Posted on 12/22/2009 4:57:41 PM PST by SkyPilot
ENGLEWOOD, N.J. (CBS) ― Click to enlarge1 of 1 David Muneton, an eighth grade honor student, needed reconstructive facial surgery after being savagely beaten by a gang of 11 students on Dec. 18, 2009, in Engelwood, N.J.
David Muneton, an eighth grade honor student, needed reconstructive facial surgery after being savagely beaten by a gang of 11 students on Dec. 18, 2009, in Engelwood, N.J.
Police said as many as 11 students beat up the eighth-grader leaving him severely injured, and he may even lose his sight.
CBS 2 HD spoke with some of his friends about what led to the brutal attack.
The incident near a school soccer field was so violent that 13-year-old David Muneton needed reconstructive surgery to his face to correct several broken bones.
His friends at the Janis Dismus Middle School in Englewood are stunned.
"It's so hard. … I'm his best friend," Denise Melendez said before breaking down in tears.
Police have arrested seven students from both the middle school and high school, charging them with aggravated assault. The youngest one is just 12 years old.
Investigators said the teenagers jumped Muneton on Friday as he walked home from school to get back at him for an earlier incident during which the eighth-grader accidentally hit a girl with a basketball.
The superintendent said the girl, who has also been charged, led the boys to Muneton, saying "He's the one."
"We do know that after the girl made the comment one of the people, the boys, who was with him immediately punched him," Superintendent Dr. Richard Segall said.
Students at the middle school have made a get well card for the 13-year-old -- all of them outraged over what happened.
"He really didn't deserve to get beat up like that because he really didn't do anything and it wasn't intentional that he hit her with a ball," student Michael Bailey said.
"If I was there Ii would have told someone," student Emanuel Doughtery added.
"I wrote I hope he gets better soon," said student Katherine Saldarriga.
Muneton is recovering at Englewood Hospital. His brother told CBS 2 HD his condition is improving. The assistant principal said the youngster is a model student.
"He is a wonderful young man, actually one of our students who made the honor roll this quarter," Daniella Bailey said.
As these kids try to make sense of what happened all seven students arrested have been suspended. This coming as police was looking to charge four more teenagers.
Three of the students charged remain at the juvenile detention center in Paramus, while the rest have been released to their parents -- two of them required to wear ankle bracelets.
I would be very surprised if this isn’t gang or race related. But then, I’m a bit cynical.
So how come this isn’t a “hate” crime?
My grandad experienced the same thing in NYC when he was growing up ... five kids constantly beat up on him ... this was in 1948 or so ... from his pictures he was just a little skinny kid .... so there’s no difference ....bet it goes way back in history ...
In this day and age, I’m afraid not. I’d be interested to know the race of the attackers, though.
There were high school students mixed in too, and who knows what affiliations actually are in this day and age. There may have been some gang cretans mixed in.
This girl should be real proud. I hope she gets a matching sentence with the worst of the lot.
This was attempted murder, premeditation or not.
I respectfully disagree. I grew up in the inner city and it happened all the time. I am now 67 and still have tension when I see a group of teenagers approach me.
I could take a guess, but then I’d be branded a racist.
If so, we seriously need some vigilante justice in our society. The balance is completely out-of-kilter. Hatred runs rampant with no fear of consequences.
It IS a hate crime....that white kids beat those other kids with his face....he must be prosecuted!
/sarc
If Convicted the 11 should be executed.
Don't expect the MSM to report that. The article is so squishy, it says the school regrets something "happened" to the kid who was maimed.
"Happened" - like he slipped and fell in the bathroom.
Sigh.
Well, I expect Erich Holder to prosecute the white victim for accidentally hitting the black girl with a basketball.
Not the first time we have seen this kind of crime in school or school buses.
Maybe there is more. But it sounds as if the girl probably was very good looking, and probably got the boys together and lied about what happened to her earlier, and persuaded them to “get” him. Then they got carried away.
That is, if it’s not some sort of racial incident.
“I am now 67 and still have tension when I see a group of teenagers approach me.”
Hopefully you live in a state where when approached, you have a loaded piece in your holster as well.
Careful. You may be charged with a hate crime for asking.
I would like to see the race of the attackers.
Raised as trash, no one should be surprised when they act like trash.
Amish kids?
My guess: Nerdy kid who was a bit of an outcast let a basketball get away from him in gym class. It hit a girl with some friends in a rough crowd who didn’t like him anyway. His apology wasn’t contrite enough, so she went to her friends (mortified at what the “creepy” did) and they said they’d take care of it if she would go with them to point him out.
Oh I don’t know.. the society at schools very much resembles the way prison society functions. When you have nor freedom of association due to incarceration (also known as compulsory attendance), whether in school or prison, the good are not able to escape from the bad. This sort of thing happens frequently in schools, particularly government schools.
Hey! The school took harsh and swift action!
It "suspended" 4 of them!
Expect possible detention for the rest, and maybe also the dreaded writing on the blackboard 50 times:
"I WILL NOT MAIM AND BLIND THE WHITE HONOR STUDENT"
We see a picture of the vic, but none of his attackers;
why do you suppose that is...?
Kids looking for a fight will use ANYTHING as an excuse.
You don’t have to have done anything. I know, this threat happened to me sometimes when I was in Jr Hight in the sixties. I would leave the last class early, never did get jumped. And I’m a girl. But I did know someone who was beat up alot in high school. Just for being white.
You don’t even have to lay one finger on them for ‘them’ to get “wee-wee-ed up”.
I live in New Jersey. Englewood is a dump.
This a situation where the men in community need to step forward and take control of the neighborhood. If there are bad families, give them 24 hours to leave, after the guilty are indicted.
Boys need men to properly grow and become men themselves.
Can’t help but wonder what is NOT being reported.....
The media have released the victims name and photo - so anyone with access to the Internet can find his home address, father's occupation, and a Google Map satellite shot of his house.
The perps, however, will have their identity "protected."
Enabling jobs for future generations of prison guards....union members!
Here is a link to Englewood New Jersey Demographic breakdown
http://www.cityofenglewood.org/demographics.html
Guess it could be any group but I have my suspicions...
Exactly, the atmosphere is more prison than school, this kid just was singled out for a lesson in how power works in a prison environment.
I bet that these punks texted each other bragging about what they had done to Mr. Honor student.
Yeah, we're all destined for the re-education camps.
He sure looks angry for some SOB who has risen to top dog.
Po oppressed Obama
Thanks. I just read the comments. Evidently the victim is Hispanic and the perps were all blacks.
There are some pretty vicious comments there. If it were FR, the Moderators already would have removed some of them. I think one comment is especially telling—that Obama will be defeated in 2012, that blacks will riot, and that the rest of the country will be fed up and ready for them.
I don’t know about that, but I do know that the racial polarization in this country is getting a lot worse with that racist Obama in the White House and Eric Holder at Justice.
We just can’t figure out why kids bring guns to school. I’m sure all of the perps agreed to the school’s ‘code of ethics’ or they wouldn’t be allowed to attend....
Sorry but this is a new era and such rare acts of violence are no longer rare.....kids being brought up on violent video games with no parental discipline and schools now required to turn a blind eye to the obvious and the illiterate......
Welcome to the beginning of the Fourth Turning........Its going to get worse in this country, much, much worse........
That was my first thought, too.
I agree with that assessment. The racial divide appears to be worsening.
Flipping animals. Take them all out of society now and for a very very long time.
Two of the most dangerous places in America ; government
schools and federal prisons.
Soon it will be the federal hospitols.
CW2 Ping
sorry but there's a real big difference. Back in your grandfather's and my day, retribution and retaliation was up to the individual, today the retaliator gets the sentence........kinda like hockey. /sarc
Basic ass kickings in your grandfather's day solved a lot of potential future problems.......
Those comments were amazing.
And I wouldn’t automatically assume that David Muneton is “hispanic” any more than I’m “Irish.”
He was just a lone white kid, to the gang of barbarians that nearly killed him.
If there were real men in the community of Englewood, this crime would not have happened.
yes, they are...
I googled around a bit and he seems to have a cousin with a Hispanic name. The article itself seemed to be missing, however. I think he’s at least part Hispanic, maybe.
But obviously the significant thing to the perps is that he’s not black and they think it’s time to assert a little black power.
Hispanic, Chinese, Korean, white, it’s all the same. Korean shop keepers were on the receiving end of some of the black riots in the inner cities last time that happened.
they can do anything they want since control of america is in the hands of, well you know.
But in his case it was simple bullying by five kids - he told me stories about it ... he got beat up quite often simply because he was a little skinny kid ...
For all the folks who have kids out there, teach your kids if they get into something like this gang assault, protect the face and head as much as possible. It is common for the thugs to circle around and kick dozens of times or take running leaps to land straight down with both feet on the victim.
This poor kid probably did not initially receive those injuries from the typical cowardly sucker punch that almost always precludes the “beatdown”.
A common tactic for these thugs is to decide one will verbally intimidate the victim to draw his attention then a second or third will hit the victim from the rear or flank with a haymaker, with full body motion and many times with the crook of the arm or forearm making the initial contact. This almost always knocks the unsuspecting victim down. Then like a pack of hyenas they descend on the victim.
The best defense against this is not to be caught in it. You can’t fight ten people in hand to hand.
Teach your kids not to ignore that little voice telling them a group is going to be trouble. We as humans subconsciously pick up on little cues that our adversaries give us but somehow we don’t compute it properly or ignore it because of societal programming. If a group of assailants is gathering to do something to you, a sure fire way to determine their intent is to do an immediate about face. If they really want you, they will come.
Folks have seriously about had enough.
The first names of the attackers might reveal a lot!
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