Here is another story, in a line of many, showing the decline in the American culture.
Until recently life was valued and if you killed someone you would be adequately punished for your actions.
Not so in today’s hyper-social justice environment. If racism is involved in a disagreement, excessive violence is explained away, even if it resulted in the killing of another human being.
In a recent story, a Florida Dunkin’ Donuts employee, Corey Pujols, 27, was accused of fatally punching a customer who used a racist slur against him.
The prosecutor offered him a plea deal, with him pleading guilty to felony battery, allowing him to avoid jail time. He was sentenced to two years of house arrest instead. The Tampa judge on Monday also ordered him to complete 200 hours of community service and attend an anger management course.
Per the statutes, Pujols, who happens to be black, was initially charged with manslaughter since Mr. Gook, 77, who happens to be white, died as a result of his punch.
The prosecutors who offered the plea deal said they considered the “totality of the circumstances,” including Pujols’ youth, his lack of criminal history, and the fact that he did not intend to cause Cook’s death, Grayson Kamm, a spokesman for Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren, told the Tampa Bay Times.
He said they also considered the behavior of Cook and what he said.
“Two of the primary factors were the aggressive approach the victim took toward the defendant and everyone working with the defendant, and that the victim repeatedly used possibly the most aggressive and offensive term in the English language,” Kamm told the newspaper.
According to court records, Cook was a regular customer who tried to order coffee at the drive-thru on May 4. But the employees had trouble hearing him, and he began berating them for their poor customer service. He was asked to leave, but he parked his car and went inside the store.
When Cook appeared inside the store, Pujols asked a coworker to call police. Prosecutors said Cook began arguing with Pujols. Once Cook said the racial slur, Pujols walked around the counter and told him not to say that again. When he repeated it, Pujols hit him in the jaw and Cook fell to the floor.
An autopsy said he suffered a skull fracture and brain contusions.
Court records show Cook was a registered sex offender. He made headlines in 2006 after police raided his home and found surveillance cameras mounted around a bed, homemade videos and DVDs, and boxes of photographs of nude men and boys, according to news reports.
No one from Cook’s family spoke at Monday’s hearing.
I don’t know what the right sentence should have been in this case but if our culture now allows others to punch another person, over a verbal dispute, resulting in the death of the other, and all they receive is house arrest and community service, then we are saying the life of the person who died in the case, was of no significant value in the end.
By: Eric Thompson, editor of Eric Thompson Show.
This story syndicated with permission from Eric Thompson, Author at Trending Politics
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