Keep your hands to yourself. It’s not rocket science.
Well, this fellow will have opportunity to plead his case to the trier of fact, if this case proceeds to trial. He could also plead to stupidity and hope for some leniency–maybe if he takes some sensitivity training or something to stop being so aggressive and “handsy” any sentence could be shortened a bit.
Yes, I realize my opinion doesn’t matter, but I give it anyway. I believe there is a large amount of prosecutorial discretion. I just don’t see his outrageous disgusting behavior as criminal. If I need to get graphically specific, I would consider grabbing breast(s) or grabbing a crotch criminal, a slap on the butt not so much unless it left a bruise. My opinion means nothing. It’s the Georgia criminal code that rules here.
I am not going to defend this guy’s behavior - it was completely wrong and unacceptable, but I disagree with this statement, and let me point out that he didn’t force alcohol on anyone nor did he rape anyone.
For anyone worried about this guy being over-punished for this, remember that he is a middle-aged, middle-class to affluent, white man in Georgia. He’ll be perfectly all right. Please don’t minimize his actions simply because the young woman wasn’t disabled; she said that it hurt when he struck her. It doesn’t have to be rape to be criminal.
I hope that he is very, very embarrassed and suffers social repercussions as a result (hoping that his wife reads him the riot act), and that the young reporter doesn’t get hateful social media posts and harassment which are both highly likely.
I read that this is a misdemeanor? Is that correct? Apparently, he swatted her quite hard. I suspect he gets probation and community service.
You’ve mentioned twice how hard he hit her as being an important factor on whether or not you think it’s criminal.
What does that have to do with sexual battery? If he walked up to her and cupped her bottom gently and caressed it softly without her permission, that wouldn’t be hitting her “hard,” but it sure seems to fit the definition of sexual battery per Georgia statute to a T. I didn’t see anything in the statute that made intensity of touch even remotely relevant, whether a caress, a slap, or a hard smack.
@NJres, he’s being charged with a misdemeanor. The same charge you get for shoplifting a pair of shoes. That seems about right to me. No, he did not commit a felony, but the contact was clearly unwanted and sexual. If he had hit her shoulder or head it would not have been sexual, but he hit her butt. On purpose, in public, on camera. Not because he thought she would like it, but because he liked it.
A misdemeanor charge of sexual battery is in keeping with state law and common sense. If he were not charged, what would be barrier to anyone doing this?
A misdemeanor charge for a first time offender is unlikely to result in jail time, which is too bad in this case, I’d like him to serve a day or two of shock time. He will likely pay a fine and be on probation for a while. But he this will show up in criminal background check and it should.
The #metoo movement taught me a new phrase, “sex pest.” This guy is one. He doesn’t think he is, he thinks he is just a funny, fun-loving guy. But he is being taught a lesson, and one he needs badly.
Edited to add: My prediction is that it will be pled down to whatever simple assault law GA has that will keep him off of sex offender lists. I’m not sure that’s the right thing to do, but it is the most likely.
Totally agree. He thought he was being cute (check out his smirk as he was hitting her) and probably is complaining to all his like-minded buddies about how women have no “sense of humor” anymore.
News flash to all guys: It was never funny and it was never harmless.
Every single woman I know has encountered a “sex pest” and most likely multiple times. I admire the young ladies today standing up for themselves and having a voice. I certainly didn’t - I was usually embarrassed or trying not to offend or scared or confused…you get the picture.
In college I worked at an ice cream parlor and my boss was laughing about something I said and walked by and swatted me hard on the butt. It hurt, I was mortified, but I did absolutely nothing. Today I ask myself “why not?”
Good for this woman.
And one more thing - I will brag and say my H and I are raising young men who would never disrespect someone like this. As a community we need to do better.
Thank you, @Leigh22 . I have only daughters but I think a lot of the work has to come from parents of sons-- teaching them not to disrespect women like this and also to speak up when they witness other males behaving like this.
I agree with most of what everyone has commented about the story. I have a wife and daughter. The guy should be punished to the max. Saying that the reporter who wrote the article and some posters must have seen something on the video I did not. The video showed the man approaching from behind and the reporter sort of jumping and having a sort of shocked look. Nothing else. I didn’t see an angle from behind. To me it was more likely inappropriate touching than swatting or smacking.
Definitely something parents should be teaching boys. But also the scout leaders, church youth leaders, teachers, etc. should be teaching this. Given this guy was both a scout leader and church youth leader, it’s even more important that he is charged. Charging him sends the clear public message that this is not OK.
Not charging him would send the message that sexual harassment and assault of women is no big deal, or somehow justified, or less important than other things, or one of the 1000 other BS reasons that have been used to let this BS continue for as long as it has.
The victim has said in multiple interviews that he hit her hard and it hurt:
“He separates himself from the runners and he kind of winds up and, you know, he hit me hard,” Bozarjian said. “It was a heavy impact.”
Not really caring about the impact. Swat, smack, cupped…all completely out of line.
If he hadn’t been running and I were her, I’d have assaulted him right back. I’ve done that, IRL. And it was an escalation. Not smart of me to do, now or then, but I can still feel the adrenaline rush of anger and shock.
But don’t you think that was part of what emboldened him to do this? He knew that he could grope her then keep running, leaving her there holding the microphone in the middle of her newscast. Very unlikely she’d drop the microphone, interrupt her broadcast and try to chase him down.
It’s similar to the subway gropers. They rely on the fact that everybody is so tightly packed in, the woman might not be able to tell who even grabbed her and even if she did, unlikely she’d be able to push and fight her way through the crowd to retaliate.
It doesn’t matter if it was a hit, swat, grope, caress - you don’t intentionally touch a stranger’s intimate body parts without permission, much less run past, grope and keep running.
Just stating what I am hoping should be obvious, but we would all do well to be less gender specific when speaking about this issue unless referring to a specific incident or experience. Victims and perpetrators fall on both sides. As a male who has experienced unwanted verbal and physical attention from both genders, it is concerning to see that lack of recognition in these comments. We are making progress on awareness and consequences around this issue, so it bothers me to see such progress offset by new generalizations and double standards.
Generalizations? We are talking about a specific person, who is a man, hitting another specific person, who is a woman, on the backside. That is what this thread is about. Two specific individual persons whose pronouns we all now know.
Women on the thread have mentioned that they have experienced similar treatment from men and are glad this specific act is being prosecuted.
No one on this thread has claimed that women (or men) never harass men (or women). If you have a complaint in that department, feel free to express it. I haven’t seen anything on this thread that should discourage you.
Yes, I agree, @pishicaca. Everyone needs to keep their gropey hands to themselves.
@MomofJandL I too am glad that this incident is being taken seriously and prosecuted. If you re-read the comments you will find instances of generalization beyond this incident. I’m not going to go through and copy and paste because that would be unfair to the posters who more than likely weren’t trying to be insensitive…they were just following the narrative. But the fact that you feel the need to argue the point demonstrates exactly what I am talking about.
@pishicaca , I repeat:
If you choose not to do that, that is your choice alone, not pressure from anyone on this thread.