I can’t link to the story but this is the gist of it: I got this from a radio interview with the “protector”, the newspaper story came out quite different.
About midnight or so, there is a commotion outside his house so him and his wife go out to see what’s going on. It would appear it’s a bunch of older teens, nothing really happening so they go back inside. When they go back inside, his wife says she has a feeling someone is watching her then the dog goes a little crazy, barking and such. So, the “protector” goes down to the basement, which is dark, reaches for the string to pull the light on and a guy “comes at him” so he goes in to swinging mode and just keeps swinging until he gets him on the ground, then says “if you move, I will kill you, I have two small children upstairs and you aren’t getting by me”. He moved, the guy hit him again. In the meantime, his wife has called the police and they, at this point, come in, arrest the guy who turns out to be a 16 year old. His story? “I was at a house party, drank too much, went outside for a smoke, got lost and ended up in the wrong house” The police ended up charging him with drinking under age. They briefly considered charging the homeowner for hitting him but changed their minds.
The question I don’t have an answer to is how the guy got in to the house.
But nonetheless, you are apparently at a house party, you go back in the house and you go to the darkest part of the basement?
The “protector” says the guy was wearing one of those puffy winter coats (heavily quilted) and one of those hats with the flaps so he had absolutely no idea who or how big this guy was, he just started swinging…he has a newborn in the house, a older child and his wife. At that point, he said he didn’t care who or what the guy was, he was protecting his family.
I just wondered if anyone else thought this was a little bit strange in that the kid was never charged with a more severe charge and that the police even thought of charging the homeowner.
It’s the comment he made after subduing the guy. In the heat of the moment, sure, the kid’s lucky he didn’t get hit with a fire axe, but once he’s down, the fight’s over, and if the homeowner has a chance to form a rational sentence, a different set of laws come into play.
In some jurisdictions.
I am not a lawyer.
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Evil around every corner. careful not to step in any…
That happened in Hamilton, about 45 minutes west of me, about a week and a half ago. The original article is here. No information was apparently released as to how he got into the house. I still find it dumb that the cops didn’t charge him with B&E.
Mindfield, thanks…couldn’t remember if it was Hamilton or Burlington…John Derringer was interviewing the guy on the radio. Although the Star article wasn’t even close to what I heard the homeowner saying.
The front door or an unscreened window was left unlocked, or
The kid broke in with less than level intentions.
I don’t buy the too-drunk-to-recognize-his-house crap. The level of inebriation required to misidentify your own damn house, which looks nothing like the one you’re going into, generally precludes the ability to stand up straight, much less walk and break in, and is usually followed by an extended bout of unconsciousness, not stealth-huddling in a strange laundry room.
At least a portion of justice was served in a way the courts can’t dish out.
There is a doper here that told a story where someone walked/broke into his/her house and used the bathroom. I think she was drunk as well and forgot which house belong to her, so I guess it happens.
As a recovering alcoholic I can certainly believe the ‘too drunk to recognize your own house’ bit. While I never did that particular thing myself, I known people who have done that. One night I did try to open the wrong car. I was pretty wasted(thankfully to wasted to find my own car. I am so glad that I did not drive that night) and about to get my ass kicked by the cars owner when a friend stepped in and calmed the situation down. Or so I heard. I don’t really remember.
You’d be suprised how drunk some people can get and still be somewhat functional, especially if they are blackout drinkers.
I guess you have to have a pretty serious BAC to get that drunk. I’ve been pretty damn wasted – like, “Damn, that grass looks comfy, I wonder if it will mind if I lie on it before I puke” wasted – but even then I managed to stagger and weave my way into the correct house. But then I’ve only ever been blackout drunk once – Jamaican High Wine, a ridiculously potent rum that’s also very illegal here – and about the only thing that happened was that I woke up straddling/huddling over my own floor pizza.
'Course, I didn’t go out of doors while that drunk, and had no desire to ever get that drunk again.
In college, they always warned us to lock our rooms on the nights when the dorm threw a party—we tended to leave them unlocked otherwise—since people would be drunk and get lost. One friend of mine had the unfortunate experience of having the guy in the next room over (connected in the middle via a bathroom) forget which of the rooms was his, and try to climb into bed with my friend. He ended up getting kicked out of the bed (the top bunk) twice before he gave up and passed out on the floor.
Hell, it doesn’t boggle my mind. Here in Cali, not only would they charge the homeowner with attempted murder, but they’d let the kid civilly sue him on top of it.
At least that’s exactly what wouldn’t surprise me. IANAL and all that. Just P.O.V. from living in a kooky state that loooves to protect a criminal.
Just a few months ago, almost the same thing happened here. There was a two family house, whose owner had (unpermitted), attached a spiral staircase to the house. This lead to an upstao\irs apartment. A drunk was coming from a bar at night, and climbed up the staircase-he tried to break down the door to get in-but instead, managed to rip the staircase off the side of the house-he fell to his death!. The police wanted to charge the homeowner! Turned out the dead man was an illegal immigrant who lived two blocks away!
Silly question (open for debate): Doesn’t ‘Breaking & Entering’ require intent? Otherwise, it would just be tresspassing. . .
“Gee officer, I was looking at the house to buy it! These under construction houses don’t have numbers on 'em, and the real estate listing didn’t have a picture. I thought this was #101.”
Now in the OP’s case, well, that’s a little more sinister. . .
“stairs immigrant death” on google shows no relevant hits. Nor does “staircase immigrant death”. Nor does adding “boston”. Nor does adding “massachusetts”.
Yeah, it happened: Daily Incidents for August 20, 2006
Victim Dies After Stairs Collapse in Brighton
Officers from District 14 responded to 89 Dustin Street this morning at about 2:21am on a report of a person falling from a building. Preliminary investigations reveal that the victim, an unidentified white male, was on a spiral staircase outside of 89-91 Dustin Street when it collapsed. The victim was transported to St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center where he was pronounced. This incident is currently under investigation by police and Boston Inspectional Services. http://www.bpdnews.com/2006/08/daily_incidents_for_august_20.html
AND
Brighton Stair Collapse Victim Identified
Officers from District 14 responded to 89 Dustin Street early Sunday morning for a person injured from a fall. The victim, Martin Lenaghan, 27, of Ireland, and Brighton, suffered fatal injuries when the spiral staircase he was on separated from the structure at 89-91 Dustin Street and collapsed. Lenaghan was transported to St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center and was pronounced dead. The preliminary investigation indicates that Lenaghan’s death was an accident and alcohol may have been involved. Boston Police and Boston Inspectional Services are investigating the circumstances surrounding this death. http://www.bpdnews.com/2006/08/brighton_stair_collapse_victim.html
from the Boston Police Department site www.bpdnew.com.
Why the victim’s immigration status should matter is unclear to me.
A friend of mine had somebody break the door down of his girlfriend’s house (he was staying over), stumble to the couch, and fall asleep. He wasn’t sure when he woke up but he thought he’d thought it was his own apartment. You gotta kinda believe him, because it’s not like he did anything but end up on the couch (well, and on the floor with my friend on top of him when he figured out that the noises in the living room weren’t friendly.)
My first semester at college, I woke up to see a guy in only his tighty-whities next to my bed. I thought at first that it was my roomie going to the mini-fridge because that’s right next to my bed. And I was without my glasses. But then the guy started crawling into bed with me. At that point, I noticed my roomie was in bed and our door was wide open. I woke my roomie and pointed out our visitor. We looked in the hallway and found the guys clothes in a puddle. We couldn’t get him awake and so we left him there while I slept in a chair. I was way too nice back then. I should have dragged the bastard into the hallway, left him in the puddle and thrown his clothes out the window.