There is an extremely disturbing videotape below of an elderly woman in Florida being abused and assaulted at a pool as teenagers cheered and jeered. At one point, Leon Balfour Jr., 16, picks up Nancy James, 68, and throws her to the ground. He then picks her up and tosses her into the pool. It is a level of unprovoked and spontaneous violence that is truly shocking. The question is how to deal with a teenager with his level of rage.
Here is the videotape:
Heavy has detailed the history of Balfour who has now been charged with battery on a person 65 years or older, 7News WSVN reported.
Balfour was processed at the Broward County Juvenile Assessment Center before being transported to the Broward Regional Juvenile Facility. The question is whether he will be treated as an adult. James was merely walking her dogs when she was surrounded by the teenagers. She found herself in the middle of about 200 people at Players Place Apartment Complex in North Lauderdale, Florida, when she asked for them to just turn down the music at the pool. She serves on the board of the association. She was hospitalized for the night and her dogs were eventually tracked down by a neighbor.
Balfour’s father was convicted for a first degree murder in 2008. Leon Sean Balfour-Joseph.
Balfour did not turn himself in until his image was widely distributed with the video, which went viral. Do you think that this 16-year-old should be tried as an adult? Juveniles are generally released at age 18 and sent to juvenile centers. The concern is that sending them to a prison like his father will only harden him into a habitual offender. Yet, this attack reflects a level of rage and violence that makes him a credible threat to society.
What do you think?
Who hosted the party? Treat him as an adult. Identify as many of the attendees as possible and publicly shame them. Identify their parents wherever they are and shame them too. The Board of this apartment association should make sure they have sufficient insurance to cover incidents like these. Increase it anyway and then increase the rents for everyone in the complex. Let the tenants know the rents will come back down if there are no further incidents for 6 months. Let the tenants police themselves and see if they have the stones to do what this woman did.
200 hours of community service at a senior center–cleaning bed pans
Need more information about the criteria Florida applies to make this sort of decision.
Charged and made to suffer the consequences of his actions yes. Tried as an adult and made to face life (or death as some of the prejudiced mob are calling for), ridiculous. A juvenile idiot who thought he could lift a nagging woman and throw her into the pool foe ruining their fun. Obviously he goofed. So because his father is a murderer he should have to pay for his sins and face a harsher penalty?
Those out for blood here seem to argue because blacks are incarcerated at higher rates he should be thrown in with the lot and is obviously feral? How well has the mass incarceration policy served this country thus far? I seem to remember mass incarceration of the irish at one time by the british that was also unjust. It’s not like white teens have never had a crazy party and pushed an adult into a pool. This kid was just an idiot for thinking he could throw her and slipping, and not considering the risk, then continuing to throw her to save face. Everyone claiming this shows the evil of the party goers because no one moved to save her, you act like they knew he was going to slip. It looked to happen quickly. How did she get out of the pool? Did no one help her?
I have no sympathy for him recieving whatever punishment he is due as a juvenile offender, he could have killed the woman with his carelessness. That did not appear to be his intent however and barring extensive evidence of his own (not his father’s) criminal history, he should no more readily be tried as an adult than this group of olive skinned pool assailants: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k5f81pSaNeo
Or this mixed group: https://youtu.be/hnSWzwSPYMI
I wont say this kid: https://youtu.be/t63XV0F34r4
But as you can see this type of thing happens regularly. Just they dont trip, injure the victim and have it recorded. To those saying he wouldnt have done this if she were black, i disagree. If she were black and nagging he may not have hesitated to throw her in. There’s more than one video of black youth pushing and throwing adults in a pool, including their own mothers (not that its a racial issue since the same can be found for whites).
The way this happened was terrible but unless she was seriously injured it shouldnt ruin his life. Turley is right, these playful antics are nothing compared to a hardened criminal regardless of race. And our prison system has turned a large percentage of non-violent offenders into truly violent ones. I’d be interested to see a study of how to make prisons truly rehabilitative. Of course then you get the crew that will say it’s too nice and a waste of taxpayer money even if it costs less. Other first world countries dont have the type of lengthy sentences we have here or the mixed prison population between murderers rapists and drug users typically. If the majority were incarcerated at higher rates we might reexamine our incarceration policies the same way we are the war on drugs now that the heroin epidimic has engulfed middle america.
His behavior deserves adult treatment. Not only was it misogeny and age bias, it was clearly a hate crime perpetrated by a majority against a minority. He throw her to the ground (possibly impulsive behavior) but he then regrouped and purposely threatened her life and safety by throwing her in a pool. He did this because he has hatred for either the elderly or whites or women. Any good liberal would see Hate Crime written all over this! (That is assuming there are actually any good liberals!)
A disgusting HATE CRIME! No mention of HATE CRIME, M. Turley?! Why not? Likely, that is what it is. Black racism against whites is clearly increasing. Hell, it was essentially promoted by the Obama regime… and seems to be promoted by the army of deans of diversity in the nation’s colleges. BLACK RACISM!!! We never seem to see those words in writing, as if racists could only be white. Perhaps M. Turley has been overly indoctrinated by forced diversity training at GWU? Hmm. When I mentioned racism as the likely cause for my being confronted by three young blacks in Baton Rouge a decade ago, and was beaten and robbed, I was dismissed by the PC-mindnumb crowd. How do you know they were racist?
G. Tod Slone, PhD (Université de Nantes, FR) aka P. Maudit,
Founding Editor (1998)
The American Dissident, a 501c3 Nonprofit Journal of Literature, Democracy, and Dissidence
http://www.theamericandissident.org
wwwtheamericandissidentorg.blogspot.com
todslone@hotmail.com
217 Commerce Rd.
Barnstable, MA 02630
Blight of America….that simple.
No animal in the entire world does to another animal like what man does to man. (anonymous)
Hold him down in front of his pals with guns pointed at all. Cut off his genitals. Stuff part in his mouth. Tape his mouth shut. Throw him in the pool with his hands in handcuffs and feet in handcuffs. As he drowns throw his parents (if you can find them) into the pool to drown also. Then go after the grandparents. Then shoot his pals.
A THUG….WHO NEEDS TO PAY ….ALONG WITH THE OTHER THUGS, WHO EGGED HIM ON.
A number of vindictive comments already.
Of course he should be tried as an adult. Rage? Why is that term used. She did nothing to him. He simply wanted to do something vile and violent and he chose someone who could not defend herself.
There can be no excuses made for such behavior. He should be tried as an adult!
Vile and violent? He wanted to throw her in the pool. You act like he wanted to stab her, shoot her, or punched her in the head intentionally. The idiot tried to show off for the girls annoyed by her nagging and slipped. He appears to have hit the ground first cushioning her fall and continues to throw her in trying to save face.
I agree there was no rage here. Just an idiotic young jacksss who thought it would be funny to throw a complaining lady in the water. She doesn’t look 80 she does look like a mom however, but we also have youtubes of white teens throwing teachers, mothers, pushing a grandmother etc into a pool. This went horribly wrong…hence why everyone runs.
Since there was no reason for the attack on the woman or the throwing her in the pool, I vote for dealing with him as an adult.
I would like to believe that restorative justice is possible.
I would like to believe in elves and fairies! The fairies are sooo pretty with their little shiny wings, and the little elves are just sooo precious they way they shine up your shoes at night, if you leave them some cookies! And maybe unicorns, too! Oh, I just love unicorns!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
You could read about restorative justice instead of only blubbering on and on and on…
The birch, the cane, and the pillory-and-stocks would be restorative.
Did you promote and suggest restorative justice for the guy just arrested a few weeks ago for stalking one of Obama’s daughters? Did you implore the authorities to have both the victim and the perpetrator, sit down, where both could settle on a resolution? A common theme of restorative justice. Hmmm? Or, is the call for restorative justice just hauled out when the victim is a white, nobody, with little or no widespread fame or connections, and the perpetrator is black? Start demanding that restorative justice be applied when the victim is famous and well-connected, and, especially, when the victim is black and the perpetrator is white. Until then, your words and ideas are inconsequential, as you have no intention of applying your concept across the board.
Turley is inferring rage as a motivating emotion. The reality is worse. But it’s discernible only if you see the incident in the social context in which it exists. Clearly there is a trend on black mob violence, and the perpetrators seek to attain status by exacting the violence upon defenseless victims. In this incident, the teen slipped when he first lifted the woman. It is obvious that he tried to throw her in the pool and slipped. That would be a factor in sentencing. The facts are there with respect to the law violation. The social and political question concerns the group endorsement and encouragement of the violation of the woman’s personal safety.
I don’t CARE that he “Slipped”. He had no business laying his hands on this White Woman. Why? Not because she’s White but because she’s a “person”. No business laying his hands on HER or HER dog. I hope he goes to prison for LIFE before he KILLS someone. Feral is the right word. Neutering is not possible but incarceration will take him away from society for a while. LOCK HIM UP!
If a study was made of 16 year-old’s who commit crimes similar to young Balfour’s it would be found rehabilitation just doesn’t happen. It’s not a real-world possibility. Policy should aim at protecting society from feral youths. This doesn’t necessarily mean they should be dealt with harshly.. Maybe they should be incarcerated in a spirit of quarantine, not punishment. But letting them run free is sentencing their future victims (and the statistical evidence is over whelming there will be future victims) to cruel and unusual punishment.
I don’t know what this person’s offender score is but unless it is high, I don’t see the need for him to be tried as an adult. Maybe someone familiar with his state’s juvenile criminal procedures can answer this but is the decision on whether or not to decline a juvenile and try him as an adult limited to only the crime charged or are prior convictions used?
I’ll leave this to the juvenile court to decide but in having watched subsequent videos in the news, from interviews with the victim, if found guilty this offender needs probably at least the middle of the sentencing range.
Also, an aggravating factor could be that he allegedly recklessly endangered the victim by risking her drowning after having assaulted her.
Can it be that the rage he exhibited was not toward a 68 year old woman, but a 68 year old white woman? If you think race did not play a role, you are not being honest.
If these people were white, you would hear the screams now for a Federal investigation.
Only if she died, and even then it’s doubtful there would be an indictment. Whatever happened to that pool party where the cops singled out the black children allowing the white children to go on filming them dragging the black ones like rag dolls and body slamming juvenile girls?
The contempt that he and the other party goers showed towards this elderly woman is astonishing. Whether the victim’s race was part of that equation, I don’t know, but I suspect it was. I do believe charges should also be brought against the young female who can be heard egging him on to “throw her in, throw her in.”
Visualize a 68 year old black woman entering the scene, not likely they would have shown that level of disrespect, never mind throw her in a pool.
You may be right that urging him to throw her in the pool is actionable. I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know. But it should not be. He alone is responsible for his conduct.
When I’d get in trouble as a kid and say that the reason I misbehaved is because my brother did it too or he told me to do it, my mother used to say, “well, if he told you to jump off a bridge would you do it?”. We also had sayings that we really believed like, “sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me”. The reason adages like that were used is because they contain some folksy common sense wisdom. They taught us that only the actor is responsible for his bad conduct regardless of who told us to act. And that we must be tolerant of speech we don’t like.
Defense will be she was a woman with white privilege. Soros’ funded BLMers and Congressional Black Caucus will defend him. I hope Trump has a couple of tweets about this case just like Obama came to the defense of Freddie in Baltimore with the Teddy Bear in Ferguson. Burning the American cities to the ground is always a smart thing to do when White people walk their dogs. She walked into a mind field…these people are worse than ISIS. She’s lucky that she lived through this ordeal. Just more of Obama’s “sons”.
Harden him, this video proves he’s already hardened. I notice none of the others made an attempt to intervene or help the woman. It would be interesting to follow the criminal history on a number of the attendees in the future. I hope Florida sends a message on these incidents, Florida is highly dependent on retirees and tourist.
Maybe Hillary will bring his mother on stage and give her a bouquet should she run in 2020?
Hopefully that is exactly what she will do, and that will be just what it takes to return Trump to the White House!
“Mothers of the Movement”, I think, helped sink Hillary. I could not believe how she depended on them, multiple appearances at the D convention…. Big mistake. I don’t think Kizr Khan was a huge prize either, tho clearly Hillary thinks he is.
HRC would have to rent a stadium to handle all of the mothers in America today who say: “My son didn’t do it.”
The system isn’t perfect but it is there first to stabilize society by protecting all from this sort of stuff. Perhaps the mutt should not be locked up to turn out like his Dad, but he should be taken out of society. There should be something between the two extremes, a slap on the wrist juvy approach and hard core. However, he should do at least five years being treated, being taught that the next time might be the last time.
Post racial society indeed. In 2017 we’re calling people f’ing mutts on a relatively centrist blog. The kid is guilty of assault and battery no doubt, but in the 90s these sort of comments were mainly common on stormfront:now it’s everywhere
I’m less concerned about the impact of prison on the offender than the safety of the public. Any young man who would assault an elderly woman for no reason should be locked away for the safety of other vulnerable persons.
I’m inclined to bypass the ususal “cupcake” detention centers and go on and sentence him to LIFE or maybe DEATH. My patience with these products of unwed Black and White Mothers with no Fathers who are thugs by the age of 16 has ENDED. And if they don’t know by age 16 that it’s not polite to hammer a woman into the ground and then throw her and her dogs into a pool, can’t wait to see what they will have accomplished by age 25. Another one of Obama’s “sons”!
Elise – I do believe death is a bit harsh.
Well, she was only trying to save mankind’s Genepool.
Ter ber – I thought she was trying to save eardrums.
To hammer into the ground? The idiot slipped and damn near concussed himself. No one intentionally body slamming someone else would fall in the manner he did. He’s just young so he bounced back. It appears obvious from the video he slipped and/or had his foot tangled in her dog leash. Sentence someone to death for a mistake? Maybe you’d prefer living in Afghanistan where the official penalty for our misdemeanors is death…
He got up and THREW her in the pool, not knowing if she
Could swim.
Yes, but that’s hardly the issue here, the issue is that he dropped her/fell with her on the concrete. I’ve got at least 20 videos on YouTube of white and mixed groups of teens/adults dunking, pushing, tossing etc unwilling people (mostly females, some elderly) into pools, and no one is calling for a lynch mob the way the majority of the comments here are.
I expect it from squeeky ( as with Ann Coulter I don’t even know if I should take her seriously half the time) but everyone else is so outraged I suspect not because she was thrown in the water without knowing if she could swim, but because he dropped her on the ground at first. Even if she can’t swim that doesn’t mean they would have let her drown, and if she’s as injured as many suggest then someone must have helped her out of the pool. Is your real issue that he threw her in the pool without knowing if she could swim? Or that you don’t think him falling on her was accidental? We have some here who could care less and think he should be put to death irrespective of intent. We have a cop in Virginia that shot a grandmother in the head and got off with 3 years after lying that she tried to roll up the window on his hand and drive off and I didn’t see this kind of outrage (both were white btw). This kid probably gets more time, even as a juvenile.