 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 |
|
 |
|
Teen charged with attacking homeless man twice in one day Sun-Sentinel December 31, 2006 By Tonya Alanez A Fort Lauderdale teenager was arrested Saturday and charged with attaching a homeless man Saturday with metal shears and a metal pipe in two incidents seven hours apart, authorities said. John Palmer, 52, is recovering at Broward Medical Center in stable condition, Keyla Concepcion, spokeswoman for the Broward Sheriff's Office, said late Saturday. The first attached happened shortly before 2 A.M., when Palmer was sleeping behind a dumpster at the Madison Apartments, 2531 NW 8Th Place in unincorporated central Broward County. The boy, 17, whom the South Florida Sun-Sentinel is not naming because of his age, allegedly struck Palmer several times with a pair of metal shears, Concepcion said. Palmer was treated for cuts to the head, face and back at Broward General Medical Center and released. About 9 A.M., Palmer was back in the same neighborhood, walking in the 2700 block of the North West 9th Court, when the same teen saw and chased him with a brick, Concepcion said. The teen threw the brick and cut Palmer's arm, then beat Palmer with a metal pipe he found on the street, Concepcion said. Witnesses called the Sheriff's Office. Arriving deputies chased and arrested the teen, who is facing two counts of aggravated battery, Concepcion said. He was in Broward juvenile detention center late Saturday night. The teen had four prior arrests, dating back to 2002 for battery, robbery, burglary, and larceny, according FDLE records. Palmer originally from Georgia is the father of four grown daughters. He straggles with drug use and took to sleeping on the streets after his wife, Ruth, died of complications from diabetes last year, said his daughter, Patricia Palmer 27, of Pompano Beach. "He is the type of person, instead of him bothering other people, he will sleep on the street," she said. Most recently, her father had been staying with another daughter in Pompano Beach and then with a sister in Fort Lauderdale, but after they had a falling out, he split, Patricia Palmer said. He called Saturday to day he was in the hospital after getting robbed and bitten, Patricia Palmer said, adding that she intended to visit him today. Patricia Palmer said it's worrisome knowing her father sleeps on the street. "It's scary," she said. "A lot of people have tried to help, but he has a habit that's not changing. If I could get him in a home and he'd stayed there, then I'd be happier." 
|
 |