A recent attack on a Santa Fe teen needs to be talked about.
In the early morning hours of Aug. 27, a good friend of mine was severely beaten and left for dead in a downtown Santa Fe skate park.
It was a completely random act of hideous violence; he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But the brutality of this act was by no means average. It was the act of some very disturbed men, roaming town looking for a victim. And they attacked possibly the most innocent and nonthreatening guy they could find.
Why do I feel the need to talk about a tragedy that no one else seems to want to talk about? When it makes me sick to my stomach to think or talk about it? I believe it's an important
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event for New Mexicans to discuss. I want people to talk about this, to be up in arms about this, to stop it from happening again. I want others to feel this family's suffering so they know they are not alone.
My friend, we'll call him Joey, is only 16 and all of 5 feet tall, not the kind of guy you'd find starting a fight with someone! Joey is about the kindest, gentlest, most caring person I have ever met in all of my years. I have never met someone who is so eager to give of himself and truly expect nothing in return. He is the kind of person who would do something for you, without being asked, without you even knowing, and produce miracles.
But that night, he was easy prey. According to reports, he was attacked by four alleged gang members with baseball bats, beer bottles and possibly a knife. His head was cracked open, his hand smashed, his body beaten, for no reason except that he was there. His life was shattered so a few punks could have a laugh.
The story goes like this: Joey and his friends were walking to their car in downtown Santa Fe when a Suburban with four men in it drove by and started an altercation with them. The Suburban stopped, the men jumped out with baseball bats and the kids took off running. Somehow they were able to catch Joey as his friends kept running. The men beat him bloody and took off again. When Joey's friends returned, he was in bad shape. They rushed him to St. Vincent Regional Medical Center and then had to fly him to an El Paso hospital, where he spent a week recovering. At that point, the family was still unsure of how Joey would come out of this. All they knew was that he was going to have a very long road of recovery ahead of him.
A week later, standing at the scene of the crime, I huddled closely with his family and friends to try to find reason and peace. A rainy candlelight vigil at the skatepark seemed appropriate. But I was haunted by the idea of turning back time to a sunny day when Joey skated here with friends, oblivious of what was to come. To think of him here, happy and laughing, is the only image I wanted to conjure of him. Not the thought of him injured and bleeding or lying in a hospital bed. I fought back tears as his family read prayers of hope and tomorrow's promise.
Joey's friends are angry and frustrated at the lack of developments in the case. They are concerned for Joey's health, but unable to help him, will they turn to finding the perpetrators and exacting revenge? Without guidance or assistance from the authorities, will they turn into a teenage lynch mob? And possibly get hurt in the process, something that Joey would not want. He would never want someone to get hurt or killed in his name, for any reason. He would not want another family to go through what his is going through.
While most people blame the criminals, some, unjustifiably, blame the parents or, crazily enough, the victim. Why is that? Human nature makes us want to find someone to blame, I guess. So can't we just blame the perpetrators? If it wasn't Joey that night, it would have been some other innocent victim. This is not the fault of the parents, either. In fact, Joey has one of the most loving, supportive and involved mothers that I know-beside my own, of course!
Amazingly, Joey doesn't even feel ill will toward his attackers. What kind of person wouldn't wish harm upon the people who inflicted such pain on them? The most forgiving kind of person, that's who. He just wants to move on and have his life back, as any 16-year-old would. Luckily for him, he has no memories of that night, so moving on is his first priority right now.
At this point there have been no arrests and no leads. [Editor's note: Another teenage boy was beaten at DeVargas Park last weekend. The Santa Fe Police Department made an arrest in that incident, but they say it is unconnected to the August attack.] With very little details about the crime being released, I feel the media has skirted the issue. But I think that is a second crime. The people of Santa Fe and New Mexico should know about this, be furious that this happened in their backyard. Or is this beating just commonplace for the city "different"? These "men" need to pay for this unthinkable crime. This violence needs to stop now, and all those agencies who are here to "protect us" need to hear our voices and act.
Nearly a month since Joey's attack, my anger has not subsided. This tragedy is still fresh in my mind, and I don't think anyone else should forget these events either. We need to remember the nightmare Joey and his family have been through. And we need to make a commitment to making our communities safe.
I pray that Joey will recover fully. He is so young and has so much to live for. I know he is determined to fight his way out of this and return to his wonderful life and the joys of high school. He lives for his music, and I can only hope he continues to hear the music for a long, long time.
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