From Metro UK:
Dad lost half his skull in horrific assault but attacker served only 72 days
Steven Augustine, 32, from New York, has been fighting for his life in an induced coma since May 28, after being beaten with a baseball bat as he walked home from work in the early hours.
Surgeons had to remove the left side of his skull after it was shattered in the attack. His family are also fundraising for surgery, so doctors can build him a metal ‘skull’ to protect his brain. The dad-of-two is suffering from sunken brain syndrome – a rare complication after a large craniectomy – which has caused Steven to appear as though he’s missing half of his head.
That is horrible, just absolutely horrible.
Donna says the family are outraged that Steven’s attacker, Charles L. Miles, received a misdemeanour charge and served just 72 days of his 365 day sentence at Ulster County Jail, New York.
Why?
Although Steven cannot remember the exact details of the attack, his doctors say his injuries were consistent with being beaten with a baseball bat.
Despite the medic’s opinions, lawyers claim that Miles punched Steven just once, and his brain injury was sustained by falling backwards.
After the number of one-punch kills I’ve covered on this blog, I totally believe that Steven’s attacker punched him once in the face, causing a loss of consciousness, causing Steven to fall and hit his head on the concrete, fracturing his skull and causing the brain damage and coma.
That goes to show you just how serious a punch to the face is: doctors can’t conclusively say if he was punched once or beaten savagely with a baseball bat.
Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright told ABC 7 news that since Miles did not intend to cause serious physical harm to Augustine, his office could not bring felony assault charges against him.
That is bullshit. The man is in a coma with half his head missing. The prosecutor is being a lazy shit.
Ms Carnright said: ‘The injuries to his face were consistent with a single punch.
‘The skull fracture was consistent with a fall backwards.’
However, Steven’s mum Donna said: ‘Steven’s hospital records clearly state his injuries are caused by blunt force trauma possibly with a baseball bat and the man who did it is now walking free. ‘
The damage that has been done could not have happened after one punch. ‘The left side of head shattered along with multiple skull fracture throughout his head and face and he has had bleeding on the brain.
I am not a trauma surgeon or neurologist, but I’ve written about enough of these to say that “yes, one punch and a fall could have done this.”
She added: ‘I am heartbroken, my son is in a vegetated state.’
‘Our whole family has been destroyed; we will never be the same again. ‘Steven is a twin and his brother Brian is distraught, they did everything together and now his brother is fighting for his life.’
Donna says medics have attempted to replace the bone with a steel plate, but it became infected twice.
‘My boy is fighting every day; he wakes up every time I walk in the room and he can blink to say yes and no.
‘He cries every time he sees his sons Michael, seven and Steven Junior, 11 – they cry too because they miss their daddy so much.’
All of this because of one punch to the face.
I cannot tell you that if someone tries to punch you in the face that you should shoot him in self-defense. That would be totally irresponsible of me.
What I can say is that if I were on a jury for a CCW permit holder who said “that guy tried to punch me in the head to I emptied my mag into him” I’d go all 12 Angry Men on a not guilty verdict.
Also, there is probably good money to be made for a forensic medical doctor or accident reconstruction specialist to become an expert witness explaining in great detail how dangerous getting punched really is and frequently one-punch kills occur in real life.
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