Memphis Teen Shot In Behind Over Saggy Pants

If your pants are hanging so low that your under drawers are showing, a cranky middle aged man might shoot you in the ass:

Anger over a Memphis teenager’s sagging pants ended with gunfire, a bullet to the buttocks and an aggravated assault charge.

Police Sgt. Ron Perry says 45-year-old Kenneth E. Bonds saw two male teens walking along a street and yelled at them to pull up their pants. Perry says they refused, the three began arguing and Bonds brandished a pistol.

The first shot missed. The teens fled, more rounds were fired and a 17-year-old was struck in the buttocks. He went to a hospital in non-critical condition.

And thus endeth the lesson.

via Radley Balko

FILED UNDER: Law and the Courts, ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. John P says:

    It’s funny because it’s non-critical.

  2. Neil Hudelson says:

    Has the man been charged with reckless assault or anything like that? While this is mildly amusing, I do find the idea that a man can shoot a child anywhere on their body (without justifiable reason) and not be charged with a crime more than a bit disturbing.

  3. James Joyner says:

    @Neil Hudelson: The opening sentence of the report implies that Bonds was charged with aggravated assault.

  4. mantis says:

    It wasn’t this guy?

  5. G.A.Phillips says:

    ***It wasn’t this guy?***The general is like 64 and one of our greatest poets, he don’t need a gun, he uses a pen!!!!!

  6. Alex Knapp says:

    Aggravated assault? For shooting someone? How does that not garner an attempted murder charge?

  7. James Joyner says:

    Aggravated assault? For shooting someone? How does that not garner an attempted murder charge?

    You’re the one with the law degree! Maybe Memphis has a “needed shooting” defense? Or maybe the “pistol” was a pellet gun? Or shooting someone in the butt is considered evidence of intent to injure rather than kill?

  8. Lynne says:

    My pride in my hometown continues unabated.