Well, as it turns out, there has been no arrest in the case, either. And the mother of this poor white child believes that she is being "brushed off".
"The mother of a 13-year-old boy who says he was set on fire by two teens said Monday that her son is having a difficult time after he suffered first-degree burns.
"It's hard for him," the boy's mother told KCTV5 Monday. "It's hard for us as a family having to deal with this."
Other media outlets have identified the boy's mother. KCTV5 is not doing so because the boy is a minor and no one has been charged.
Part of the police investigation has included attempting to verify the veracity of the boy's claims.
This prompted the boy's mother earlier this month to complain that police were treating her son as a suspect.
"It's very frustrating because I feel like we're being brushed off and there's nothing that is happening for us," the mother said Monday.
But in a news conference held last month, detectives said what the boy experienced was a particularly heinous crime.
The case drew national attention last month because the boy is white and he said the two teen boys who set him on fire were African-Americans.
Kansas City Police Sgt. Stacey Graves said Monday that the investigation is ongoing.
"This is not an incident we take lightly," Graves said. "Detectives have reached out to the community and members of the school district in the course of this investigation to learn as much as they can about what occurred and may have led up to the assault and they are still doing that today."
The boy says he was walking home from East High School when two teens he didn't know began to follow him.
According to the police report, the boy said he made it the front porch of his home on Quincy Avenue when one suspect physically barred him from entering. The second suspect grabbed a red gallon gasoline can and said, "This is what you get."
The second teen then used a light to ignite the gasoline, which "produced a large fireball burning the face and hair" of the victim, according to a Kansas City Police Department report.
Other media outlets have reported that one of the suspects said, "You get what you deserve, white boy."
That was not in the police report, and the boy's mother had spoken publicly with KCTV5 before Monday. As a result, KCTV5 did not previously report that statement.
The mother (Melissa Coon) explained Monday that her son confided in her what the suspect said while he was in the hospital. She said he didn't tell police those specific words because he was too upset at the time, which is why it wasn't reflected in the police report.
The boy's allegations have drawn particular attention across the country in the wake of the shooting death of a Florida teen.
The Kansas City case pales in comparison to the death of Trayvon Martin, the local boy's mother said. But she said it is a good reminder to look out for children. [Source]
Yes, Mam we do have to look out for our children. But I sure hope you are not another Ashley Todd. I don't want to jump to conclusions like some folks have done with Trayvon Martin, but.....
We know for sure something happened with Trayvon, he is dead. We know something happened with this poor child as well, but....
When I first heard this story I was aghast and appalled at what happened to this young man. I still am. But some of you can be so jaded:
"This was broad daylight..correct?
They knew the lighter was a bic. They noticed the types of shoes the boys wore. One had sunglasses and they could see the silver trim on the sides? The boy wasn't far from his home. Is the area rural that it would produce no witnesses? Did they find the lighter fluid? Surely someone saw these boys...they didn't just disappear into oblivion. I'm questioning whether it was a case of a little boy playing with lighter fluid and his semi racially aroused parents making effort to swing this into something racial because they watch Fox news...and know of the Martin Case...... Remember the girl with the backward "B" carved into her face? They knew the perps to be 16 years old, even the one concealed in his eye glasses and Ohhh! A hoodie no less... How quick did they get away? The teen was attacked right outside on his front porch. Bold teenagers! What did they use as a get away? Their bat mobile? Are the youths in school? High schools can't make out anyone fitting this particular description?????" (h/t to the folks who send me e-mails on a regular. I won't put your name out there but you know who you are.)
Oh my! What are you saying? That this poor woman made this all up? No, I don't think that she did. I am sure that they will catch these culprits really soon. This little boy deserves justice.
Finally, shout out to Flipper and his new toy. The auto elevator is a nice touch there Flipper. It beats having to spread out the garage. You can just stack those bad boys one on top of the other.
"SAN DIEGO — If the news last summer that Mitt Romney had a $12 million expansion planned for his oceanfront property here helped portray him as a member of the top 1 percent, the new disclosure that the renovation includes elevators for his four-car garage is not likely to burnish his image as a man of the people.
Plans for the expansion, first reported by Politico and later obtained by The New York Times from a rival campaign, include a split-level, four-car garage with a “car lift,” an outdoor shower, and a 3,600-square-foot basement.
A visit to the Romneys’ beachside property on Monday — one of three properties Mr. Romney and his wife, Ann, own — revealed a modest home for the wealthy enclave (at least from a street view) at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac. But an official city “Notice of Application” from April 2010 highlighted the changes to come: plans to “demolish the existing residence and construct a new, approximately 8,105-square-foot, single-family residence on a 0.41 acre site.”
Mr. Romney’s pre-expansion home, which sits perched atop a concrete seawall and is further separated from the beach by a locked gate...
...The Romney campaign said that a “car elevator” was simply a mechanism for storing cars in tight spaces, but that hasn’t stopped Mr. Romney’s rivals from jumping on the details of the planned expansion. In an e-mail on Tuesday, Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for President Obama’s re-election campaign, wrote, “But while Governor Romney has been quite specific about putting the finishing touches on his car elevator in La Jolla, he has hid many of his domestic and foreign policy plans under lock and key.”
"SAN DIEGO — If the news last summer that Mitt Romney had a $12 million expansion planned for his oceanfront property here helped portray him as a member of the top 1 percent, the new disclosure that the renovation includes elevators for his four-car garage is not likely to burnish his image as a man of the people.
Plans for the expansion, first reported by Politico and later obtained by The New York Times from a rival campaign, include a split-level, four-car garage with a “car lift,” an outdoor shower, and a 3,600-square-foot basement.
A visit to the Romneys’ beachside property on Monday — one of three properties Mr. Romney and his wife, Ann, own — revealed a modest home for the wealthy enclave (at least from a street view) at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac. But an official city “Notice of Application” from April 2010 highlighted the changes to come: plans to “demolish the existing residence and construct a new, approximately 8,105-square-foot, single-family residence on a 0.41 acre site.”
Mr. Romney’s pre-expansion home, which sits perched atop a concrete seawall and is further separated from the beach by a locked gate...
...The Romney campaign said that a “car elevator” was simply a mechanism for storing cars in tight spaces, but that hasn’t stopped Mr. Romney’s rivals from jumping on the details of the planned expansion. In an e-mail on Tuesday, Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for President Obama’s re-election campaign, wrote, “But while Governor Romney has been quite specific about putting the finishing touches on his car elevator in La Jolla, he has hid many of his domestic and foreign policy plans under lock and key.”
And the Obama campaign also took a jab at Mr. Romney’s hiring of Matthew A. Peterson, a lawyer in San Diego, to ease the way for construction permits. Since 2008, Mr. Romney has paid Mr. Peterson $21,500 to lobby city officials for the renovation.
Brad Woodhouse, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, sent out an e-mail that simply said: “Well, doesn’t everyone need an elevator for their cars? Even if you have to hire a lobbyist to secure it?” [Source]
Flipper, I was cool with the garage upgrade until I saw the part about the $21,500 you paid to have someone lobby for you to be able to build it. Now it doesn't look so cool anymore.
Besides, that money would have been better spent taking some Russian studies classes.
"MOSCOW – Russian President Dmitri Medvedev today accused Mitt Romney of being stuck in the Cold War, after the Republican presidential candidate said Russia was the United States’ “number one geopolitical foe.”
Medvedev dismissed Romney’s Monday remarks at a news conference in Seoul, saying they “smell of Hollywood.”
Medvedev told reporters today that the U.S. presidential candidates should explain their rationale for such statements, according to the Russian Interfax news agency. He advised Romney and the other candidates to look at their watches, saying “now is not the mid-70s.” [Source]
Yes, but at least he has elevators for his cars. Can you say that Mr. Medvedev?
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