Black Mountain man charged with assault on girl at Asheville Mall (NC)
So the white lady and girl with the beanie on are his family? Seems that he was protecting them.
To me, it really comes down to who attacked first. The age/size difference is irrelevant if it’s self defense.
Bell and his family could have walked away. Instead, he could have killed that kid when there was no lethal threat to his family. Self defense is not a excuse to go Rambo on people. It is proportional to the threat. Bell escalated this from the moment he got involved and is lucky he isn’t being charged with felonies.
What happened before the video started? Was he trying to break up a fight or get his family through the mini-mob to his vehicle? Or both? The girls were in swarm-mode from what I can tell. If he had been a meeker man, I strongly suspect they would’ve tried to knock him down. The one he pushed seemed intent on doing so.
Was he supposed to wait until one of them stabbed him with a knife or bite him until he reacted? Why did the assault victim decline medical attention? Was she afraid a doctor would find her under the influence of a drug?
This girl is 11-12 years old. The man is 6'5" and 250 lbs. That punch in the face could've killed her.
Remember this recent story of another music teacher who punched a 14-year-old boy in the classroom: Maywood Music Teacher Punches Student That boy wasn't punched as hard, and many people sided with the teacher, but the teacher was arrested and charged.
Liberal site editorialized a bit don’t they
She had it coming. Maybe we will finally see an end to the Knockout Game attacks on whites
8-10 people surrounding a man, his wife and little girls. The mob is yelling at them, moving in and out towards them in a threatening way, blocking their escape root. One of the girls gets in his face and he pushes her. She run toward him with clenched fist. He hits first. I suppose considering the size difference he could have let her swing first, but honestly with the stories you read today about flash mob assaults I’m not sure I would have reacted too much differently. He had two very young girls with him who could have been in danger. Tough call, but if the gang doesn’t initiate the contact Mr. Bell and his family probably just walk to their car and go home.
From what I understand he was stopping an altercation between two groups. That was a mistake. Remaining at the location after the focus turned to him was another mistake. Punching her with that amount of force was a really bad mistake. Bottom line: if you see an altercation taking place between kids and you don’t see weapons, keep on walking. At most, observe and record from a distance.
UPDATE
Lawyer says defendant has PTSD, felt threatened: