Seven-year-old girl beaten by man trying to steal bike
ANCHORAGE, Alaska |
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - A 7-year-old girl was beaten unconscious by a man with a lengthy criminal record who tried to steal her bicycle in broad daylight, the Anchorage Police Department said on Monday.
The girl, who was not named, was hospitalized in critical condition, said Marlene Lammers, a police spokeswoman said.
Her accused assailant, Byron Edward Syvinski, 32, was arrested almost immediately at the scene of the incident, which occurred on Sunday afternoon in midtown Anchorage, Lammers said. "He was right there by the little girl," she said.
He was being evaluated on Monday at a local hospital and faces charges of assault and theft, Lammers said.
Before attacking the girl, Syvinski accosted a 17-year-old boy in the same neighborhood and punched the boy's father, according to police reports. He then confronted the girl and hit her in the head so hard that she fell and lost consciousness, police said.
Syvinski lives in the neighborhood where the assault occurred.
Up to now, he has apparently not clashed with neighbors, Lammers said. "He's lived there about 10 years and has had no problems," she said.
State court records show that Syvinski has a long history of criminal charges and convictions, including theft, firearms violations, assault, robbery and domestic violence.
(Reporting by Yereth Rosen. Editing by Steve Gorman and Peter Bohan)
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Obviously *something* set him off that day and none of us have any idea what. I also find it plain silly that a grown adult would want the bicycle of a 7 year old girl. Even if he intended stealing it to sell it, do we really believe he’d steal it in broad daylight in his own neighborhood by mugging the girl?
Sure, some people really are that stupid but you don’t get to live in the same area for 10 years without incident while being that kind of mad-dog crazy. You just can’t.
So the real question is, what happened? A glance over the details, that he attacked a boy’s father and then this girl, suggests the kids were annoying him in some way. Yeah we can beat our chest and declare that no-one, ever, under any circumstances, no matter what the provocation, should ever lash out and hit kids.
But that’s not the real world is it?
Teaching our kids not to provoke people 3 times their size is the other part of that social bargain, if only because they might turn out to be a violent career criminal like this idiot.
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