On April 22, 2015, two “girls” were fighting on top of Richard Fletcher’s car in Baltimore, Maryland.
So Fletcher, 61, made the mistake of going outside his home to ask the “girls” to stop.
For that, Fletcher was set upon by a mob of some 50 “teens” who brutally hit and kick the 61-year-old man until he fell to the ground. But the “teens” continued their assault, leaving Fletcher with broken eye sockets, a broken nose, broken ribs and a brain bleed.
“He wasn’t trying to intervene in their disagreement. He just wanted them to stop fighting and move away from his car,” said Cpl. Wachter of the Baltimore County Police Department. “He was brutally attacked.”
A cell phone video shows “teens” surrounding Fletcher, kicking and hitting him again and again until he drops to the ground.
Neighbors say the “teens” go to nearby Baltimore Community High School.
Georgia Bartrum of Harbor View Neighborhood Association said the attack is causing fear amongst homeowners: “The community in all, we’re really disgusted with the actions of the students. I had one lady who said she had found them in her vehicle and didn’t realize they were in there–her door was open–and approached them, and she said, ‘They could have done that to me.’”
Joe Lamb, who owns a business nearby, saw the attack. He said, “It has gotten out of hand now, gone too far. The kids walk on top of cars, kick dogs, let dogs out, throw trash, steal milk from school and throw it at houses, threaten neighbors with bodily harm.”
Fletcher is now out of the hospital, but will need additional surgeries.
Flyers are now being put up across the community to try and raise money for Fletcher’s medical expenses estimated to be $200,000 to $400,000. His medical insurance will not pay for all of the medical bills. “He’s got a lot of doctors visits,” said Bartrum. “So he’s going to have a long road to recovery.”
Multiple fundraisers are now being planned for Fletcher, and more than $7,000 has been raised through a “GoFundMe” page.
A 17-year-old “boy” named Antoine Lawson has been charged as an adult for attempted murder in his role in the beating, and a 15-year-old is charged with assault. Neighbors want more people in the video to face charges. Police say they are actively looking for more suspects and that they do expect more arrests.
Antoine Lawson
Both CBS Baltimore and Daily Mail, the sources for this post, scrupulously avoid identifying the race of either the victim or his attackers. But as you can see from the photos above, Fletcher is white and Antoine Lawson is black.
If Fletcher were black and his mob of attackers were white, you can be sure the media would have reported their racial identities and portray the brutal attack as a racial “hate crime.”
It really is high time for the media to stop using the quaint word “teens” to refer to black thugs.
See also “Media still hiding the truth about black racist thugs.”
Sources: CBS Baltimore; Daily Mail
~Éowyn