12-year-old boy violently assaults Southbridge man with baseball bat

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Un-friggin-believable!

12-year-old boy violently assaults Southbridge man with baseball bat

SOUTHBRIDGE, Mass.
- A Southbridge man was violently attacked by a 12-year-old boy with a baseball bat over the weekend, leaving the father of two with graphic injuries.

On Sunday night, Gary Anctil complained to a neighbor that her children had been defacing a local church with graffiti, thinking that bringing it to the mother's attention would get them to stop.

However, to Anctil's surprise, one of the kids, a 12-year-old boy, came after him with a baseball bat, beating him on the head.

Due to the recently signed criminal reform bill this past spring, Anctil's assailant wasn't arrested.

One of the provisions in the bill, signed by Governor Charlie Baker, raised the age of criminal responsibility from seven to 12.

"Twelve years old you can do this to a person and nothing can happen," said Anctil.

An adult convicted of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon could face a couple of years in prison, yet a juvenile may not risk getting that kind of sentence.

Anctil said the boy also attacked him when he least suspected, swinging at his head.

"He was on the top step and he said, 'Hey,'" said Anctil. "I turned around and that's when he swung in and caught me in the head.

Anctil says that what astonishes him the most is the fact that the boy wasn't arrested.

"You guys didn't arrest him?" said Anctil. "Well, no, a new law that passed [states that if you're] 12 years old and under nothing's going to happen to him, he'll get a slap on the hand, I'm like, 'Are you kidding?'"

In keeping with juvenile offender law, Southbridge Police issued a summons for the boy to appear in court on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a felony. According to the law, the boy is being held responsible but was not arrested.

Anctil says his gash required dozens of stitches to close and adds he's having the symptoms of a concussion.
 
Wait... if the age of criminal responsibility was raised from 7 to 12, as the article says, then isn't the 12 year old of age to be criminally responsible?

I guess they meant the minimum age.

If that kid is this way at 12, he'll be very lucky to ever see the age of 21 before someone plants him.
 
Sounds like another dinnindonuffin we'll be hearing about again in a few years. Either in the #MACourtFails or because someone smoked his ass.

Hope the guy's taking this to civil court, since apparently the criminal justice system has failed utterly. Then again, from the sound of it, that might be a losing proposition as well. [thinking]
 
anyone feel that the mother knew about the law and told the boy to go and do this to the man?

I would be questioning that kid to find out if his other instructed him to do this. The man told the criminal's mother about the graffiti. My guess is that she put him up to the beating.

Additionally, if my kid breaks a window I have to pay for it. Since her kid committed a felony maybe she needs to be in jail. And if a 12 year old is beating people with a bat perhaps the child should be removed from the less than nurturing home environment...
 
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And if that guy had leveled a firearm at that kid and pulled the trigger, he would be todays media pariah while the 'innocent doe eyed bat wielder' would be the latest dindu nuffin, a straight A student with college ambitions.
 
That kid should start getting used to the taste of prison food now, will help him adjust later.
 
Hmmm. So if some d-bags Rottie comes at me and injures me, the owner is responsible. But a 12yo isn't an adult. Basically "owned" by the parent. Chattel, if you will. When are they gonna arrest Mommah? Put her fat ass in jail. Drop the kids off at Social Services.
 
Hmmm. So if some d-bags Rottie comes at me and injures me, the owner is responsible. But a 12yo isn't an adult. Basically "owned" by the parent. Chattel, if you will. When are they gonna arrest Mommah? Put her fat ass in jail. Drop the kids off at Social Services.


If I was investigating this I would be looking at the mother for putting the kid up to the beat down.
 
If you or I hit someone in the head with a baseball bat as a continuation of an ongoing confrontation, we'd very likely be charged with attempted murder and most likely convicted.
If it happened to me as the victim and one or the other( kid or his parent/s) wasn't charged and convicted, street justice would reign supreme.
 
And if that guy had leveled a firearm at that kid and pulled the trigger, he would be todays media pariah while the 'innocent doe eyed bat wielder' would be the latest dindu nuffin, a straight A student with college ambitions.
He would be the kid whose promising baseball career was cut short by gun violence.
 
Hmmm. So if some d-bags Rottie comes at me and injures me, the owner is responsible. But a 12yo isn't an adult. Basically "owned" by the parent. Chattel, if you will. When are they gonna arrest Mommah? Put her fat ass in jail. Drop the kids off at Social Services.
Owner/Parent is responsible for financial damages. He can go ahead and sue the welfare mom, but he'll never see a penny
 
There should be some sort of criminal liability. He's either a dolt under her control or can be charged, even as a minor. Period.
 
Hate crimes aren't real and no laws, or changing of laws (either making them more or less restrictive) will change people's behaviors. The real problem has to do with the way kids are being raised and just people in generals overall mentality. The value of human life and the reality of how actions impact people don't seem to be things kids are taught about anymore. Or things people care about.

No law is going to prevent a 12-year-old from swinging a bat at someone's head or stepping out into traffic without looking.
 
Sounds like the perfect grounds for a civil lawsuit. I’m generally not one for pushing for the litigious side of society, but in this instance it sounds warranted. The boy, a minor, was under the responsible supervision of the parent(s) making them civilly liable, no?
 
Thanks Charlie, good f*cking job.
Sounds like the whole clan needs to be burned out like a nest of rats.
Kids younger than that have killed people.
Applying human standards to something that was raised like an animal isn't going to work.
 
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