By Nicholas Stix
Published at 7:39 p.m., on Saturday, November 5, 2011
Expanded at 8:24 p.m., on Saturday, November 5, 2011
If you rob or attempt to rob someone, and kill him in the process, the proper charge is felony murder or first-degree murder, i.e., murder in the course of committing some other felony. In the story below from Chicago, Antoine Ward, 18, Donnte Kindle, 17, and Jabril Garner, 18, have all been charged with murdering Darius Link, 41, after Ward allegedly tried to rob Link of his cell phone. But a writer or editor at the Sun-Times Media Wire misrepresented the robbery or attempted robbery—it’s not clear whether the attackers succeeded at robbing Link—as “a fight over a cell phone.”
Why, pray tell, would someone “fight over a cell phone”? In some alternate universe, perhaps a cell phone was lying on the street, and two or more people came upon it simultaneously, and fought to the death to possess it.
But that is not the universe of this story which, as it unfolds, is that of a robbery attempt that escalated into murder.
Perhaps the Sun-Times and Fox News staffers thought the typical reader would not go beyond the first line.
I blame both outlets because, although the story was a written by a Sun-Times reporter, and worked over by one of his editors, Fox was under no obligation to run the misleading lede. The publisher of any wire story has the prerogative to edit and supplement it to his liking. Thus, the Sun-Times and Fox News are equally to blame here.
The proper title for the story would thus be not, “Teens Charged with Fatal Beating at South Side Bus Stop,” but something along the lines of ““Teens Charged with Robbery-Homicide at South Side Bus Stop.”
This seemingly minor incident is part of the generations-long media-wide movement to define down black and Hispanic deviancy, led by—surprise, surprise—the New York Times.
Why do media miscreants even bother engaging in such shameless shenanigans? At most outlets, it’s done out of political and/or racial loyalty. There, political operatives disguised as journalists are allied with black and Hispanic criminals. At Fox and its outlets, either of two motivations could be in play. Fox’ parent corporation, News Corp., sometimes hires the sort of racist operatives I just referred to, e.g., Leonard Greene at the New York Post. However, as a Republican organization, especially since black supremacist leader Al Sharpton successfully punked CEO Rupert Murdoch in 2009, News Corp is also guilty of moral sliding, out of fear of more such attacks.
Teens Charged with Fatal Beating at South Side Bus Stop
Updated: Friday, 4 November 2011, 7:50 a.m. CDT
Friday, 4 November 2011, 7:50 a.m. CDT
Sun-Times Media Wire
Chicago - Three teens have been charged with beating a man to death at a South Side bus stop early Sunday during a fight over a cell phone.
Donnte Kindle, 17, of the 2800 block of East 78th Street and Jabril Garner, 18, of the 1300 block of East 73rd Street were both charged with one count of first-degree murder in connection with the attack, according to police News Affairs.
They were each ordered held on $1,000,000 bond during a Thursday hearing, according to police and the Cook County Sheriff’s office.
Antoine Ward, 18, of the 14200 block of South Cottage Grove in Dolton, is scheduled to appear in bond court later Friday on charges of first-degree murder, felony murder and robbery, according to police News Affairs.
[N.S.: While the Sun-Times and Fox staffers sought to diminish the severity of the crime, the prosecutor went the opposite route, overcharging Ward, since the first-degree and felony murder charges are redundant.]
Darius Link, 41, of an unknown home address, was killed in the attack at 1050 E. 79th St, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
He and his friend left an acquaintance’s house around 3 a.m. and were waiting at a bus stop in the 1000 block of East 79th when a man approached and asked to use the friend’s cell phone, police said.
When the friend declined, the man tried to hit him, police said. The friend ran to get help, but three or four other men joined the person who asked for the phone and beat the victim.
“It’s crazy out here. I barely even come outside,” area resident Arthur Carpenter said. “People are getting jumped around here all the time.”
Link was pronounced dead less than a half hour later at University of Chicago Medical Center, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
An autopsy Monday found that he died of a hemorrhage caused by blunt force injury to the head from an assault and his death was ruled a homicide, the medical examiner’s office said.
“It’s just senseless. It’s not even news anymore,” said Grand Crossing resident Jocelyn King. “It’s scary out here at night.”
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