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Teens Beat Homeless Man to Death with Baseball Bats

Also wanted in connection to multiple other attacks

Teen MurderersBy now you’ve probably seen the grotesque video of two teens caught beating a homeless man with baseball bats in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

The Miami Herald is reporting that the two teens in the video have been identified as Thomas Daugherty, 17, and Brian Hooks, 18, both of Plantation, FL.:

[the teens who were] caught on video beating a homeless man were identified late Saturday as they prepared to turn themselves in to police.

[they] are also suspected in the bludgeoning of two other homeless men in a three-hour spree in Fort Lauderdale last Thursday, said Fort Lauderdale police spokeswoman Detective Katherine Collins. One of the victims died.

The two boys fled the state after their violent attacks were broadcast all over the news.

According to the Associated Press, the boys have turned themselves in to police “after their family attorneys negotiated their surrender”.

***
I haven’t seen any interviews with the killers’ families, teachers, or friends yet…but you just know the “but they’re good kids” defense is forethcoming, don’t you? You’ll hear pleas from their attornies and parents that they deserve mercy because it’s “their first offense”, and “they’re really good kids who just made a mistake.”

Let’s just go ahead and nip that line of thinking in the bud before it gets started, OK? Because they’re NOT good kids. Good kids, don’t beat homeless people with baseball bats — severely and brutally enough to have killed one of them. Whatever is within a person that allows them to commit that kind of savage act against another innnocent human, is so sinister and so dark, that they should never again be allowed to walk amongst civilized and innocent people.

Does Florida have the death penalty? I hope the 18 year old kid gets death for this crime — he deserves no less. How can you possibley “rehabilitate” someone who has that kind of evil within them (answer: you can’t).

Since the SCOTUS has ruled that murderers and rapists who committed their crimes while they were under the age of 18 cannot be put to death, I hope that the 17 year-old kid gets plunger-raped in prison everyday for the rest of his life. Or I’d just settle for allowing the men he beat with bats (the ones who didn’t die) to be alone with him in a room for about 30 minutes. Oh, and the homeless men would have the baseball bats this time.

***
MORE: It’s already starting. From the Sun-Sentinel, acquaintances of Thomas S. “Tommy” Daugherty are describing him as “a nice kid who got caught up with the wrong crowd.”

And here’s the money quote, from one of Hook’s teachers: “He was a good kid,” said Richard Friedman, who had Hooks in his ninth-grade science class a few years ago.

Bullshit. Nice kids and good kids do not beat homeless people do death with baseball bat. He might have gotten “caught up with the wrong crowd”, but he did it by choice. And he sure didn’t seem to have any reluctance towards brutality in that video.

Posted by Robbie Cooper on Monday, January 16th, 2006 | Trackback |

20 Responses to “Teens Beat Homeless Man to Death with Baseball Bats”

I would love to give them the punishment. Maybe take a bat and beath THEM with it. Lets see how quickly they cry for mercy.

Left by chris on January 16th, 2006 at 2:37 pm

If someone who beats people with a baseball bat is good, I have a fair amount of room to loosen up my behavior standards in the office.

Left by Dan on January 16th, 2006 at 3:07 pm

Ha ha.

Surely the guy who drinks the last cup of coffee without making a new pot can’t be called an jackass under the new standards?

Left by Preston on January 17th, 2006 at 10:45 am

Robbie,

You seem like the kind of guy that likes to read. I recently finished a book by Juhn Hubner callled Last Chance in Texas, The Redemption of Criminal Youth. You should read it. I would really love to hear your opinion on this book and the “School” that it is about. I just brought this up because even though I agree that these kids should be treated as adults in the court system due to the fact that they commited an adult crime, your comments on kids and crime has grabbed my attention. Check out the book. I would love to see a blog on here about it.

Thanks

Left by Adriana on January 18th, 2006 at 4:12 pm

Thanks for the tip, Adriana — it does sound like something I’d be interested in reading.

I’m already familiar with the program, and while it’s had a remarkable success in terms of recidivism rates for their released youthful offenders, I think that even their 10% recidivism rate is too high for known violent criminals.

In my book, knowing that at least 10% of your violent criminals are going to be released to inflict more pain and death upon society is unacceptable.

I don’t believe kids like these two are “rahabilitable” — there’s something too dark and evil to ever eradicate. And I think even if the chance that they’d go out and beat another homeless man to death is “only” 10%, that’s just too unacceptably high.

Left by Robbie on January 18th, 2006 at 10:50 pm

I do agree with that. I believe that these kids need to be helped early on. By the time they reach a certain age, it is just impossible to change their ways. The question is, what age is that? By the time these kids finally see the light, they are already locked up for a long time and it is too late. In many cases, the parents have alot to do with their behavior. Either they were abused as children or severely neglected and had no discipline or supervision. What, as a society can we do to point these children in the right direction?

My husband, had a horrible childhood. He was treated very badly and neglected. He was the oldest of four children and his parents were truck drivers and never around. His parents would leave for months at a time and wouldn’t even send money to help the children. My husband was forced to drop out of school and work to support his brother and sisters. A kid being a kid in a bad neighborhood with no supervision, he quickly found out that selling drugs helped pay the bills much more quickly than working 40 hours a week for $5.00 an hour. He obviously went down the wrong path. His brother and both of his sisters went to college and did well with themselves because he stayed on them to stay in school.

In the meantime, he ended up doing a five year sentence in prison day-for-day. He would tell you now, that he was young and dumb. He turned his life completely around. He now owns his own business in the glass industry and is a loving husband and father. He has been clean of drugs for going on ten years now. He does still drink but is not a drunk. There is a big difference. The only thing that he cares about now is his family. He has even started a college fund for our son. He says that he will always be there for him and that he wants for him to go to college and do good for himself so that he will never have to struggle the way that he did.

He works his butt off so that we can live in a nice neighborhood and our son can play in his front yard without having to worry about thugs crossing his path on a daily basis. When he sees these teenagers make stupid choices and then blame society and their parents, he gets so angry. He says, I had a bad childhood. I made dumb choices but I realized what I was doing and chose to change my path. I will not blame anyone else but myself for the choices that I made. He knows that only he could change his path. He recognized the fact that if he didn’t change quickly that he could possibly end up behind bars for a much longer sentence.

Of course, it hasn’t been easy for him. It is not easy for someone to be accepted by society when they have a criminal background. He had a hard time finding a job and a place to live when he got out. He decided to use his skills to open his own business and then eventually we bought a house. There were many times in the beginning of our relationship when we couldn’t rent a house or even an apartment because of his criminal background.

Suprisingly, he doesn’t even complain about it. I remember his exact words being, “Life isn’t supposed to be easy. I messed up and now I have to live the rest of my life dealing with that.” He always tells our son how hard he has made things for himself because of dumb choices. One time my son asked him why he couldn’t coach his baseball team. He told him because he has a criminal background and that people with criminal backgrounds cannot coach little league. He told him that he messed up when he was young and now he will spend the rest of his life being punished for it. He thinks that our son should know these things so that he can make his choices more wisely. I personally feel that there are some things that he doesn’t need to know but I trust that he knows what he is doing.

Left by Adriana on January 19th, 2006 at 10:37 am

Your husband sounds like a remarkable man, and his story of reformation is a good one.

There’s a hugh difference between being a petty drug dealer and being a brutal (and gleeful in the case of these teens) murderer.

I also think that there is the possibility of rehabiliation based on the nature of the crime, even when it deals with murder. At certain ages, kids really don’t understand the true consequences of their actions. Sometimes, the deaths they caused are out of negligence and accident (even if it was willfull negligence). These kids are rehabilitable.

But once your 14-15 and up, you KNOW the differences between right and wrong. And you surely know that the deliberate taking of another life is at the extreme end of Wrong.

The teens in this case were gleeful and enthusiastic in their brutal attacks. They took joy in it. Even if you believe it’s possible to “rehab” someone like that — the nature of their initial crime should still carry with it a penalty so severe, that the only place their new-and-improved self should ever be subjected to, is the other prisoners within a prison. For the rest of their life.

Left by Robbie on January 19th, 2006 at 1:05 pm

Why should we be holding people in jail into their old age when there is next to no chance of them hurting people at that age? Make them work for a living.

Left by Preston on January 19th, 2006 at 5:51 pm

I completely agree that there is a huge difference in a petty drug dealer and being brutal. But, I know my husband very well and I know what kind of family he comes from and he has even said that had he not gotten sent to prison when he did, he would have eventually taken someone’s life. He was headed right down that path. I can’t say whether or not these kids are rehabilitatable, but it is something that interests me. Not rehabilitating them but getting to them before they get to that stage in their lives. I can’t help but wonder why someone like my husband went down the path he did and someone like my mother and father who were raised in the bad side of San Antonio and had bad childhoods as well, did so well with themselves. What made them choose one way to go and someone else in the same predicament choose another? If we can answer these tough questions, then we can prevent things like this from happening.

When I was 15, I was not allowed to be running the streets after dark. Where were these kids parents? Why is it that they had no idea where they were or what they were up to? Just like the kids who did the columbine shootings. How is it that these kids could sit in the basement of their parents home and plan this with absolutely no adults knowing what they were up to? Those parents have to take some of that blame. Don’t you think?

Left by Adriana on January 20th, 2006 at 11:09 am

Anyone - young or old - who takes that much pleasure in hurting someone so vunerable needs to be put away forever. You know, we put down rabid dogs for going nuts and mauling people, but we think we can somehow dive into the past of rabid boys and make them better by talking…bull. I think that at the very least, they should be inprisoned for the max adult sentence.

Personally I wouldn’t want these two raving boys having the opportunity to have children (who are vunerable) or animals (who are also vunerable) or freedom at all…because they’re abusers who seem to get off on the power of hurting others. And, I wouldn’t want to be working or living next door to boys/men who have that kind of hatefulness lurking in their heart. They should be locked up for killing…and after seeing that video, possibly get a nice shot to calm thier nerves and put them where they can’t hurt any homeless people or other vunerable people in our society….six feet under in the dirt.

My feeling is that once you kill, you shouldn’t get a second chance to do it again.

Left by jodi on January 23rd, 2006 at 12:37 pm

I understand the way that you are feeling when it comes to these hateful kids. In many cases, I have felt the same way. I have caught myself watching the news and saying “Kill the Bastards!” But I wonder…does that make me just like them? If I can bring myself to a level to want them beat the way they beat those poor men, then how am I different from them? I am in no way saying that they should be given another chance. I would love to see them locked up and never being let out. They should definitely suffer the consequences of their actions. I am curious though. You said:

“My feeling is that once you kill, you shouldn’t get a second chance to do it again. ”

Is that how you feel about our military too? They kill. It is in self defense but none the less they do it. Everybody at one time or another is guilty of taking a life. Whether it be in self defense, in combat, in hatred, euthinizing an animal, or stepping on a bug in your house. I know that none of it can compare to this but you should watch your words carefully when you put them down. Be specific. I would say, “If you take an innocent human life out of anger or hatred, then you shall suffer the consequences.”

I mean think about it, if one of these homeless men would have killed one of these young kids out of self defense, would you be making that same comment? Probably not. Killing is wrong no matter how you do it. Unfortunately, sometimes, in some cases, it has to be done.

I have a son. He is only a year old but I still worry that one day someone will hurt him like one of these hateful teens out there. But at the same time I worry that he will become one of these hateful teens. You have to have some sort of empathy either way. What would you do if one of these kids were your son? Would you still want him dead? Would you turn your back on him? I can honestly say that no matter what my boy did…I would NEVER turn my back on him. That is called being a parent.

I believe that some kids can be rehabilitated. With some, like these boys, it is too late. With others like my husband, it came right on time. I don’t want to be the kind of person that tries to rehabilitate murdering teens. I want to be the kind of person that helps troubled Children find the right path. I believe there is a point in every childs life that will steer them to a certain road. Our job as adults is to be their compass and lead them in the right direction. Unfortunately, there are many adults out there who have broken compasses. I believe we need to care about all children, not just our own. I have heard so many people say, “That is their parents job, not mine.” WRONG. Have you ever heard that it takes a village to raise a child. That is so true. As a society, we have to step in when the parents are not doing thier job. That is the only way these kids will find the right road to go down. If we continue to ignore that their is a problem then one day for some kids, it will be too late and we will eventually see them on the news beating someone with a bat.

Left by Adriana on January 23rd, 2006 at 2:02 pm

Just imagine how these attractive young white boys are going to be received when they begin their incarceration in a state prison! They will quickly become the “girlfriends” of other hardened inmates, (and in this case, “hardened” is a double entendre!), and you can be sure they will be anally and orally gang-raped repeatedly for years and years, if they even survive in a black dominated environment considering that their deceased victim was black! In this case, I would say that the punishment will fit the crime!

Left by Jim on January 27th, 2006 at 8:48 pm

screw em all, lets throw em in with all the other prisoners in the state penetentary and see how they do…even better, lets throw them in with the rapists. signed with love xx666sweetheart_cutie666xx

Left by Anonymous on February 23rd, 2006 at 5:27 pm

when you think about it, how innocent can a homeless person really be? You really think that they’d be homeless in the first place if they just graduated high school or college? Most of these homeless people these days are homeless because of some stupid decision that the bum made in the first place.

Left by no name on March 15th, 2006 at 10:02 am

I feel angry and upset knowing that they would do that to homeless people, let alone people going through problems like everyone else in the world. It’s sad, but the question is why. Why would they do such a thing? It’s hard to figure out why and it’s sickening to know that some people like their families could just cover them with a blanket of excuses. There is no excuse for something like this. Infact, taking a life because those boys think their so superior than others needs to also raise a question. Why do they think they can have superiority over homeless people. People with no money or power.
Is it because they live in suburban houses and their mother makes them pancakes , bacon and eggs in the morning while their fathers are either at work or having an affair. What is it with boys like that. Boys who think their better because they either have the house on the hills or they are part of an athletic team. It’s all mediocracy. It’s all they keep in mind of all false preferences and maybe that’s why they thought using some kind of bat or melee weapon would just leave the man with no money wounded. For that was false preference and the man wasn’t just wounded he was dead.Where does that leave the mediocore idiots, in jail and their not going to kill them off with a death sentence. I guess their goes my taxes again, while they get free food and showers in jail, I have to work two jobs to pay my rent and utilities. Maybe cutting off their air supply would be alot easier on tax payes like me and everyone else.

Left by Maria on April 4th, 2007 at 1:54 pm

if some people beat a homeless guy to death they are not good people. And why would people beat a homeless guy when they dont do anything to hurt people. They only ask for money and food that is soo stupid for beatin a homeless man with a baseball bat.

Left by Jenni on April 27th, 2007 at 7:03 am

i knew thomas daughtery and he was a good kid …..untill he went back down to florida . tom has a lot of problems and when i heard that he beat that homeless man to death i said to my self ..WHAT THE HELL!!! i do know tom like i said and i cant belive he did that but i also belive that (tom) he should get whats coming to him . you know what they say ‘” an eye for an eye”. i knew tom and his mom from sparta

Left by julie on August 18th, 2007 at 1:29 pm

i knew tom too and i can honestly say that he deserves what’s coming to him. you take someone’s life, you don’t deserve yours.

Left by sean on April 27th, 2008 at 1:00 pm

I’ve worked with Brian Hooks’ mother, for over nine years.
Before this happened, I can’t help but remember her saying in the lunch room one day. “That Lionel Tate’s mother is a disgrace to all mothers.” hmmmmm (carma?? or just sad??)

Left by legal secretary on August 20th, 2008 at 11:43 am

I wanted to say: you has the right to judge? no one, only god is reserved that right !!

Can you be in Mr. Dougherty’s head? no , well then don’t make an opinion…

What if You made a horrible mistake (and don’t tell me you havent because that is a bag of baloney) little mistake or big..don’t matter..would you want MERCY OR JUSTICE? …..makes you wonder doesn’t it? this country has forgotten mercy. We want to punish,punish punish…and then what? what do you really accomplish? other than satisfiying a morbid sentiment on being a judge and executioner? you have no right none, zero , zilch.. so stop whining and do something..get involved so kids won’t end up like him. Teach them morals ( you all remember those right??) good vs evil ect…

Mercy shall obtain mercy

For with the same rod you measure, so shall be done unto you…

God’s speed

Left by David on October 23rd, 2008 at 10:40 pm

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