J.T. Downs

Leroy Bentley III: Bored


J.T. Downs: Bentley's victim

J.T. Downs, a 76-year-old man, was beaten so badly by a group of at least five thugs that he lost his eye.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

A 76-year-old man's right eye was surgically removed after he was beaten last week by a group of at least five people - including at least three teens - motivated by boredom and peer pressure, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday against one of the accused attackers.

J.T. Downs was pushing a cart through an alley in the 3300 block of N. 26th St. about 6 p.m. Friday when he was attacked, according to the complaint against 18-year-old Leroy Bentley III, who is charged with being party to the crime of aggravated battery.

According to the complaint:

Downs told police he was walking home when a 13-year-old boy ran up from behind, hit him in the back of the head and ran away.

The 13-year-old told investigators that he attacked Downs at the urging of his older cousin because the cousin thought he was "soft."

Downs continued pushing his cart and walked past a group of young males. One of the people offered to lend a cell phone so Downs could call police, but another person struck him near his right eye.

Downs told investigators he was then attacked by at least four other people, one of whom was later identified as a 15-year-old boy.

Downs went to the ground while he was beaten. All but one attacker eventually fled. According to the complaint, Downs said he told the remaining person, "Just go on and kill me!" The person told Downs to get up and go home, where he called police, the complaint says.

Bentley told police that he and others had chased and tripped people in the alley before.

Bentley "could offer no explanation for why he did this to those other people, and to J.T. Downs, other than boredom," the complaint says.

Bentley cried when police told him that Downs would lose his eye, saying he did not realize the beating had been so severe, the complaint says. Bentley "emphasized that he punched (Downs) only once to the body, and admitted that he stopped after one punch because it was daylight and because a lady in a purple shirt threatened to call the police on them."

These thugs are animals.

This was a brutal attack. How sick that these savages would beat this elderly man for no reason other than sport!

What sort of person does something like this out of BOREDOM?

The complaint says that Bentley cried when police told him Downs would lose his eye. Poor baby.

Any tears shed from Bentley were probably selfish in nature. He probably realized that this wasn't a minor offense and was feeling sorry for himself.

Bentley had been terrorizing people in the alley before. This wasn't a new activity for him.

It's horrible that it took the severe beating of J.T. Downs to finally get Bentley off the street.

I don't buy the peer pressure excuse. If one is feeling pressured into physically attacking people, it's time to find different peers.

I'm sure there will be those trying to excuse the behavior of Bentley and the other thugs. They're the product of an unjust society, poverty, broken families, whatever.

Bottom line: They aren't the victims. They're thugs and clearly present a danger to the public.

There is absolutely no excuse for a group of young men to beat an old man. It's no way to alleviate boredom.

BOREDOM!

These are bad people. They chose to be merciless thugs and prey on a defenseless, weak, elderly man. Now they deserve to be treated like the heartless savages they are. The punishment should fit the crime. In this case, it should be severe.

Will this be a wake-up call to the community? Will community leaders express outrage at the perpetrators?

No. Milwaukee is obviously immune to these wake-up calls. Years of wake-up calls haven't changed the twisted thug culture.

Change might come when there is peer pressure from WITHIN the community. The thugs should be the outcasts, not the rulers of the streets.

It's time the community teaches its children to respect others and themselves.

Video, from FOX 6: