight near an intersection on Washington 7 in Spanaway, Wash.

Wilis and his 12-year-old cousin had been hiding in bushes and shooting bottle rockets into traffic, trooper Johnny R. Alexander said.

A green Toyota stopped, and its passenger, a 22-year-old Tacoma man, got out, chased one of the boys and started beating him, Alexander said.

The Toyota's driver, a 22-year-old Lakewood, Wash. man, made a U-turn and chased the second boy into a nearby parking lot, Alexander said. The man then got out of the car and continued chasing the boy, who ran onto the highway and was struck by a car driven by a 17-year-old Spanaway girl, the patrol said.

Investigators determined the girl who hit Garnet was not at fault. The other boy was treated for injuries and released to his parents.

Both of the 22-year-olds fled, but police found them 3 hours later at homes in Tacoma and Lakewood.

KING 5 News has learned that each of the men arrested has several criminal convictions. The driver was convicted of assault twice in 2003, second-degree robbery and assault in 2002 and third-degree theft in 2000.

The passenger was convicted of violating a no contact order this year and second-degree malicious mischief last year, plus fourth-degree assault domestic violence in 2003.

Both men face the possibility of manslaughter charges and will have their first court appearance on Monday.

The woman who was driving the car that hit Wilis does not face any criminal charges.

The other boy who was assaulted by one of the suspects suffered some swelling in his face and some bruising. He's now back home with this family.
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This is a pretty big story here in WA. People say the two 22 year olds are 100% NOT at fault over this... The way I see it is two adults made the wrong decision here. They made the decision to take the law into their own hands when they should have contacted police and if need be detain the two boys not beat the shit out of them.

The way the public is looking at this is the 12 year olds parents should be charged for their crimes and the 22 year olds should get off with a slap on the wrist. I seem to be in the minority out here that thinks the 22 year olds were just as much as at fault as the 12 year old boys if not more at fault.
 
Let's be honest, though, who hasn't wanted to do this to kids that shit with traffic?

That said, though, there is a reason people above the age of 18 are considered adults, which the suspects haven't quite lived up to.
 
Hate to be mean but-

The guys who chased the kids may be going away to a nice clean room with bars and regular showers with big guys named Bubba who want to treat them like rubber duckies.

These assholes have a history of violence- domestic assault? I guess there's one wife who won't have to worry about getting knocked around.

As for the two juveniles firing bottle rockets into traffic... and so the gene pool gets cleaned.
 
These assholes have a history of violence- domestic assault? I guess there's one wife who won't have to worry about getting knocked around.
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Unless they get a reduced sentance, of course.
 
nothing like a little media spot-light to enforce some guidelines.

Amazing that these assholes are walking around.

Sure, give these guys their criminal rights to due process of law. But if they get convicted lock them away.

Three time loser statutes are wonderful things.
 
May this be a warning to all kids shooting stuff at traffic:

One of the drivers may actually get out of his or her vehicle and you may be forced to run into the middle of a god damn highway and be mowed down by the vehicle of irony.
 
Jeez.

Beating 12 year olds? Lame. Bullyish. Morons. Hunky, violent morons that I see every day, and have to bear their arrogant, imbecile behaviour now and then. I want to buy a gun.
 
First you need to be beat up badly by said imbeciles, so you have a good reason to ask our dear pigsies to issue you a gun license...

Besides, pen with booze is mightier, Wooz.
 
Mikael Grizzly said:
First you need to be beat up badly by said imbeciles, so you have a good reason to ask our dear pigsies to issue you a gun license...

Besides, pen with booze is mightier, Wooz.
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What the izzle?
 
Just the labyrinth of Polish law and 'helpfulness' of our belowed Policja.

Shit on a shingle anyone?
 
I have been found guilty myself of building a mayor catapult so i could toss eggs at passer by cars(i never actually did throw any eggs as the range was to small and we did not have the money to buy so many eggs) so i can understand the kids in this situation. Kids will be kids, and i think that chasing them into traffic is not the best way of handeling the situation.

A little round with the belt and some other kind of punishment would probably be enough, and a funny story to tell later. Like how my commanding officer once threw a block of concrete into a trailer in his youth.
 
I think killing the one as a warning to the rest was a good way to handle the situation. Maybe deport their families too.
 
Yeah the drivers were yobs, but that doesn't justify firing things at cars. Both parties should be punished respectively.

The worse thing is whilst there are around 40 organizations in the UK the help criminals, there are only two who help victims of crime. You probably didn't hear but it was big in the british press that a farmer who shot one of two thieves was convicted of manslaughter and jailed for longer that the living thief. In a similar way my dad has to put up signs that say "Danger, razorwire" and "SmokeCloak alarm system" (pumps the room full of dry ice so you can't see at all) in case people who try to rob him get hurt and try to sue, pretending they were only looking for a bathroom. The justice system is terribly unfair over here, like i'm sure it is mostly everywhere else.

Is this how it works in your country?
 
What can I say; the guy beating the 12 year old was an idiot, and so were the kids. You should have the right to chase down twirps messing with traffic like that and give them a good verbal lesson, as well as report them to their parents and all that, but you shouldn't fucking beat them. The kiddo who ran into traffic and went all *splat* had it coming though.
 
Hell it seemed to all work out in the end.

Dumb fuck malicious kids get beatup/terminated. Violent criminal repays a debt to society/gets put back in so he doesn't potentially harm someone innocent. Parents of dumbfuck kids get a wakeup call and maybe will educate/discipline their kids so that such occurences will not happen again.
 
It's a win/win situation. The 12 year old fuckass who was stirring shit up (and asking for it) is dead and a couple of violent people with a history of violence get put away for good.

Just a couple of weeks ago some truck driver got killed because some stupid fucking kids shot bottle rockets at him and hit him in the face.
 
Yeah, people seem to forget that a bottle rocket is still a freaking ROCKET, whatever powers it, it's certainly not something to casually fire off at passing cars anymore than a bazooka is. If the kids caused an accident, far more people could've died. Frankly I consider shooting rockets at someone "assault with a deadly weapon", and the fact that they probably built or bought the rockets for that purpose would make it premeditated, and, while the guy driving the car overreacted, I think he *should* get a suspended sentence or some such 'cause in the end SOMEONE SHOT A FUCKING ROCKET AT HIM. Call it involuntary manslaughter in self defense or something, give him a suspended sentence and if he so much as lifts a pack of gum from the 7-11 he's going to the can, which would be a good thing since it sounds like he needs some incentive to straighten up.
 
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