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Free Kevin Leonard
So a bunch of teenagers think it would be a funny joke to gang up on a kid they don't know on a Collingdale street and have one of them "pretend" to demand his bike from him. All so they could video the incident and put it on You Tube.
The result: The victim of this "prank," 17-year-old Kevin Leonard defends himself and his property. He pulls a knife and stabs the aggressor in the chest.
The DAs office charges Leonard with attempted murder. That charge was rightly thrown out of court yesterday by District Judge Laurence J. McKeon. The kid remains in jail and charged with aggravated assault as well as other things.
Based on the testimony of the prankster who was stabbed, 16-year-old Mickal Higgins, he admitted to being the aggressor. This was a bully job meant to humiliate and it backfired big time.
Leonard had every right to defend himself from these callous young jerks. No, he doesn't have the right to carry a concealed weapon. But that's all he should be charged with and convicted of.
If Higgins was my son, I'd make HIM apologize to Leonard.
And what are the other punks involved in this "prank" learning from the Delaware County justice system? That bullying and humiliating others isn't a crime. Defending yourself from a mob is. Nice lesson.
UPDATE: I have just learned that knife Leonard used to defend himself was pocket-knife, which means it wasn't a concealed weapon. He was perfectly within his rights to be carrying it on the street. So I stand corrected. And Leonard stands even more innocent of any criminal wrong-doing in this matter. (More in my print column tomorrow.)
The result: The victim of this "prank," 17-year-old Kevin Leonard defends himself and his property. He pulls a knife and stabs the aggressor in the chest.
The DAs office charges Leonard with attempted murder. That charge was rightly thrown out of court yesterday by District Judge Laurence J. McKeon. The kid remains in jail and charged with aggravated assault as well as other things.
Based on the testimony of the prankster who was stabbed, 16-year-old Mickal Higgins, he admitted to being the aggressor. This was a bully job meant to humiliate and it backfired big time.
Leonard had every right to defend himself from these callous young jerks. No, he doesn't have the right to carry a concealed weapon. But that's all he should be charged with and convicted of.
If Higgins was my son, I'd make HIM apologize to Leonard.
And what are the other punks involved in this "prank" learning from the Delaware County justice system? That bullying and humiliating others isn't a crime. Defending yourself from a mob is. Nice lesson.
UPDATE: I have just learned that knife Leonard used to defend himself was pocket-knife, which means it wasn't a concealed weapon. He was perfectly within his rights to be carrying it on the street. So I stand corrected. And Leonard stands even more innocent of any criminal wrong-doing in this matter. (More in my print column tomorrow.)
posted by Spencerblog at
6:44 AM
9 Comments:
Glad to see you have your priorities straight: a bike is definitely worth stabbing someone over.
"No, he doesn't have the right to carry a concealed weapon."
Unless it's a gun?
What if he had been 18 and had a gun instead of a knife?
If he'd had a gun and pulled it, he probably wouldn't have had to use it. His attackers would have fled, mostly likely.
Anonymous would be the perfect crime victim. Tell him something that belongs to him is yours and he'd willingly give it up; including his dignity.
As for anyone who defends themselves or their property, they are dangers to society and must be locked up.
How brave is Anonymous? He's anonymous. What does that tell you?
"If he'd had a gun and pulled it, he probably wouldn't have had to use it."
Well, if this was all just a prank gone wrong, then when he pulled a knife, he shouldn't have had to "use" it either. Merely brandishing it should have been enough.
The most recent, and extensive, study (and based on Philadelphia) showed that robbery victims trying to pull a gun were much more likely to be shot themselves.
You sound dumb enough to fight it out rather than just turn over your wallet and walk away unharmed.
If you are ever mugged, I hope you don't try to pull such foolishness if you are with your wife or kids.
But, if you are by yourself, feel free to test your theories. It will make for an interesting article on Spencerblog (though posthumously).
It wasn't "just a prank," it was a crime in progress.
As for my being "dumb," I will use my discretion if I am ever faced with a mugger. If I am out-sized or out-gunned, I just might turn over my wallet and hope the criminal is caught later. But if I am not, I will do my best to make that creep sorry he ever picked me to treat as his personal ATM.
Anonymous, on the other hand, believes that mere money or personal property, are never worth fighting for. Dignity, either.
He is brave enough to throw insults from afar but not face to face or man to man.
Such is the life of a coward and he is welcome to live it, among the shadows in which he hides.
Anonymous is a coward and the very essence of freedom is the god given right to defend yourself and your property. Sad that Anon and others of his ilk have no clue about the system of government that was put in place by our Founding Fathers.
C. Scott Shields, Esquire
can we call him 'cowiano' now? He clearly believes in not standing up for himself.
Can you imagine what he would have been like on a battlefield? Cowiano, I'm glad this isn't the early 40s.
Defend yourself? Sure.
Defend property? Depends on the property.
If the other kids didn't pull a weapon, then lethal force was not required as a response.
If this was all a "prank" for a YouTube video, then there should be a video of the whole incident. If so, that should be enough for a judge or jury to determine if it was reasonable for Kevin to feel threatened.
Scott sounds like the kind of guy that would shoot a burglar that was leaving his house, drag the body back inside and plant a gun on him, just to claim it was a justified shooting.
BTW, I once had some kids try to take my bike from me, at knife point (a pocket knife). We were all about 8 or 9 years old. I got out of it unharmed, with my bike, and without killing any of them.
non-god bless that fetal position, right anon-iano?
Steve, you would have wound up bikeless and hanging from a tree by your underwear.
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