Arrest Made After Brutal Beating Of 91-Yr.-Old Caught On Tape
Posted May 14, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Note: some may find the video in this story disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.
It’s the kind of story that makes you wonder just how low some criminals can go. This one proves it’s reached new depths. A 22-year-old man is under arrest in Detroit, after a 91-year-old World War II veteran was repeatedly punched and beaten as he came out to get his car.
The vicious crime was captured on security video. The tape shows a man approaching the senior, asking him for a light for his cigarette and then punching him over and over again in the head. His goal: take Leonard Sims’ 2005 Chevy Malibu. The attack, which is frozen in time on the footage, seems to last forever and becomes harder and harder to watch, as the elderly war vet absorbs blow after blow. The suspect finally jumps in the car and drives off, leaving a badly beaten and bruised victim behind.
Equally shocking is the number of people who witnessed the incident – nearly all of them stood around watching but no one intervened. The crime took place last Friday and it didn’t take long for cops to come up with a suspect. Deontae Bradley and an accused accomplice were both in court on Monday.
“Is there really any reason to beat a 91-year-old just to take his car?” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy wonders in a statement. “Carjacking is bad enough, but there was absolutely no reason for him to brutalize one of our senior citizens to [allegedly] accomplish his criminal goal.”
Sims remains black and blue but brave after his ordeal. And he refuses to blame the man who hurt him so badly. “[I hope he can] turn his life around. Go to school. Learn a trade. Get a job. And work for his living, not steal it.” The injured senior was able to watch the arraignment Monday from the comfort of his own living room – officials hooked up a special feed to make it possible for him to see the wheels of justice in this case start to turn.
It’s the latest series of attacks to involve society’s most vulnerable. In March, a 101-year-old woman was accosted as she came home to her apartment in New York City. And two days later in Toronto, an 81-year-old man suffered a broken hip and elbow during a home invasion near Markham Road and Eglinton.
