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July 29, 2004 This is a true story: A nineteen year old local college student has died. He was pronounced dead at two o’clock in the morning at a hospital near his home. The immediate cause of death was cardiac arrest but that is not what really killed him; that was just the body’s way of saying that it could no longer go on. This young man, whose name is Tristan, did not die of drugs, he was not killed as the result of a car accident, nor did he have a fatal illness. No. His death was the direct result of a vicious beating by another student while two others looked on laughing. A young man who beat him so badly, he caused a blood clot the size of a grapefruit in his brain. He beat Tristan for no reason, no reason at all. Tristan was sitting in his car in the campus parking lot. It was a warm beautiful day and he had the windows open. Three students approached and one of them began urinating on Tristan’s car. He turned to this person and voiced his objection to this disgusting act. (Who wouldn’t object?) But, unfortunately in this case, his objection would ultimately cost him his life. The man urinating on his car became irate that someone would dare turn to complain about his behavior. He asked Tristan what the hell he was looking at and, reaching into the car, pulled Tristan through the open window. Then, with vicious malice he beat and kicked him while his two friends watched. After he fell to the ground from this assault, the thug named Juvens continued to beat him in the head. It is said he beat him with pleasure. Why? Because he was caught committing an act of vandalism on Tristan’s property and got caught? Tristan was a slim built nineteen year old so he didn’t pose a threat to these degenerates. These men were three much larger males. They weren’t going up against Muhammad Ali in his prime, just a slender young man. The odds were in their favor; pretty lousy odds for their victim of course. He didn’t stand a chance. They knew it too. Bullies always know what the odds are because they never fight someone who can beat them. They won’t risk getting the crap beaten out of them, oh no, no way. Two hours after Juvens beat him, literally leaving him for dead, Tristan was found by other students who called an ambulance. He was taken to the hospital where he was able to tell police who his assailants were because he remembered them from some of his classes. He had never had any problems with them. In fact he had never even had a conversation with them. They were arrested. They also were let out on bail because some smart- mouth lawyer argued two of them had “only watched” and that it was Juvens’ “first time.” First time for what, first time that he beat someone unconscious? You should get out for that reason, because it is your “first time?” While Tristan lay in a hospital bed, so battered with injuries that it hurt to breathe, his assailant and his cohorts were back in school, and living their normal routine. While they were going out for lunch, Tristan was hooked up to an IV drip and sucking ice cubes because it hurt to eat. Eating was impossible. These scum were able to talk and laugh and drive their cars but Tristan couldn’t talk or laugh let alone drive. His lips were split open and, as for driving, one eye was a huge purple hematoma swollen shut, while the vision from the other was nothing more than a blurry slit. Think of Sylvester Stallone’s face at the end of the first “Rocky” movie and you’ll get an idea of how Tristan looked. I shudder to think how his family felt when they saw him. Tristan was released from the hospital when it was ascertained that he was out of immediate danger. Medical insurance being what it is, the doctors couldn’t keep him even though they were very concerned. They gave him a paper with care instructions and told him to come to the emergency room immediately if he exhibited any of the danger signs listed on the paper. He was scheduled to come in the next day for a follow-up check. His girlfriend and his father picked him up from the hospital, grateful that he was alive. At two o’clock in the morning, Tristan awoke with an enormous headache and said his face, which was more swollen than when he was admitted to the hospital, felt very hot. These were two of the warning signs on the paper. He was rushed to the emergency room where he was diagnosed with an enormous blood clot in his brain. This was probably brought on by powerful punches to his head from Juvens’ fists. While he was being prepped for an emergency operation his traumatized body gave up and he went into cardiac arrest. The medical staff tried to revive him several times but his body failed to respond. There was nothing more they could do. He was dead a few short weeks after turning twenty-one. His grieving father was inconsolable. Tristan was an only child and especially close to the father who had raised him alone. Tristan’s mother had died when he was twelve years old. He also left behind his girlfriend, the person he called his soul-mate and whom he had hoped to marry in a few years. Hopes and promises died with Tristan. The three thugs were again arrested on campus and the finger pointing began among them. Two of them stated that it was Juvens, the man who pulled Tristan through the car window who inflicted “most” of the beating and kicking. That they had only “watched, maybe punched and kicked a little.” That they mostly just “helped.” They somehow felt they shouldn’t be “blamed,” let alone go to prison. The person who pulled Tristan through the window had a box cutter on him when he was arrested. Police didn’t say it was a weapon because he hadn’t used it in the assault. His weapons were his fists. The officers in homicide stated they think he was looking for trouble, looking to start a fight with anyone he came across. Sadly Tristan was that someone. The men were not on drugs or under the influence of anything. When the thug who pulled Tristan through that car window was questioned as to why he did it, he said he had no reason, no reason at all; he just wanted to do it. Some psychiatrists say that when bullies inflict pain on someone, like beating them to unconsciousness, it gives them a pleasurable high, a feeling of power. It makes them feel “good.” He and his friends must have felt awfully good and powerful, taking an innocent life. Tristan was buried today. He was going to be a graphic designer and his teachers all said he was excellent at what he did. His life, with all the bright promise of youth, is over. The lives of his father and his girlfriend are shattered and will never be the same again. The thugs are still alive and being arraigned this week. I hope the prosecutor will ask that they be remanded or the judge will set bail so high they cannot post it. We’ll see. The life of the thug, Juvens, is not shattered. He is still alive. Since he didn’t “mean” to kill Tristan, since it was not premeditated, it is possible that he may only serve three to seven years of prison. Three to seven years? Then he can go back to his family? How nice for him. I’m sure Tristan’s father would like the same deal for his son; he would gladly wait three to seven years to have Tristan come home. I’m sure Tristan’s soul-mate would count three to seven years as nothing if she knew that after that time she would be in his arms again. On a warm beautiful day a young man was killed by a thug and his friends looking for trouble. It would be justice if they spent the rest of their lives behind bars but, most likely, they won’t. Nothing will bring Tristan back. He was killed for no reason at all. ------------ About the author Kristen Houghton: Working on a book of short stories, I write a column, "The Writer's Block" on observations of everyday life and a column for educators called iTeach! Email: Krisnalan@aol.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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