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CBS/ November 25, 2009, 8:37 AM

Mom of Boy Set on Fire: It's "Disgusting"

The mother of a 15-year-old boy who was set on fire by his classmates said on "The Early Show" that violence among children needs to stop.

Valerie Brewer said what happened to her son Michael Brewer is "disgusting."

"Our country, our world, needs to wake up and see what is going on with our children," she said. "They need to do something. This has got to stop. It's not just my son. It's everybody's children. This could happen to somebody else and God forbid -- I don't wish this agony and torture on anybody. We have got to do something to make this violence stop today."

Five Charged With Setting Teen on Fire

Michael has burns on 65 percent of his body after he was doused with rubbing alcohol and set on fire. Five boys, who are all 13 to 15 years old, have been charged in the attack.

Broward County police say Michael owed one of the suspects Matthew Bent $40 for a video game. When he didn't pay up Bent allegedly tried to steal a $500 custom bicycle, belonging to Brewer's father. And when Brewer called the cops, police say, Bent wanted revenge.

Sheriff Al Lambert said, "This group of kids thought, that because the kid may have snitched him out, and turned him in because they were trying to steal his dad's bike, they felt in their mind, it was OK to set him on fire."

Fifteen-year-old Denver Jarvis is accused of dousing Brewer with rubbing alcohol. Jesus Mendez, also 15, is accused of flicking the lighter.

Detective Steve Feeley said, "(One suspect) told him pour it on him, pour it on him at which time a second suspect poured it on, then a third suspect lit him on fire."

Brewer ran and jumped into a pool, but it took a man with a fire extinguisher to put out the flames. Authorities say Bent and Jarvis laughed when they were questioned about the attack.

Sherry Jarvis, the suspects' mother told CBS News, "They're good kids, they have good grades, no problems in school. Wrong place, wrong people."

As for Michael Brewer, he is fighting for his life in Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where he's expected to remain for months. Michael's doctor, Dr. Nicholas Namias, the director of the Burn Center at Jackson Memorial, said Michael is "doing as well as we could hope someone could do with this condition."

"But don't mistake that for being good," he said. "This is obviously a very bad thing, a very serious thing. People said yesterday he was out of the woods, but that's only half the sentence. … Burn patients only really start to get sick four, five, six days into it."

Namias said now doctors are trying to treat massive inflammation of Michael's whole body. He added Michael will likely deal with more infections and organ failures down the road.

"This is just part of the long process of treating a major burn," Namias said.

Michael's mother, who has been by his side, said on "The Early Show" she hasn't slept since her son was hospitalized.

"It's just a big blur," she said. "It's heartache and pain. And I have a wonderful support system. My family, my friends, and the staff here at the hospital, they're all taking care of me. And helping me to get through this."

If you would like to help Michael Brewer and his family, go to CBS 4's Neighbors 4 Neighbors.
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved.
215 Comments Add a Comment
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BenDikis says:
maybe its lack of parents, or male role models, these kids think its all about respect and need to get it, but are never thought to give it, shame really. giggling prolly thought they would get away with it. you can already hear him talking to his mom, "i just went with them mom, didnt know that would happen", "i only held him down, didnt know they would...", "i poured alchol on him, i thought we were scaring him, mom im sorry...." "we only said we would scare him" "i didnt mean to actually light him up, i was still few inches away and it went up like a gush, it was only to scare him mom, i promise" when really they knew what they had done, this reminds me of all these bullying cases with girls killing themselfs or being beaten over it, when this is really bulling, u know this kid hated to go to school because of these 5 kids, these kids are predatory thugs and more than likly sociopaths, um hello? an ongoing disregard for the rights of others? ding ding ding! we have a winner! tammy tell them what theyve won! 25-life thats right, possibility for parole in 2035! and see ya in hell, ty to stoffers tonights sponsor, turkey tetrazini! now thats good eating!
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BenDikis replies:
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omg that girl who was beaten in fla over text, same school that this kid went to!?!?! kinda crazy? one school with 2 of the biggest cases of bullying in years?!?!?!

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/teen-burn-victim-michael-brewer-speaks-out-against-bullying/19604452
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MoralMan says:
To all of you who think that the max punishment will be a deterent against more of the same type of crimes...you are wrong.
We keep building more prisons, more jails, this does not work...I know it is all we have been taught but we have inherited nothing but lies!
The children must be taught...don't laugh, think about it there are certain things that you were taught that you never forget because it was engrained in your mind ny an authority figure in your life...yes everyone has something, even you. I know for me I was taught never to hit a woman...never to punish a child while angry... and do the job right the first time. You know I may have strayed slightly from these teachings but these managed to pull me into line...back on track so to speak. If I had not been taught these things I would not have cared about them...you must teach teach teach and when you think you have taught enough...teach somemore. These children need The Peaceful Solution Character Education Program...it changes The Hearts and Minds.
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Otaku4EVA says:
I'm only going to say what my grandmother had said to me: "Honey, I love you and all my children, and I will fight for all of you; but if you do wrong or evil, I will kiss you and hug you and tell you 'I love you' as I walk you all the way to the chair."

If you're kid does evil/wrong, take off the rose-tinted glasses and stop making excuses for their behavior. I understand parents are going to want to defend their kid, but in a heinous (spell?) crime such as this, how can you say, "Well, there's two sides to every story?" Someone owed someone money; said debtor didn't get paid in a timely fashion; debtor takes out debtee ala mafia style. Last I checked, that's ILLEGAL!

Unfortunately the generation of parents who are supposed to be raising children, are letting the children dictate the rules. I see too many children nowadays in restaurants and stores throwing tantrums, back-talking, and in general being outright rude to strangers (and sometimes their own friends). If I ever talked back to my mother, she popped me a good one upside my head and dared me to do it again - let's just say "one and done" was the motto. I am a 25-year-old successful woman and when I see stories like this, I am outraged that a parent would even TRY to defend this type of behavior. I am in the camp of trying them as adults - if they were able to pre-meditate this malicious act, then they have the maturity to own up to it. If they can't they shouldn't have done this in the first place. If the kid owed them money, they could have gone straight to the parents and maybe work out a deal, i.e., the Brewer kid doing chores to earn money - something like that could have been made into a learning experience, instead, you get a couple of morons who are raised with the "me me me" mentality debilitating someone for life and ending up in prison before actually reaching adulthood.

It's a sad sad world we live in folks....

Sorry, I went on too long, but figured I'd put that in there.
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F-Lood says:
It's interesting to the people of America who aren't personally affected by this event to attempt to fully understand this situation. There are multiple problems associated with this but I'd like to thank CBS News for actually showing the tragedy of the situation. It's a sad state of affairs when your rationality is supposedly "good and innocent" as Denver's mother, Sherry Jarvis, attempts to lead some people to believe, when in fact your logic is so warped that you even try to rationalize setting another person on fire.

I've already seen comments opposing these boys and comparing them to Nazis but I think your reasoning behind this may be skewed. These boys are not comparable to Nazis because of their violent behavior. They are comparable to the Nazi officers who were assisting in executions because they committed a very serious act: Attempting to rationalize the extreme behavior which they carried out as a result.

The Nazis were either fooled into thinking they were doing good for their country by slaughtering those labeled as enemies, or they knew of the consequences of their actions and spread the lies that were responsible for the murdering of millions of people.

In any case, these boys must have wanted to be caught. If, in fact, they were laughing and giggling as the report entails, they must have wanted to show someone or some people that they were actually willing to carry out a malicious act on another human being.

I fully support the recovery of Michael Brewer as well as the conviction of these boys as adults. However, there may be much more to this story than just the information given so far.
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BenDikis replies:
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Wow, i was just reading last few comments like wow these people take time to write so much, wonder if its just ramblings and mostly what ive read is pretty good stuff actually, but this comment i had to login here to reply like huh?

youve seen comments opposing these boys? really? the FIVE! who outnumbered him 5-1 (for a moment imagine 5 people similar to your age attacking you and burning you) they claim its cuz you actually didnt pay their thugish extortion attempts, which is what they are, thugs, they prolly saw sopranos or s/t and said we can beat up lil white kids, they will pay up if we beat one and do it really really bad, then rest will always pay up, and lets not forget, they gave him way out also, the $500 bike, and lets be serious here, u know none of these kids moms have car that cost more than $500 (or a dad (mexicans)), so they were shocked when he called the police on them! this mofo needed to be lit up! and this is where i really started to go huh? cuz i thought u were about to make good point about nazi's and following the group and self preservation, but nah. if a nazi didnt execute that person, he would be next, and many armies were this way in ww2, italians in particular, u could be shot on spot for refusing an order, no questions asked, your wife stops getting benifits, no death benefits, kids starve, so you preserve yourself, and a piece of you dies. im sure these kids had reasons, not saying they are sufficent, and id love to meet them, they can bring 5, and ill prolly use something similar to what nazi's used when i light them on fire as a kinda *** for tat, but anyways ive transgressed.

Point could be made that these kids were part of "group mentalitity" just follow the leader, much like it was just a handful that decided the fates of gods children in germany in ww2, but those that made the choice to kill didnt even do any heavy lifting. hitler, himmler, goering, goebbles, none of the "turd" reich i would guess never visited a camp even, but they knew if they gave order it would be followed.

Another point to same affect is this kid matthew bent was one owed $40 then tried to steal bike then had cops called on him, but 3 others did the heavy lifting? sounds fishy? is it pack mentality? doubtful, to pull off this attack they would have to have those supplies ready available, so they planned this, sounds like a "hired assualt" hired thugs administering justice for the godfather? prolly not either but in their eyes something similar, someone who has something they want, money power respect guns drugs women? who knows? maybe just a really hot loose sister with daddy issues. oh well. just if your gonna try to correct someone on nazi calling at least make sense, cuz they are nazi lil turds and in many many dif ways im sure we could spend hours thinking of. doubt they wanted to get caught either, just some maybe thought all i did was hold a kid down, i didnt do anything, and next one says, i poured alchol on him but i didnt think he would do it, and next says i just went with them, and last one says oh i didnt lite him up, the other one did. so they thought they were slick but nah dog, streets is watching, even when u get out, and time is served, streets is always watching. you will get yours!
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allysoun says:
are you a freaking moron or what? did you listen to the 911 call? did you hear this child screaming in pain? why do you think this is ok, and no action should be taken about it? i hope someone does the same to you and then giggles and says "whoopsie!" teehee, well they're really good boys, i'm sure they had a good reason for torturing and trying to kill you, haha!
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juliann212 says:
I saw the mother of one of the monsters on the today show today. Several times she said that there are two sides to every story. I do not care what the story is. It takes a monster of a person to do what these children did and they deserve everything that they get. This boys life changed completely and forever. He will never ever be the same child and adult that he would have been and he will never be able to do what he could have done before this crazy insane act of violence. The children that did this deserve to be thrown away so they can never alter someone elses life like this again.
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Direclaw says:
These boys deserve life in prison. I wouldn't even be opposed to the death penalty. I'm just furious!
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vrossv says:
Im only 18 years old and i am DISGUSTED by what these juvenile kids have done, why aren't the parents disciplining the children anymore? since they had a lack of discipline they should have the ultimate disciplinary action taken against them by sentencing them in jail for life. They have ruined the life of a young man and therefore should have THEIR lives ruined.... ever heard of "eye for an eye"?
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kingerik234 says:
Setting someone on fire is far more than a "mistake". A mistake is losing your book bag.

As soon as I read the headline, I immediately knew the race of the attackers. I guess I am psychic.
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Thatruth0416 replies:
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no you knew their race cause your a sterotype **** thats how
you are right that is not a mistake but white kids are as capable as doing the same crimes as any latin race or black
alexgarza replies:
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WOW!
I can't believe you can say something like that!
A white kid is just as capable of committing a crime as a black person.
You racist stereotypical person, how dare you.
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weneedpeace says:
I usually dont write on these things because you have such foolishness and stupidity written on here. Do you know that I came on to see if I could find out how the boy was doing and ran across these remarks. I have a question for all of you that showed so much anger towards the boys that set this young boy on fire. Have you never made a mistake? No I don't know the boy that was burnt or the boys that did this horrible thing, but I feel sorry for all the boys that were involved and the parents that have to face this horrible nightmare. These children and yes they are children will deal with this the rest of their lives. They have made a horrible mistake, a horrible mistake but who are we to judge them or their parents. If any of you are parents, you know how hard it is to raise a child in this day and age. We sometimes forget about family values and we have left Hollywood to raise our children. It's not that we don't love our chidren we just have busy schedules and forgot our priorities. Even as parents we need to be taught still. If we are wanting the children to stop this bullying then we can't turn around and threaten them or wish the worse to come upon them. You are doing nothing but teaching your child hatred. I watched the mother on the CBS Morning Show and my heart went out to her and her family. I have thought of this young man everyday. He will suffer many, many painful hours, days, months and years to recover. We need to find a solution for helping the children of today, for helping the parents of today. Please checkout the Peaceful Solution Website. It helps with self control, character, respect and responsibility. If we want something to be done, we have to change our own families and communities first.
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Leotta99 replies:
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Do you know that they laughed when they were arrested? They don't care, they have no remorse over what they did. If these boys are not prosecuted as adults THAT is what will teach our kids the wrong message. You are seriously messed up in the head for feeling sorry for these monsters. It takes the kind of mentality these kids have to grow up and torture people like the Nazis did. A "mistake"?!! Give me a break!!!!
lifefitness replies:
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I read your comment and I would like to ask you a question, do you have any children because if you don't you have no clue what these poor people are going through. To have your child set on fire by these little pieces of crap and then laugh at him as he is burning is unforgiveable. They all deserve to go to jail for the rest of there lives. So until something like this happens to you, like I said , you don't have a freaking clue.
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