22-year-old woman's punch kills man.

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/crime/8034840-418/party-game-death-get-this-on-youtube.html


Well, I am not sure if she should be charged. What do you think?

 

[Roger Wilco]

Strange. The article doesn't mention anything about pre-existing medical conditions, but I have a hard time believing a healthy man can die from one punch (unless he swallows his tongue or drowns in his blood or so), regardless of whether the punch comes from a random woman or even a trained boxer. Especially when he's mentally prepared for the punch.

eta: and I don't think the accused committed a crime here.

 

[SeerSGB]

Sounds like two bad decisions (the offer of $5 to any one who could take a punch, the decision to try to take a punch) mixed with booze to create a horrible accident. I don't think should show face any serious charges...if any

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Ouch:

It all happened in September 2010. Powell, a member of the two-person rap group Krazy Killas, was invited to perform at a memorial party in the 2500 block of Waterford Drive in Crest Hill honoring the life of someone who recently committed suicide.

Well, this guy kind of committed suicide, even if he wasn't trying to.

I don't think any serious charges are merited here, although she should probably get something just because this was such a dumb thing to do.

 

[ares93]

^ Gross negligent idiotic behavior? That one would be a hit over here. Pun not intended.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I think "reckless endangerment" fits the bill here.

 

[ares93]

Good point. I agree, she's definitely good for it.

 

[LitmusDragon]

I was expecting a body punch for some reason, wasn't that how Houdini died? Never heard of someone dying from a single head punch before.

 

[Trekker4747]

I think I've heard of something similar before where a seemingly benign impact caused a person to die. It occurs if the impact takes place at the right time during a heart's beat (probably between beats) and it pretty much causes the heart to irregularly beat and the person will die unless shocked back into rhythm.

It's possible something similar happened here, the guy was simply punched at the exact wrong time.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Sometimes one punch is all it takes. Which is why you don't go around punching people.

Not that I believe a crime of any sort has taken place. Merely poor judgement from both the deceased and the one throwing the punch.

 

[Kirby]

Well he gave her permission to punch him so I don't see anything wrong here.
I guess my question is why was she punching people? Was she a boxer, or had some training that would make her punches dangerous?
If so, then she should know better and charges would be appropriate, but if she's just a regular person who threw a punch, then I'd have a hard time convicting her. It would just be an accident in that case.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

An "accident" would be if she fell and hit his head without meaning to, and then he died.

She purposely punched him. His death was unintended, but not accidental.

 

[Kirby]

Unless your intent is to kill, then the reasonable expectation is that if you punch someone, you will not kill them. Therefore, the death is an accident.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

So if a drunk driver plows into another car and kills everyone inside, do you consider those deaths "accidental" and not worthy of charges since the drunk driver didn't mean to kill anyone?

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

The other thing is, did she, he, or anyone else, even co9nsider that an average woman could even kill him in such away. It was a physical dare, something that tends to happen at parties.

The drunk driving analogy isn't quite accurate because no one here was impeded mentally, as far as I can tell. With a drunk driver, that person is impede mentally but - legally speaking -they are still responsible for everything that they do.

 

[Trekker4747]

So if a drunk driver plows into another car and kills everyone inside, do you consider those deaths "accidental" and not worthy of charges since the drunk driver didn't mean to kill anyone?

Devil's Advocate:

In his post he says that if you punch someone your intent is not to kill someone (it's not reasonable to assume an ordinary punch can kill) but to simply harm them. If all the various circumstances line up "just-so", yeah the person will die.

In DUI cases, it's pretty well known that driving while drunk is risky and can cause serious injury and death so while there may be no "intent" to kill, it certainly understood to be a possible outcome.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

The problem is the assumption that physically striking anyone doesn't carry some risk of death. Yeah, it's not likely, but it does happen.

Trekker, you say that it's well-known that driving drunk kills people. Well, maybe some PSA money should be spent informing people of the dangers of beating each other up for fun.

 

[Trekker4747]

Well, I'm not big on PSA's in general, so...

I'm also not one to go around beating on people for fun, either.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Where's AJ? As long as we're going to pile on with the amateur lawyering, let's get someone in here who's actually studying.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I would love to see his take on this.