Father, 63, Knocked Unconscious By Son, 16, Over Restaurant Texting

[CatTX]

His mother immediately bailed him out after what he did?

[ForLoveOnly]

Originally Posted by Soccernerd

Ok. This will just turn into a "Young people can’t put their phones down" and "young people are so entitled" thread.

With that being said, let him be charged and serve some time.

This and kick him out of the house.... stupid parents raising stupid self entitled kids...

[ss20ts]

Originally Posted by ClaraC

Sometimes you have to work backwards from the end of the story.

He was released on $40 bond to his mother pretty quickly.

My guess is, the father isn't blameless and the boy didn't intend to inflict such damage.

Or at least it appears mom isn't afraid of him.

Or Mom is an enabler. There's ZERO excuse to EVER punch someone. There's ZERO excuse for hitting someone so hard that they are bleeding and hit their head on the ground. Kid sounds like a pride and joy.....career criminal here he comes!

[goodlife36]

Originally Posted by Delahanty

The dad repeatedly told his son to stop texting at a Cape Cod restaurant. Outside, the son punched his father, who was knocked unconscious when he struck his head on the pavement.

Police: Son Knocked Out Dad In Fight Over Texting At Cape Cod Restaurant « CBS Boston

Oh my! You cannot spoil your kids. I see kids disrespecting parents all the time. If it were me, I would relinquish all right to the little ... The kid has reached a point of no return. It is a shame the man does not have an older son who could knock him out.

[fluffythewondercat]

Originally Posted by Nov3

And yes adult parents do address their misbehaving teens in an environment outside of the originating point of discontent. How is that odd?

It isn't odd. It's common courtesy to avoid disturbing other diners.

It takes an active imagination to see that as "evidence" of abuse.

[TaxPhd]

Originally Posted by ClaraC

There is evidence in the article.

Evidence that the father took the teenage son outside after arguing with him about texting. That's odd behavior, to take a teenager outside of a restaurant after getting into a fight with them at the table. If your 3 year old is being a loud, distracting presence in a restaurant you take them out to talk to them about behavior. You don't take a teenage boy out on to the street to continue fighting with him because he's texting on his phone.

There is evidence by the way the court treated the boy - $40 bond, and he's out in the care of his mom.

There is evidence based on statistics of family violence. Teenage boys who punch their fathers are very likely to be the victims of abuse, or have been witnessing abuse of family members and they reach a breaking point. Unlike teenage boys who punch their mothers, grandmothers, teachers, etc., who are violent and entitled and have serious anger issues.

So there is evidence - the article just isn't clear. Maybe none of these things apply to this situation, but the article does offer clues.

Do you believe that some level of “fighting with a teenager” at a restaurant is acceptable?

[ClaraC]

Originally Posted by TaxPhd

Do you believe that some level of “fighting with a teenager” at a restaurant is acceptable?

Yes. It is. If the teenager is, for example, throwing food or being extremely rude to the waitstaff or spitting in someone's food, that kind of thing. The kind of behavior that someone in the restaurant would have to step in and put a stop to, if the parents didn't/couldn't do it. Not texting on your phone.

And then there's always civil disagreements at the table. That's acceptable.

Here's the thing. There's a reason cowards go to restaurants to break up or deliver really awful news. Because it's not acceptable to create a scene in a restaurant so the deliverer of the breakup news is shielded from really negative consequences. Usually.

A teenager texting on a phone isn't creating any kind of public disturbance at all. In fact, they are silent. It's the dad who was apparently creating such a public disturbance they had to take it outside.

I'm not opposed - at all - to asking a teen to put a cell phone away. But when you have a relationship that is so foul that the teen openly refuses to do it, the place to solve that issue (which is very deep) is not a public restaurant.

[ClaraC]

Originally Posted by ss20ts

Or Mom is an enabler. There's ZERO excuse to EVER punch someone. There's ZERO excuse for hitting someone so hard that they are bleeding and hit their head on the ground. Kid sounds like a pride and joy.....career criminal here he comes!

I don't think I could disagree more. There are many, many reasons to punch someone.

Again, I don't think we'll ever get a follow up. This article states that the dad lost consciousness and fell, severely injuring his head on the pavement. I would offer it may be that the punch was in fact, fairly light, and caught the dad so off guard that he fell and the entirety of his injury was caused by the fall, and not directly from the punch.

NOTE: If anyone reading this forum knows the name of the father, could you message me privately? I'm really interested in a follow up, which will be impossible without the name. I won't post it on here. I just wonder if anyone has found an article that id's the man.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by Delahanty

I've heard of that before.

Apparently, it's meant to address elderly victims, but I don't agree with the distinction. A victim is a victim.

Trauma surgeons make a distinction. Increased likelihood of intracranial hemorrhage and c spine fractures from ground level falls.

I'm not saying that should be a reason for different laws, but there is a distinction.

[germaine2626]

Originally Posted by ClaraC

I don't think I could disagree more. There are many, many reasons to punch someone.

Again, I don't think we'll ever get a follow up. This article states that the dad lost consciousness and fell, severely injuring his head on the pavement. I would offer it may be that the punch was in fact, fairly light, and caught the dad so off guard that he fell and the entirety of his injury was caused by the fall, and not directly from the punch.

(snip)

But, you are forgetting that if the dad had not been punched he would not have hit his head on the cement and suffered injuries. The punch was an intentional act. It was not like someone accidently bumped into him on a very crowded sidewalk and he lost his balance and fell down.

There was a fairly recent case in my community where someone got punched, fell and hit their head on the sidewalk during a fight and died. The person who punched him ended up in prison for five years.