Friday, February 3, 2017

The tale of the very special broflake

OK... Let's talk about a very special broflake, and his broflake-enabling Salembrity lawyer.

Do any of you guys remember Dillon Destefano? He was the Endicott sophomore student from New Jersey who was arrested, expelled, and convicted of multiple assault and batteries after going on a knockout game binge across campus one night almost exactly three years ago. He later pleaded guilty and admitted to randomly sucker punching a trio of students he didn't even know. He also admitted to threatening a witness with his Jersey mob ties. He stated that he was SO drunk that he had no control over himself. The freshman hockey player also said he was totally roided up at the time. He was caught in part because he bragged about his crimes afterwards.

Special Broflake Dillon Destefano


Well, special broflake is back! Now he's suing Endicott, and their president, Dr. Richard Wylie. "Why on earth!?" you may ask. Well, his suit alleges that Endicott, and Dr. Wylie, had a responsibility to babysit him, and they should have supervised his night time activities better, and protected him from himself and his own bad decisions. (Because he's a child?) There are an awful lot of night time activities on campuses across the land that nobody wants colleges sticking their nose in. Just ask Gordon College how well that can go. How Endicott and Wylie in particular were supposed to know that broflake was a steroid rage-head (he said he was under the influence of PEDs) is beyond me, or any other thinking person.

So, this isn't a criminal proceeding. Destefano has no right to counsel here. A lawyer has to agree to accept the case to file the suit. There's no duty there. If you'd presented this premise to me, I'd have said that no lawyer would take this dog of a case. Who took this case? Your Salem Ward 3 City Councilor Steve Lovely, of the Lovely Law Group filed the suit on Destefano's behalf, on the last day before the statute of limitations would have kicked it out. I have to ask, what case wouldn't Lovely take, at that point?

Am I being dramatic? I don't think so. (I mean, probably a little, but) Lovely took the case of the dude who walked up to three different students he didn't know, and in one night sucker punched all three, leaving one with a completely shattered jaw, and another with a broken eye socket and collapsed sinuses. Surgeries all around! The state alleged that after the eye socket, "he was seen on surveillance video from the campus 'almost mocking' the victim, appearing to laugh as he re-enacted the way the victim reeled back." Guy then said, "the college made me do it! I want to sue them!" and Lovely signed on.

He's ... in college. I know it's been a long time since I was in college, but I very much remember at the very beginning, literally on the first day, getting the speech. "You're adults now. We don't call you boys and girls. You're men and women. You, and only you, are responsible for yourselves. We aren't your babysitters. We aren't going to tell you to go to bed, or get up, or go here, or go there. You're responsible for yourselves and your own actions, and you'll feel the consequences of those actions, good or bad." Apparently a lot has changed, at least in the eyes of the special broflake community. Now it's the college's duty to babysit students, and provide a warm womb for them to emerge from fetus-hood.

I've read the 12-page lawsuit. Let me start by saying that it simply strains credulity. There are facts that Destefano admitted to during his criminal proceeding, like randomly sucker punching people, that are somehow changed in the suit to a victim, "who charged at Destefano." My favorite "fact" is the allegation that President Wylie "hosted parties on-campus and encouraged the students to consume alcoholic beverages without regard to the ages of the students." I mean, come on. So the suit alleges that the kid drank insane amounts at one private party, went to another private party and drank insane amounts, and then on a stroll across campus, while intoxicated beyond belief, mustered the coordination and power to brutally, brutally assault 3 people, causing severe injuries. And... this is everyone's fault, except for broflake.

I'm scared of a world where this lawsuit is a thing. I'm scared of a world where we enable our younger people to think they're this lacking in responsibility for their own decisions and actions. I'm scared of the world where an elected official looks at this case and agrees to take it. I mean, really? I want elected officials with better judgment and ethics than that.

What's next? "Did you get a sunburn at Dead Horse Beach? Did the city not provide you with sunscreen? Call Steve!"

What's next? "Are you a rapist? Was your victim asking for it with a super short skirt? You can't be held responsible for that! Let's sue her! Call Steve!"

Just yikes.