"Dave don't play ball no more, he working for me".
Posted on 03/15/2002 3:23:45 PM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
DUNDALK, Md. (AP) - High school football star Derrick Breedlove had enough charisma and talent to earn a full college scholarship and the respect of many in his working-class community. Then came Wednesday, when he was shot dead trying to hold up a liquor store with a pellet gun.
The 17-year-old with the "college-bound grades" was the ringleader of a robbery gang, police said. They had held up the same store three times since Feb. 5 and may have been responsible for a fourth robbery nearby, according to investigators.
On Thursday night, teen-agers clutching candles and flowers gathered to remember the Derrick Breedlove they knew: the high school senior who shouldered their hopes and dreams of a better life outside working-class Dundalk and the rural community of Turners Station. "If I had known, I would have stopped him," said a friend, Dominic Carmon, 18, between sobs. "He was like my brother."
Kim Stephanic, principal at Dundalk High School outside Baltimore, said the 6-foot, 2-inch, 251-pound Breedlove had a promising future. His coach recalled his raw talent. "He was one of the best football players I ever coached - his quickness, his strength, his desire," said Eric Webber, who helped him win the scholarship to Hampton University in Hampton, Va. "He was a college-bound kid with college-bound grades." Stepfather Derrick Shelton said Breedlove had fallen in with the wrong crowd. He moved out of the house rather than face punishment after he was caught with marijuana. He found an apartment but had quit his restaurant job.
"I broke down crying," Shelton said after Breedlove's death. "I couldn't believe he could do something like that. I sat down with him one day and said, 'Think before you doing something. There are consequences for everything you do.'"
Shelton, also raising two other children, ages 4 and 7, said Breedlove's mother left the family long ago. Shelton believes his stepson was lured into the robbery scheme by friends. Breedlove entered Modern Discount Liquor store Wednesday with a pellet gun demanding cash, investigators said. Clerk Richard Kosinski shot Breedlove. Breedlove never fired his pellet gun, police Cpl. Vickie Warehime said. Kosinski has not been charged.
Ryan Raivel, 17, a senior whose car was seen leaving the store's parking lot, was charged with armed robbery and conspiracy. Ryan Crowe, 17, a dropout, was charged with armed robbery. At the candlelight service in an empty lot across from the liquor store, many of the 200 friends and acquaintances wore hand-drawn T-shirts with Breedlove's nickname, "Dee-Bo."
"We want to remember him for his life, not his mistakes," 18-year-old James Pilkerton said. Not all in the community were sympathetic. "I'm mad," said Lori Thomas, 36, the mother of three. "You get what you deserve. Rob a store three times and I'll be there to shoot your butt."
"Dave don't play ball no more, he working for me".
The brain-dead get into college, too. They don’t let not having a functioning one stop anyone.
What was untrue about what he wrote?
I suppose that when it comes to football armed robbery or any crime, for that matter can be overlooked. A few years ago a high school in Pasco County, Florida that was in the District Championship playoff. Dade City was the name of the school. A small problem arose. To wit: Their quarterback was arrested for robbery a few days before the game and sat in the Pasco County Jail. The problem was solved by members of the community getting the Judge to set a bond for him so they could get him out to play the game.
My sympathy and empathy is confined to the innocent victims of the criminal. Individuals who want nothing more than to live and let live. Individuals whose desire is to support their families. Individuals that are killed and leave orphans, widows,and widowers behind only because they encountered a criminal who took their lives for a little ill gotten gain. People who are confined to beds or wheelchairs because they encountered a criminal who was willing to do whatever it took to take property that was not theirs. People who cannot cope with the outside world because they have been so traumatized by a attack by a criminal.
Amen.
Back when he was alive, he probably did too.
Mostly two characters, one of whom still posts here. From the Jack Kemp school of “I’m not a racist like the rest of you conservatives”. I’m still amazed at how Kemp preened when Al Gore praised him that way.
Even George Will knew that Kemp was full of it: “Kemp avoids divisive issues because he is a 61-year-old puppy, eager to please and to be praised by people who have no intention of voting for the Dole-Kemp ticket.”
Yes he does. They fix him up as a weight for the goalposts for a while (with lime).
17 year old thread
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.