Four youths have been arrested in the beating of an Alabama teenager who posted “Blue Lives Matter” and other pro-police sentiment on social media, The Birmingham News is reporting .
On September 30, as The Birmingham News reported at the time, 17-year-old Brian Ogle was assaulted in the parking lot of an abandoned hardware store in Sylacauga, Alabama, following a high school football game. Police officers responding to a report of an assault found the teenager bleeding from the head. He was taken to a nearby hospital, and for a while it looked like he might not survive.
Sylacauga High School having prayer walk at 6:30am for student who was beaten last Friday. Brian Ogle in stable condition at UAB @WBRCnews pic.twitter.com/aaFV76t7aE
— Clare Huddleston (@Fox6Clare) October 6, 2016
Police are saying the attack may have been racially motivated , according to The New York Daily News , as the four alleged assailants are black and the victim is white.
On October 4, Ogle’s mother, Brandi Allen told The Birmingham News that she believed the assault resulted from a dispute in the halls of Sylacauga High School that spilled over onto social media. What happened specifically has not been made clear, but it appears that Ogle took exception to some of his classmates professing support for the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Ogle, whose would often post pro-police sentiment on Facebook, would go on later that day to post more pro-police posts on social media, including the phrases “I Back the Blue” and “Blue Lives Matter.” Those posts almost cost her son his live, says Allen.
“I go home, I pull into the driveway, and my husband ran out of the house saying Brian just got jumped on. I just lost it,.”
These days Brian Ogle is on the mend. He’s out of intensive care, but he still faces months of rehabilitation. He’s in near-constant pain from fluid on the brain.
“He’s already done more than the doctors thought he would at this point, and we couldn’t be more thankful for that.”
(Las Vegas RJ) #Sylacauga beating suspects could face tougher charges : Brian Ogle, the.. https://t.co/TXWdLcNopb pic.twitter.com/z3Kg1BIGtc
— InUSANews.com (@inusanewscom) October 12, 2016
On Thursday, according to The Daily Home , Sycalauga police arrested four youths in connection with the beating. Quartez Lamar Walker, 20, and Bobby Ronchea Brown, 19, were both arrested on the campus of Stillman College in Tuscaloosa. Landah Grant Ealy Jr., 18, was arrested on the Montgomery campus of Auburn University. It is not clear, as of this writing, if those three men are or were students at the colleges where they were arrested. A fourth man, Daveon Shamareya Nix, 20, was arrested in Sycalauga.
Walker, who police say was armed with a gun at the time of the alleged assault, was charged with assault in the first degree and was being held on $20,000 bond. The other three men have been charged with assault in the second degree and given bonds of $15,000.
Brandi Allen believes the men’s bonds are too low.
“I’m happy, I’m relieved that four have been arrested, but I’m not happy with the amount of the bond and the charges. They should have been charged with attempted murder, by all means. They’ll probably be out on bail tonight.”
Ironically, one of the men – Daveon Nix – is the son of a local politician who has said that parents need to be accountable for the actions of their children. Sylacauga District 2 City Councilwoman-elect Tiffany Nix said that parents are as much to blame for the actions of their children as the kids themselves are.
“Let’s lead by example, let’s be kind to one another, let’s lend a hand to our neighbors no matter what color they are, let’s stand together and show our children that we love them enough to put our petty differences aside.”
Sycalauga police have determined that no Sycalauga High School students appear to have been involved in the assault on Brian Ogle. It is not clear, as of this writing, if any more arrests will be made in connection with this crime.
[Featured Image by Greg Browning /Shutterstock]
