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."
My very fine post on this story.
http://patfish.blogspot.com/2007/09/true-crime-runaway-cops-with-tazers.html
Thanks for the reply. I couldn’t remember the details but I think you maybe correct in that it was Bell who had other scrapes with the law..... Going from memory isn’t always the best thing to do especially when my forgetter is always getting better.... lol.
Thanks.
My memory is not what it used to be, either. :-) Normally, I try to check further to make sure I’m correct, but for some reason either my computer or this website has slowed down. So I haven’t double-checked that info.
Thanks for the link.
He is still alive (for the moment)? We'll see about his next 15 minutes of fame...
The world knows that he is a violent punk and that every breath he takes is a total waste of good air. His mommy just thinks he has situations.
So essentially, the victim was white. Again, he attacks someone of another race and gets off much easier than if a white had attacked him.
The Jena 6 should have the books thrown at them.
Wow...surprise surprise...
There is a tremendous amount of irony in that the officer quoted is named John Singleton. John Singleton is the name of the movie director who made “Boyz in the Hood.” That movie didn’t really glorify gang violence but can be credited with furthering the popularity of the genre.
no weapon used and a relatively minor injury. misdemeanor sounds about right, but hopefully he’ll get the deserved amount of jail time.
Purvis is (was) a starting basketball player for Hebron. Mug shot shows him to be about 6 ft 4. There was a picture of the car with the two flats on Dallas TV news tonight, and folks, I could not recognize the make but it is a pretty upscale ride for sure. Also, not reported in this story, his mamma says that he was driving his uncle’s truck (Hatcher’s I suppose)earlier and some lowlife stole the tires off of it. Guess all this just put him over the edge.
Oh, come on, you heard the mother! He’s a nice boy. It’s just the situations, you know. Not ever his fault.
Every parent I have ever known who has a juvenile delinquent kid blames it on the circumstances or the people he hangs out with. Barf.
I can’t wait to see what Sharpton and Jesse will have to say in regards to this... IF they say anything at all, that is!
WHY is this punk in High School at the age of 19???
Here is the Code: If a BLACK commits a crime that the media reports is “non-racial”, that means the victim is WHITE. This is also CLASSIC Dallas Morning New reporting style.
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