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. 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.
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http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/teen-burn-victim-michael-brewer-speaks-out-against-bullying/19604452
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.
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.
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.
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!
As soon as I read the headline, I immediately knew the race of the attackers. I guess I am psychic.
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
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.