Posted on 02/20/2005 10:20:35 PM PST by deepFR
You're waiting for the justification.
You watch this videotape of the guy getting the snot beaten out of him in a pizza shop, and you're looking for some sign that maybe he deserved it, or at least did something -- anything -- that would suggest the beating made sense.
Strangely, you realize, you want there to be a reason the 6-foot-4, 320-pound man walked into the pizza shop at his girlfriend's behest and started wailing on a stranger.
That's a very strange thing, you realize -- to want a reason for this brutal act.
But the alternative is worse -- no reason at all.
And that's what it seems to come down to.
Last week, Mark Jones of Akron was found guilty of felonious assault and sentenced to four years in prison for pounding on Joseph Scarpino.
You know that meaningless cliche about ``senseless violence?'' This one sort of gives it meaning.
Look at the video. Scarpino was standing in line at DaVinci's Pizza in downtown Akron last July 31. It was 2:30 a.m. It was crowded. He was waiting for his order.
A woman, Prestina Sims, entered the shop and walked past the line to the counter.
Everyone understandsthat when there's a line, you take your turn. We don't like when this social contract gets broken.
Scarpino, who was on his cell phone with his fiancee, made some comment about this. Sims didn't like that, and unloaded verbally on Scarpino.
Despite her taunting, Scarpino held his tongue. A manager asked her to leave. She did -- and promptly returned with Jones.
She spit on the manager, then began screaming in Scarpino's face.
Most often in cases like this, there are two versions of the story and the truth lies somewhere in between. Not this time. Security camera footage eliminates that middle ground. It is not pretty.
Jones went straight for the face. His first punch appears to have nearly knocked out Scarpino. For the rest of the beating, Jones delivered half a dozen uppercuts to a doubled-over victim.
He broke Scarpino's nose, gave him a concussion, chipped a tooth and dropped him in a heap, where Jones tossed him around like a rag doll while looking for a dropped cell phone.
Scarpino's no small guy -- 6-foot-2, 220 pounds -- but Jones outweighed him by 100 pounds. Scarpino never got a punch in.
Maybe you'd feel better if there was justification. Sims' lawyer tried to create some. She said Scarpino, who is white, made a racial remark about Sims, who is black. But no witnesses -- and there were several -- confirmed this.
Jones tried, too. He said he believed Scarpino was going to hit the young lady. Yet Scarpino withstood Sims' verbal tirade without doing anything to escalate the confrontation.
Sims, in fact, made the first physical contact, repeatedly flicking Scarpino on the cheek before instructing Jones to ``take care of this white mother (expletive).''
So you're still waiting for the justification.
Because as ugly as all this is, there would be some degree of comfort in being able to say Scarpino deserved this.
But no matter how many times you replay the tape, it's just not there.
You've known the rules since you were old enough to understand. You get in line; you wait your turn. You get on the highway; you follow the rules. You sit in a movie theater; you keep quiet.
That's the social contract. You hardly notice when it's being followed, and you don't like when someone breaks it.
The beating of Joseph Scarpino is disturbing specifically because of the way it taunts that understanding. He got in line that night and followed the rules. Someone else broke them. And he got pummeled for it.
In civilized society, there are rules. One brutal violation proves their importance.
They were both charged. There's another thread about it somewhere.
Some speech for some groups is more free than for other groups....
I mean this is an attorney making the claim right? Does the use of the word nigger by a non black provide a legal invitation to physical violence? Is it some kind of beat down 'get out of jail free' card?
Yes, yes, and yes....
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1347261/posts
She is being brought up on charges March 16. I think she should receive the same sentence as the guy IMHO.
One more time for emphasis:
A bystander blowing the assailant's head off would have been much cheaper in the long run.
Much better newbie
And how would you defend yourself in court when they ask why you murdered someone that wasn't threatening you?
As if, he is working under the impression that the only times that this normally happens is when the white guy deserves it.
Is it some kind of beat down 'get out of jail free' card?
_____________________________________________
Maybe, as such inflamatory statement can be viewed as
"fighting words." Would a jury convict someone who committed a simple assault after being egged on by fighting words? Hard to say. Would you vote to convict as a jury member, if someone punched someone else in the nose that started verbally abusing and calling vile names toward the defendents 79 year old mother? I would need the full circumstances to know if I would.
But if anyone was uttering fighting words in that video it was the "woman." And clearly no provocation was a reasonable explannation for what is in that video.
And I agree with those asking if she was charged. She should have been charge with assault of one both the worker she spat on and the man in line. She also should have been charged with health code violations for spitting in a food service area like that. Attempted contamination of food might carry a serious charge or at least a hefty fine.
and more effective. When this guy gets out in four years, what are the odds against him comitting another violent crime?
This video is the perfect rebuttal for "why do you need a gun when you can just call 911" crowd.
Thats what it sounded like to me
No doubt Jones was an "honor student" as a child. His ho' can't utter anything beyond "mofo..".
What bothers me the most is seeing all the men standing there doing NOTHING! What has happened that good samaritans will not stand up and aid someone who obviously needed their help?
Are all the men in Akron like this, or was it just a coincidence that a bunch of losers happened to be gathered in the same place at the same time?
God help anyone who lives in Akron, OH
I don't think so. If I had seen the video of a man beating another man to a pulp, I'd wonder what went on.
All you need for defense is the video. An innocent man's life is in danger and I have a gun, knife, my hands anything, I'm going to do what I can to end whats goin on. And if I went to jail for it because of some idiot jury so be it at least there would be one less thug on the streets to randomly harm other people.
Well you are far better than the guys standing around in the video.
And how would you defend yourself in court when they ask why you murdered someone that wasn't threatening you?
Umm that's a dumb question. The guy just committed what could reasonably be described as felonious attempted murder. He was obviously an immediate threat to anyone in the store and the general public. Where do you think the police got the authority to prevent felonious attempted murder?
It's not a dumb question. I was just asking you how you defend yourself against murdering someone who was not armed and wasn't attacking you. I'm just trying to think it through that's all.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.