Posted on 02/07/2008 12:00:03 PM PST by neverdem
A defendant in the Louisiana "Jena Six" case was arrested after allegedly slamming a student's head into a bench at his new school in Texas, police said.
The defendant, Bryant R. Purvis, 19, was arrested on a charge of assault causing bodily injury Wednesday after an altercation at Hebron High School. It began because Purvis believed a student had flattened his tires, Sgt. John Singleton said.
Purvis was released from jail Thursday morning.
According to a police report, the student felt Purvis come behind him and "grab his neck with one hand and begin to choke him." Purvis then said, "Don't you ever mess with my car again" and slammed the student's head into the bench of a table and walked away, the report said. The student's left eye was injured, but Singleton didn't know whether he needed medical attention after seeing the school nurse.
School district declined to comment on details of the incident.
Purvis was one of six black Jena High School students initially charged with attempted murder after a 2006 assault on a white student. Charges were reduced, but the original counts caused complaints of harsh, racially motivated prosecution that led to 20,000 people marching in Jena.
Purvis faces aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit battery charges in the Jena case and is set for trial in March. If convicted of both charges, he faces up to 22 1/2 years in prison.
The Texas case had nothing to do with race, Singleton said.
"We don't believe there's any racial motivation behind it," he said. "It was basically a misdemeanor assault that occurred during an altercation."
Purvis couldn't be reached for comment Thursday because there's no listed number for the uncle he lives with in Texas, Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Jason Hatcher. No one answered the door at the home Thursday afternoon. Soon after Purvis' arrest in Louisiana, his mother sent him to live with Hatcher to keep him out of trouble and out of the spotlight.
Purvis' mother, Tina Jones, told the Alexandria Daily Town Talk newspaper that she wished her son could avoid such situations.
"I understand he gets frustrated," she said. "But he needed to walk away from this situation, being that he's already in a situation. It's very frustrating and upsetting to have to go through so much."
Haven’t heard from these guys since they appeared on the BET Gangsta Music Awards. Have they gone to jail yet? Where’s Jesse and Al Sharptongue?
Freak’in kid needs to be in jail with his buds where he can see intolerance at its best. Yo homies will TELL you what to do and you will like it or else.
“It’s very frustrating and upsetting to have to go through so much.”
It’s all about meeeee, never mind who else got hurt...
Clearly this individual is a violent thug who needs to do some time.
Rev. Al will be so proud.
"come from behind him"??????.....what language is this?
seriously....anybody surprised?.....and I suppose this isn't a hate crime because both guys were black so "hate" doesn't figure in it....
sorry for this mother...she did the right thing by sending her son away but unfortunately, he's still a punk.....
So many things wrong with this story and this guy.
19 and still in High School.
Has not learned a thing from his experience.
Slamming someone’s head on a bench and injuring their eye is just a misdemeanor assault?
Highschool......19 years old?
Nothing to see here. Move along now.
He’s supposedly living with his uncle Jason Hatcher. I don’t know what the attendance boundary lines are for Hebron.
Thanks for the info.
I’m not sure but I think this is the one that has had several scrapes with law, convicted one time as an adult with the conviction reversed. One of them and it maybe this one spent a good bit of time in jail because he couldn’t make bond if I remember correctly. He’s most likely going to get some jail time if convicted in his upcoming trial in LA in Mar.
Uh-huh. Yeah, that worked well. /s
Hey, what do John Mellencamp and friends have to say about this?
I don’t remember reading much about Purvis, but Bell had other scrapes with the law. (They all probably did.)
These punks need a good ass whipping and time in prison. It isn’t about race. It’s about being held accountable for the CRIME you commit.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, does this indicate a tendency towards violent assault?
So - in other words, these thugs were exactly the criminal monsters that most of us already knew they were (but Jessie jackass and his friends defended).
There is a place for animals - it has bars and three square meals a day....
“Jena 6 defendant facing assault charge (new incident in Texas)”
Looks like the tail-end of Numbers 32:23 applies:
“...surely your sins shall find ye out.”
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