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Two college jocks charged with stomping homeless man; woman praised for stopping them
By adamg on Wed, 04/23/2014 - 12:26pm
A pair of beefy men were arraigned today on charges they beat a panhandler to the sidewalk early one morning in Allston, in an attack that stopped only when a woman passerby rushed to shield the unconscious man with her own body, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.
A Suffolk County grand jury indicted Craig Parsons, 22, a Boston College football player from West Newton, and Anthony Varrichione, 23, a former quarterback at Marist College from Medway, on charges of aggravated assault and battery and aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Parsons was also charged with witness intimidation, the DA's office reports, adding they were released on personal recognizance today.
According to the DA's office, the two took offense to a homeless 50-year-old man asking for change around 2 a.m. on Jan. 26 outside 74 Allston St.
After a verbal altercation in which the victim was told to go away, Parsons and Varrichione allegedly approached him and began punching and kicking him. Parsons also allegedly knocked the victim's head into the sidewalk.
A female passerby who witnessed a portion of the attack interceded, prosecutors said, by running to the victim’s aid, shielding him from the assailants until they left, and then holding his head to ensure he could breathe. Other witnesses called 911 and the victim was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in critical condition. He is expected to survive but now has no memory of the assault.
The DA's office says witnesses immediately identified "two very large men" as the attackers, but that police were unable to more specifically ID them, at least at first.
The investigation also yielded evidence that Parsons on four separate occasions directed a person known to him not to cooperate with the investigation and not to identify him to authorities, which forms the basis for the witness intimidation charge against him.
Innocent, etc.
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Comments
There must be some proud
There must be some proud parents out there in suburbia.
Sad thing is
Sad thing is, I imagine some dad being red with rage at the police for persecuting his boy when this defenseless homeless man probably "had it coming."
Yup. "He should've just left!
Yup. "He should've just left!!!"
I'm sure they will change
I'm sure they will change their ways after posting $1,000 bail and eventually getting 6 months of probation!
Horrible human beings.
Horrible human beings.
Doesn't a BC Education build character?
Or does the football team get to skip religion and ethics classes?
I'm thinking that the BC
I'm thinking that the BC football team should forfeit at least one game to show that the actions of one of their teammates was abhorrent. To me, that would be showing some character. Yeah, yeah, don't punish the whole team, blah, blah, blah, but if you're a team then get together as one and show that this behavior is wrong.
If you need character building to know that attacking people is wrong, then you don't have much to begin with.
Good point well taken, Hyde_Parker.
Those guys need to be tried, charged with their crimes, and thrown in jail. If those two guys who beat and stomped the homeless man think they're big and tough, they'll meet their match in jail.
Btw, Kudos to the woman who shielded the homeless man from those two thugs with her body and hopefully saved the homeless man's life.
Yes, and teamwork
Team sports here building character and teamwork.
parsons is a 6'6 tight end..
parsons is a 6'6 tight end..
Not tough
Smh at college kids thinking they're thugs now
"Think?"
Seems like they're pretty good at it to me.
bc tough kids don't attend
bc tough kids don't attend college? They attend "the school of the hard knocks"
The church did these boys well...
Xaverian, BC and Marist, all fine catholic institutions teaching those catholic family values.
Parsons is suspended indefinitely from BC? Wow. What happened to the catholic church shuffling criminals around to a different place so they can commit crimes elsewhere?
Bigotry alive and well on uhub.
Right after Holy Week, no less.
Bigotry??
Give me a fucking break. What did I say that was not a fact? Xaverian, BC, Marist, all catholic affiliated schools - fact. The catholic church moved criminals accused of committing a certain crim to different locations and looked the other way while similar crimes were committed - fact.
Is anyone with a different opinion than you a bigot? Get the fuck out of here with that. Here's a list of things for you to look up, just to give you an idea of where my opinion comes from:
Bernard Law
John Geoghan
John Birmingham
Paul Shanley
Robert Gale
Paul Desilets
NAMBLA
85 Million
Have fun!
Let's not be sophist about things
Yes, the Catholic Church has a lot to answer for in relation to the priest scandal. Yes, Marist and BC are Catholic-led institutions. That does not, however, therefore mean that all Catholics are horrible or that Catholicism is therefore to blame for these two kids - any more than Jews are collectively to blame for Boesky and Madoff (or my personal favorite, Abramoff) or that Protestants are collectively to blame for, well, every other horrible thing Catholics and Jews can't be blamed for.
I don't blame Catholics...
I blame the catholic church for it's culture of secrecy, hypocrisy and victim blaming.
And, LO-Fucking-L with two things:
1. Anyone from this site defending the catholic church. I must have been reading another site during the St Patricks Day parade debacle.
2. Catholics calling someone a bigot for the same reason. Have fun with Wacko, et al at mass this Sunday.
What a dbag
Wow. Thanks for coming in and hijacking the comments to spew hatred.
Pointing out obvious hypocrisy
Pointing out obvious hypocrisy is not bigotry.
I have a high school senior who has just been through the college selection process, and another right behind him. Colleges like BC, Marist, Holy Cross MARKET their "values education" to parents and prospective students as an unique advantage of selecting Catholic universities over secular schools.
That "advantage" seems to have been lost on these two, despite all of the marketing spin about superior values focus.
Clown car response.
The Catholic Church is not responsible for the actions of these kids. I suppose we will be blaming African Americans for crimes committed by students/alums of HBCs and jews for crimes committed by anyone who ever attended Brandeis, etc.
The bigotry in that post is laid bare. I'm not surprised you are taking the contrarian tack here. It's your whole goddam raison d etre, along with puffing up yourself and your super family. ;)
Really, Anon?
The local Catholic universities seem to think that they can convince me, as a parent, that their educational institutions are superior to secular ones BECAUSE they instill CATHOLIC values.
Again, how is it bigotry to point out that institutions that market themselves as morally superior BECAUSE of their CATHOLICISM have failed to deliver on their sales pitch wrt these two products of their system?
If you display it like a peacock, you are going to wear it like a millstone.
Also, you must not have kids in the higher grades or even at all. If you think that getting materials in the mail from universities is "puffing", I'm not sure exactly what you have been puffing. If it breathes, it gets mail from these colleges.
parsons is a 6'6 tight end..
parsons is a 6'6 tight end..
You see guys like this around
You see guys like this around Allston - they're the types who say "faggot" at any vaguely hipster-looking guy on the street, and the reason you see so many cop cars at Wonder Bar and Tavern on the Square.
(btw, my captcha code for this post : FiAG5)
Shocked!
I vicious crime was committed by two young men that aren't aspiring rappers?! No one referencing their socio-economic, political or employment status?
Any eye for an eye?
Wonder how they would feel if they were kicked and punched? Or perhaps a year or 2 in prison for the boys. Being a tight end might be a welcome addition to a prison population.
Assuming conviction these fellows will have a criminal record in Massachusetts for the rest of their lives. That is not a minor matter. If a day comes that they decide they want to be adults and want to work in a job that requires a CORI check then they will have to explain why the beat up a homeless man. Not as severe as being used in a prison (noting the tight end reference) but it is permanent stain on their professional lives. If they choose to work in professions where there is strong competition then they both will be at disadvantage for people who did not choose as young men to be bullies.
I would gladly sit in on a theology class with them where the question of how Jesus related to the poor, sick - homeless - is discussed. It would be interesting at least to hear what they have to say.
JPNative617 should be in the
JPNative617 should be in the same room too.
What did I do?
n/t
Antipapism
The anon is probably referencing your earlier post.
I think by the time you are comfortable
stomping on heads of the homeless, your theology (if you had any in the first place) has flown out the window, along with your thoughts on What Would Jesus Do?
I will never understand this
I will never understand this stomping business. How can you stomp someone, kick someone in the head? Very sick individuals.
My brother tried to help a kid (stranger) from getting jumped in Faneuil a few years ago. He ended up getting bottled in the back of the head, got a few stiches. If he were hit a bit harder... Good bye executive functions!
Wish people would have more respect for each other, very sad.
Because society has allowed stuff like this to happen,
and people aren't held accountable for their actions and behaviors, that stuff like this happens. The fact that those two Boston College guys stomped on, beat up and nearly killed the homeless guy is horrible. Here's hoping that they end up in prison, where they belong. I can just see what'll happen to those two BC guys. Not withstanding that they'll have a criminal record for as long as they live (since they're adults, not minors), if they think they're big and tough now, they'll be absolutely no match for the other inmates in prison, who'll make short work of them at the drop of a hat.
Oh, and btw: Kudos to your brother for helping the kid who was jumped and attacked at Fanueil Hall. Sorry to hear that he got hit in the back of the head with a bottle. He was sure lucky that he only got afew stitches. He might've gotten killed.
Odds are, no prison time
No, I'm not one of those who think the justice system is soft. I just see the accused pleading out to avoid jail time. On the other hand, the BC kid will most like be kicked out of school, naturally losing their scholarship, and both of them will be dealing with CORI issues for decades to come.
Shit like this makes a BU guy like me appreciate the kind of hockey player Jerry York brings to the Heights.
I'm not totally sure that they could avoid prison time.
Remember Pring Wilson, the Harvard student, who was convicted of murdering a local Cambridge guy when he got into a confrontation with that local kid, stabbed him with his knife, and killed him, when he was leaving the Western Front after having been to a Jazz concert there? This was several years ago, but, Pring Wilson, who came from a very wealthy family, did get some jail time, but not as much as someone from a less affluent background would have. Pring Wilson got 8 years in prison. A poorer person would've gotten more, or perhaps life.
If Pring Wilson got jail time, why would a couple of guys from BC who assaulted and nearly killed a homeless man not get any?
The problem is people get so
The problem is people get so drunk that they can't function as normal human beings. I'm not trying to excuse their behavior but I doubt these two kids would assault someone if they were sober. I never understood the whole "get wasted" thing, even when I was in school surrounded by it. Sometimes it's fun to get super drunk with some friends but some people are either not drinking or totally fucked up. Having a few drinks is a fun time but getting so drunk that you become combative or sick is a sign of alcoholism.
Anyway, the real reason I wanted to post was to say this woman deserves a reward or a medal or something. It takes a shitload of courage to even stand up to some drunk asshole like this, let alone shield a victim with your body. She could've been assaulted or killed
Seconded
The brave woman definitely deserves a medal.
I just hope they are tried
I just hope they are tried for attempted murder.
Me, too.
Not only do I hope that they're tried for attempted murder, but I hope they get charged with attempted murder as well, and forced to serve some jail time. They belong behind bars for awhile.