Steve Skojec

In this story from the Washington Post, it’s the headline that gets me:

“Md. Boy, 12, Kills Man Attacking Mother; Officials Undecided On Filing Charges”

Maybe the Post, which gives an otherwise sympathetic (to the child in question) portrayal of the events is just fishing for controversy. Maybe officials in Maryland really are bound by some foolish law to consider pressing charges against a child who came to his mother’s rescue as she was being choked to death by a neighbor. Maybe this country is just stone cold crazy.

The 12-year-old boy had finished his homework and was playing a video game when he heard his mother cry out. Rushing to her aid, he found her on the kitchen floor, straddled by a fellow resident of their Prince George’s County boarding house, the man’s hands wrapped tightly around her neck, the boy said yesterday.

“I kept saying, ‘Stop! Stop! Stop!’ ” the boy said, describing the events of Monday night. “But he just ignored me. He didn’t stop. He just kept hurting her.”

The boy said he grabbed a knife and swung, slashing 64-year-old Salomon Noubissie across the neck and opening an artery. Noubissie was fatally wounded.

The mother, Cheryl Stamp, said she did not immediately understand what had happened. “What did you do?” she said she asked her son.

“He didn’t say anything,” she said. “But I knew when I looked in his eyes. I said, ‘Oh, Lord.’ ”

Law enforcement officials were reviewing evidence yesterday and had not decided whether to file charges. Their preliminary account of the incident broadly matches that of the boy and his mother.

The case presents exceedingly unusual circumstances: Rarely is a 12-year-old implicated in a homicide, and even less often does a child that age take a life to protect his mother.

“In Maryland, there can be a legitimate defense of third parties in the event of a violent attack,” State’s Attorney Glenn F. Ivey said. “That is a possibility in this case.”

In Maryland, there can be a legitimate defense of third parties during a violent attack?!? That is a possibility in this case? I might just be a sucker, but for some reason I believe this poor kid. Here’s a bit more of the story:

“He threw me into the door so hard it hit my back, and it made my chest start hurting,” she said. “Then he threw me to the floor. He threw me down and started choking me. I think that’s when my son came in. . . . He protected me.”

The boy, who is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 175 pounds, said he acted because he thought he had no choice. “He was hitting her with the broom; then he was choking her,” the boy said. “I told him to stop.”

He grabbed a knife that he said his family had last used to cut turkey at Thanksgiving dinner.

“I knew I had to kill him so he would stop hurting my mother,” he said.

[snip]

The 12-year-old boy said yesterday that he was not happy about what he had done but that he knew that it was the right thing.

“I just asked God again to protect me and my mother,” he said. “I told God that I had stabbed him because he was killing my mother. I know he understands, and I think he will keep us safe now.”

My heart goes out to these people. What a frightening situation to be in. Thank goodness the kid had the guts to act, or he and his mother might both be dead today. We need to apply a heavy dose of common sense to these cases, so that people aren’t penalized for defending themselves or their loved ones. Too often, the state wants to punish violence of any kind, even if it’s justifiable.

There obviously needs to be an investigatory process to make sure that things happened the way they have been portrayed, but to begin telling the media that there is uncertainty over whether charges will be pressed, rather than simply stating “no charges are expected at this time” seems to be a message to the public: “Don’t assume you can get away with anything, even if it’s protecting someone you love.”

Am I overreacting, or do you get the same impression?