Set afire, teen now struggles for survival

[Flowersfor5]

Brewer is heavily sedated, and the ventilator does not allow him to speak. His open wounds are covered by bandages, which are changed daily. It's a four-hour process.

He has not been able to speak with police since his desperate fight for life began October 12, when police say five teenage friends, including a 13-year-old, doused Brewer with rubbing alcohol and set him on fire.

According to police, witnesses said the teens called Brewer "a snitch" as they used a lighter to set him ablaze.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/02/...ery/index.html


This broke my heart and gave me a lot to think about.
The article refers to the boys who set him on fire as his "friends."
My male teen cousins have talked about the dangers of being labeled a "snitch."
How can our culture, our society, allow this mentality to continue?
How this will affect the lives of all the kids involved....

[ORION]

Why? Just, why? Lighting an innocent kid on fire because he was going to tell on them? I hope they are sent to the worst jail in their country. They deserve it.

[JeDii]

Wow, what a bunch of horrible teenagers. They tried to kill him because he was a snitch? I can see things like this happening to snitches in like the world of gangs and other organized crime, but this was a bunch of 15 year olds. What was he going to tell on them for? It must be something pretty big if they did that to him.

[ThisIsSparta]

Originally Posted by JeDii

What was he going to tell on them for? It must be something pretty big if they did that to him.

The attack occurred after Brewer reported to police that one of the youths had stolen his father's bicycle. Police say the bicycle was stolen because Brewer did not pay one of the boys $40 for a video game.

That is their "reason" for doing this. Also, check this out.

[Articsledder]

Originally Posted by JeDii

Wow, what a bunch of horrible teenagers. They tried to kill him because he was a snitch? I can see things like this happening to snitches in like the world of gangs and other organized crime, but this was a bunch of 15 year olds. What was he going to tell on them for? It must be something pretty big if they did that to him.

I heard one of them stole his fathers bike.

That just made me feel really sad. I remember hearing it on the news a couple weeks ago, and thoguht about how my life would be ruined if that was me. I hope he can recover from that.

[Projectmatt]

That's just..wrong. This is just sickening. Who the hell lights somebody on fire because they are going to "tell" on you? Wow. I really do hope the people responsible for this go to prison for a hell of a long time.

[flippysam]

There are so many words I can drag out of my mouth to describe how sick this is, I seriously hope he gets better so he can go through a proper trial, when they said 5 teenage friends, did they mean friends of michael or those teenagers were friends with each other?

I know that there would never be a justified reason for this, but all this over a video game, its pathetic that, if they were friends that their friendship wasn't worth a mere $40.

[BT06]

Why did the kid let them spray alcohol all of him? Kid's stupid.

[JeDii]

Originally Posted by BT06

Why did the kid let them spray alcohol all of him? Kid's stupid.

They walked up to him and dumped it on him out of a plastic jug. They probably held him too.

[iTsAmy94]

That poor kid, was burned for such a stupid reason. This proves that many children these days are very stupid and will do anything for revenge on things that mean nothing. Video games? Stealing? Burning? This is just too hard to piece together, I almost burst into laughter from reading how ridiculous this is. Although this is serious, people like this are all around the world. Doing chaotic things to others for silly reasons, and apparently they just giggle and smile thinking the world is butterflies and rainbows. Then they find out the consequences like they've never been told it by their parents/guardians, and they just sometimes get released early from their innocent parents who had their child witness another child lit on fire dancing around to try getting the flames off. This story, breaks my heart.