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Teen charged with kicking and tripping man in his 80s at Forest Hills T stop, sending him face forward into the pavement, DA says

A 15-year-old was ordered held for 60 days at her arraignment today on charges she kicked and tripped an 84-year-old man at Forest Hills as she and her pals clowned on him Tuesday night, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

According to the DA's office, the teen, already out on $500 bail on an unarmed-robbery charge, was part of a group of teens who got off an Upper Busway bus and then congregated by the entrance to the train station shortly before 9 p.m.

As the victim walked by the group, several juveniles began to walk closely behind him. Then a female juvenile positioned herself behind the victim, kicked his legs and intentionally tripped him, causing him to fall forward onto his forehead.

When police arrived, they found the man lying on the pavement, bleeding from his forehead, with three T commuters - two doctors and a medical student - tending to him, the DA's office says. The victim, who remained conscious, was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

The teen was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, shod foot, on a person over 65. A West Roxbury Municipal Court judge today revoked her $500 bail on the robbery charge and ordered her held for at least two months - after which she was barred from Forest Hills station and was ordered to wear a GPS device should she make her new bail of $1,000, the DA's office reports.

Using the T's video surveillance system, Transit Police identified the teen. Around 2:45 p.m. yesterday, officers spotted her near the JFK/UMass Red Line stop, wearing the same jeans and jacket as she was spotted wearing while attacking the man, and arrested her, the DA's office says.

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Comments

This really angers me. As I've gotten older the possibility of this kind of thing happening to me has come into sharp focus, I'm not as quick or agile, can't defend myself as well and an otherwise minor injury can be life altering. Kids don't understand or appreciate this but I don't think juvie jail is the answer. The alleged perpetrator, if found guilty, should be sentenced to help care for this person every day after school and on weekends for the rest of his life or until she turns 18 and to give speeches to peer groups about what she did and why we should cherish elders. But I know this is wishful thinking (sigh...).

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Sentence the alleged perpetrator to help in a nursing home or similar situation under direct supervision of a responsible adult! If I were this poor man, I'd be terrified to have this person alone with me.

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No assignments or duties, they just need to spend day after day watching what it's like to be elderly and need care.

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… to be used in any training exercises or experiments with her abuser. She would not either. Nor likely the abuser, unless they saw it as an opportunity to further intimidate.

Your proposal sounds well meaning but professionals know from experience and education that this is not how you treat lack of compassion in bullies or help victims feel protected.

You might feel differently too if it ever happens to you or someone you care about.

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We say, be careful and don't stand near the edge on the T platforms, keep your eyes off the phone when walking, if you see trouble head the other way. etc.
Don't Trip old men like you're a freaking animal has never been included in our warnings.
This girl either has no conscious or no proper upbringing.

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Can you really instill a basic sense of morality into someone who aged out of childhood without one?

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… they are often successful. It would depend on rehabilitation and ultimately the young girl’s choice.
Humans are not as easily rehabbed as dogs and other more reasonable creatures but they have potential.

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This is such a depraved act. But we still need to try. If it doesn’t work, that’s why we have adult prison. Some people are incapable of rehabilitation and just need to be locked away.

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I don't think it is fair, reasonable, nor conducive to a functioning society - let alone economical - to impose a life sentence on kids because they got the shit end of the stick in the birth lottery.

She deserves a chance to become a decent human being. A 15 year old has not "aged out of childhood" yet.

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Two questions, both sincere: 1) How do you propose to do that? 2) How many "chances" does she get? That is, if she goes on to hurt/maim again, how many more times will you excusse her? Please picture the assault that occurred here, because it was brutal and remorseless. This is not the Artful Dodger we're talking about here.

BTW, how do you know she "got the shit end of the stick in the birth lottery"? That's an assumption without basis.

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Because nobody gives a flying fuck where she was and what she was up to very late at night.

That's how.

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Considering her behavior, her parents might be trying to put her on the straight path, but she snuck out and caused havoc. Stop making assumptions because you don’t know the actual situation.

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….. Her Name Lara again?

Oh, wrong thread. That was a very funny comment on the other thread by the way.

But you still need to take the blinders off and stop being so defensive. No one is accusing you personally of anything, rubadub.

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Hold her parents accountable since she is a minor, send her to after school care with a team sport to teach her as well as get physical exercise and ban her from owning a phone for a year - devices are destroying our society !

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Opinions are interesting things.

You are making a lot of assumptions here, too.

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Everything you’ve posted in this thread is an assumption.

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At 15 some pretty intensive interventions are needed. If someone gets the short end of the birth stick, which this girl clearly did, and Home does not have the will or means to churn out a human being that isn't a monster, that kid needs to be in a different environment. Unfortunately, our society hasn't set up anything to provide the kind of environmental change that is needed to rehab kids like this. Either they get sent to Juvie, or Foster Care (which is a disaster on its own) or returned home to the same shit stick birth home.

In theory and in a working society this is fixable. In 2023 America, warehousing her away from people she's going to keep hurting is probably the most functional response anyone is going to offer.

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It's not just that she may or may not have gotten born into bad circumstances. Lots of people have bad childhoods, yet choose to be resilient.
We don't know anything about this girl except that she is 15,has a jean jacket , and is a violent bully.
She could have killed that man or caused him to break a hip and not be able to walk.
Actions have consequences, and the consequences should be severe.

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What sort of consequences do you think follow severity? Whatever your severity actually is.

Bullying bullies? Is that what you mean?

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Bullying a bully?

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… responding to my question on their own.

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situations. One case was at South Station red line on a crowded Saturday. an elderly man asked a group of young teenage girls to please be more quiet. A they were very loud obnoxious. They became an enraged mob. Following, brutally laughing, harassing mocking him. Tons of people all around on the Cambridge Alewife side of the tracks. No one intervened. Some gave the old man a dirty look. The girls (young teensy) looked like they were coming or going to some organized event. They were a mix of black, white, Hispanic.

Last week I passed a group of older teens, mix boys and girls, on the red line. The girls were being very loud obnoxious. Interestingly, the boys seemed embarrassed and were telling them to be quiet stop yelling

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