Tale of tragedy -- a car, a bat, some time to kill
CARL HIAASEN
What's a kid supposed to do for giggles -- go to the mall? Check out the skate park? Hang out at the football game?
Borrrring.
Come on, let's go stomp some bums. Talk about fun!
Imagine the stimulating level of discourse among the four troglodytes as they cruised into downtown Fort Lauderdale hunting for homeless to pummel.
Hey, man, you wanna use the golf club or the baseball bat?
Gimme the bat, dude. Sounds sweet when it cracks their bones.
Those boys had a helluva night, too. Killed one man and put two others in the hospital.
Unbeknown to the bat swingers, one of the assaults was recorded by a security camera. The tape subsequently was broadcast all over the country, and arrests soon followed.
Now jailed as accused murderers are Brian Hooks, age 18; Tommy Daugherty, age 17; and Billy Ammons, age 18. A fourth teen who supposedly watched the revelry from an SUV has not been charged or named by police.
Plantation is where I grew up, and nobody I knew drove around looking for homeless persons to bludgeon. We certainly had our share of moronic bullies, but none were that ambitiously cruel.
In the pleasant subdivision of Plantation Isles, where at least two of the murder suspects live, the initial reaction to the arrests predictably was one of puzzlement. Neighbors said they seemed like normal ''redneck'' kids, incapable of such savagery.
As the days passed, though, former classmates of Hooks and Daugherty at South Plantation High began to speak more openly. One said it was no secret that there were groups ''who beat up bums on the weekend'' for sport...
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/carl_hiaasen/13673742.htm
