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HOOK’S NOTE: This one comes to us courtesy of my daughter, who is very passionate about the issue of bullying.
I couldn’t be prouder to be the father of a 13-year-old who cares about the state of the world and not just who Kim Kardashian is jumping on this week.
So let’s get to it, shall we?
Michael Palomino, who has been a Chicago sheriff’s deputy for 30 years, is living every father’s nightmare; he has found himself torn between his vow of honor to the justice system and his love for his child.
No matter what this father did, he was going to lose.
Palomino turned his teenage son over to the police after he was seen as part of a mob in a video beating and robbing a fellow 17-year-old. Palomino now believes that the legal system is treating his son too harshly.
The boy was seen in a YouTube video stomping, punching and slamming another boy to the ground, along with six other teens. All of the attackers covered their faces with hoods or masks during the attack, except Palomino.
In the video the six cowards are seen beating and robbing an Asian teenager in an alley behind a Chicago elementary school. They shout profanities and racial epithets while he is kicked and punched. The video received close to half a million views, and relatives of the 17-year-old who saw the clip informed the teenager’s dad.
Despite an obvious internal struggle, he did the right thing.
“As soon as I saw the video I had to call 911, t he police department. I did what was right as a parent … I am in law enforcement myself. The right thing was to turn him in.”
While he doesn’t regret his decision, he says the consequences for his son’s behavior are too harsh.
“They are trying to make him look like he is the aggressor in the whole video, and he is not. He is 17 and they are trying to make an example of him,” Michael Palomino told ABC News.
Police are steadfast in their position, which of course, they should be.
“This is very clearly mob type of behavior. They get a lot of courage when its six or seven beating up one person. And this just isn’t tolerable,” Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said.
Raymond Palomino is being held on a $100,000 bond. The attorney for Raymond Palomino has started a fund to help raise his $100,000 bail. I really can’t see too many people forking over cash for this cause, but you never know, right?
During a court appearance Monday, Judge Sandra Ramos refused Palomino’s lawyers’ request to drop the bond, and denied a request to release Palomino on electronic monitoring, according to ABC News affiliate WLS-TV.
Palomino told ABC News when he went to visit his son in jail, Raymond told him he did the right thing in turning him in.
Can you imagine how that conversation went?
Related articles
- 8th Teen Charged In Beating Posted On YouTube (chicago.cbslocal.com)
- Judge Won’t Lower Bond For Teen Charged In YouTube Beating (chicago.cbslocal.com)
- Chicago Teens Charged in Brutal Beating That Went Viral (newsfeed.time.com)
Wow … my thoughts are in a jumble on that one … thanks for sharing.
You’re very welcome, Gillian!
I saw that yesterday. The dad did the right thing, of course, but he’s probably just upset that his punishment will end up being worse than the others. Frankly, I think they should all be charged as adults. Whether you’re 17, 16, or 15, you know better than to beat down and rob someone.
I couldn’t agree more!
I totally agree here… these kids knew exactly what they were doing.
They sure did…
Thanks for sharing this…tell your daughter I said thanks. What a horrible situation for the father. I really am surprised that he turned him in. You normally hear so much about police officers shielding their family and friends from the law. I give him credit and I wish him, his son, his family, the victim’s family and the victim well. Such a sad situation for all involved. Why can’t we just get along?
Wow. Kudos to that brave father for doing the right thing and turning his son in to the police. He did absolutely the right thing and this is the only right reaction in a situation such as this. This is the only way that any parent should react when confronted with behavior such as this. But one thing remains hanging in the air like the stench of rotten fruit; that is; it is THE FATHER’s (and the MOTHER’s) fault for raising a kid who would even THINK of doing something like this and engaging in such heinous and reprehensible and disgusting and utterly revolting and stomach turning behavior such as this slimeball idiot jerk of a bully did. Kids turn out like their parents, unfailingly every time. WITHOUT FAIL. Kids learn from example, and if they are brought up with that kind of behavior and that kind of talk around the house every day from their parents and their parents’ friends and associates, then they will pick up on that and they will become like what they see and hear all around them and what they are exposed to every single day in and out. Kids are like sponges, they absorb whatever they come into contact with, including the behavior of their parents and their associates and friends as well. This guy’s parents were obviously not doing their job here, or this sort of behavior would not even have crossed his mind at all. BLEEPING BLEEP! For BLEEP’s SAKE here people, this is the parents’ fault just as much as it is the kid’s fault, they dropped the ball on raising him and on being good examples for him and most especially on monitoring and on curtailing his behavior and the people that he hung out with. BLEEPING BLEEPITY BLEEP, this is like a ten ton elephant in the room that every one is ignoring because perhaps the parents do not want to face up to the fact that they are miserable failures as parents and as human beings. I mean, if your kid is engaging in this kind of behavior, you dropped the ball, you dropped the ball, and you are obviously horrible parents who have failed your son in his upbringing to this point thus far. If you had done a better job and set a good example of behavior and associations for your kid, then this would not even be an issue today and we would have never even heard of you and/or your kid at all. This makes me really angry, the failure of parents to be PARENTS!!!!! They need to just look at themselves in the freaking mirror and just ask themselves why the bleep did my kids turn out this way! They need to step up and be PARENTS! Good for him for doing the right thing and turning his kid in to the police, but if he had been a parent from the first breath that his son took in this bleeped-up world, then we wouldn’t be hearing about this today at all. This reminds me of those sickening and vomitous parents who say when confronted with accusations and proof of their child’s horrific behavior, “Oh, not my little Jenny, not my little Susie, my little Susie would never do that, she is the nicest most well-behaved little child in the world!” Yeah, sure, give me a bleeping break already, parents like that make me sick to my stomach and make me feel horrible for the state of affairs that our world is in today, and makes me feel a sort of sick and nauseating anxiety for our future. What kind of future are we going to have in this world if kids are behaving like this a#*#@#*? I had many bleep-holes like this in my high school, and they obviously got it from their parents and their parents’ behavior towards them and towards others. Heck, even five-year-olds are saying the F-word these days, even four-year-olds have been heard to say it! What does that say about us as a whole and as a society? Just look at what we have become and what we have descended to…Sigh…Its enough to just make you want to give up altogether on the world and say that’s it…I don’t want to live in a world where people are behaving in these ways towards each other and in which people are abusing their children and their children’s future’s by not being leaders and by not being shining examples to their children. Some people should just never have children, period.
I am very sorry for posting such a long rant here on your blog Mr. Hook, but this just brought out too many strong feelings for me not to share it here with you. Kudos to you for raising such an intelligent and compassionate and caring and sensitive daughter who is so attuned to the issues of the day, instead of petty, superficial things. I take off my hat to you, Mr. Hook. You are one heck of a guy. And I mean that in the strongest admiration and complimentary sense as possible. Again, I am so sorry and I sincerely apologize for posting such a long rant here, and I will understand if you should decide to delete it or to not include it here in your comments for this article. Thank you very much.
No, thank you for contributing so much to my little blog! Your comments are spot-on; parents need to devote everything they are to raising their kids these days. This man is a good person – and deputy – but we don’t know for sure how good a parent he’s been up to this point.
Let’s hope his cowardly son learns something from all this and turns his life around before it’s too late.
Schools need double or triple their efforts where bullying is concerned – in tandem with law enforcement and parents, as well.
Ouch, as a parent that hurts. You are right though, kids learn these things from their parents, but just as much from society and their peers. The fact that this kid said his dad did the right thing, shows he’s not ALL bad egg.
saying they will turn out like their parents ‘without fail’ that is a big statement, and one I will disagree with as I have seen several examples where this is not the case.
Thanks for another thoughtful post Hook, and the ‘young lady’ always makes me feel 18 again, when I am way past this. Keep it up, always makes me smile
I agree with all that Mother, Beader and Coffee Lover has said here. Tough love is right.
We need more tough love in this world.
You’re as young as you feel… YOUNG WOMAN!!
That is what I call Tough Love!
It certainly is!
WOW, we really need more officers like that in the world. What a tough position to be in. Kudos to you and the Vampirelover for raising what sounds like a wonderful daughter ! We need more parents like you two in this world as well !
Yes we do! Seriously I give the credit to my wife – yes, I’m a suck-up! I need to be!
Thanks for this share. You and Mrs Hook have reared a really good kid!
Re: the story itself. Kudos for the father for just doing the right thing, especially nowadays where corruption seems to be the norm.
The boy, he will get what he deserves…one way or another.
Very true, Drew.
I think the sheriffs son needs to be made an example of and deserves everything the law throws at him. Seems he was the eldest there, and should have made the right decision NOT to do something like this … knowing full well that Dad is in the police! But peer pressure is a difficult thing to sway from, I just hope others will learn from this and this bullying will end.
That’s my greatest hope as well, Jennifer.
He did the right thing and the child agrees, so their relationship will be fine. At the end of the day a bully is facing the consequences of his action and that is a good thing.
You said it. I hope everyone involved comes out a better person. If that’s possible…
I’m going to risk it and sit on the fence because I agree with this line of Mother, Beader and Coffee Beader:
>saying they will turn out like their parents ‘without fail’ that is a big statement, and one I will disagree with as I have seen several examples where this is not the case.
- Growing up, I had one example right in my home. Big Bro. The eldest of us, three children.
My brother was a good kid. You know? The usual parameters of “good” – excellent student, captain of the footie and b-ball school teams, funny and helpful around the neighbourhood.
And then there’d be those instances that were infrequent, but they happened; much to my parents’ anguish.
Age 13: With Dad’s air gun, my brother shot down a rose in our neighbour’s garden; a beautiful patch of land where the gentleman tended to his rare, prize winning roses.
Age 18: On the night before All Souls’ Day, my brother and his posse interchanged flower pots in our neighbourhood and spray painted a skull and crossbones on the front door of our home.
That same night, they tied an empty can to a neighbour’s dog’s tail and the poor petrified pooch ran up and down the street with the can creating a din at some rum hour. The creeps howled in laughter at that poor little animal’s terror.
Age 20: My brother dabbled with drugs when he attended a full moon party after sneaking out of the house unbeknownst to any of us fast asleep inside. Only the doggies knew, but didn’t tell.
Every time Big Bro committed these acts, my parents would sit him down and have that talk. The answer to their, “*What* made you do it?” invariably was “*They* wanted to.” They, being his friends; good boys from good families, who we would never imagine capable of such behaviour at other times.
My parents are professionals, non-smokers, rare drinkers, religious (but not hardcore), animal lovers and do volunteer work. We get along well with all the neighbours. That, and the fact that Big Bro is equally well liked by those around us prevented him (or any of his friends) from getting slapped with any charges for his/their misdemeanours. He got penalised by the ‘Home Ministers’ alright, but did he learn? No.
Big Sis and I never caused our parents any grief despite having being raised in the same home.
Today, Big Bro is grown up married, and has two lovely teen boys who, mercifully, are nothing like their dad.
Today, Big Bro acknowledges that his acts were completely wrong, but he still cannot tell what exactly prompted him or his friends to go ahead and cause harm to the other innocent victims.
All you parents out here, have you never ever been appalled by the actions of your child at some time or another, especially when you never exemplify that sort of behaviour at home?
We don’t know how Michael Palomino and his wife raised his boy. We don’t know the circumstances that led Raymond and friends to turn on an innocent person.
All I’m trying to say is, let us step into the shoes of the parents whose child is in prison right now and be a little less stringent in our condemnation because there is always more than one reason for someone to behave in a way that they never would under different circumstances.
Over the years, I have read that peer pressure exerts a stronger influence than parents. I can’t find the exact articles I read. Here’s a short one I found via Google just now.
http://www.physorg.com/news96866506.html
>Palomino told ABC News when he went to visit his son in jail, Raymond told him he did the right thing in turning him in.
- Michael Palomino did the right thing as a civilian and as a law enforcer, and painful as it was, as a parent, too. His son accepted his father’s move when he easily could have whined for his father to take the easier route of getting the whole thing hushed up. I think Raymond deserves credit for acknowledging his father’s brave, yet traumatic act.
I have two questions for you, Mr.Hook. Please answer only if you and your daughter feel comfortable doing so.
1. What was your daughter’s reaction to Raymond behaviour?
2. What was her reaction to his Michael Palomino’s response?
I have a request as well. I follow this blog. http://mjmonaghan.wordpress.com
This is mj’s newest post. http://mjmonaghan.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/bully-sticks-and-stones/
It is somewhat connected to this one. May I, please, quote this post of yours when I comment on mj’s site? Again, if you choose not to approve, I will continue to be as Hook’d.
Thank you for your time.
Kate
My daughter is disgusted by all bullying. She feels the father in this case is probably a good man who has found himself forced to teachhis son one of life’s harshest lessons.
You can certainly use anything you like from this post, my new friend.
Thank you for your time as well.
i like and agree with you here. We have good kids. We are good parents, rarely, actually, never get drunk, don’t make fun of or bully people from other places, and yet I still worry that peer pressure and other ‘unknown’ factors may cause him (mr 15) to behave in this manner. (I am under no illusions that my kids can be knobs (read idiots, but knobs is the better word) sometimes, but they are generally good people)
I too read MJ’s blog, and the latest was heart wrenching and incredibly sad.
And the worst thing here, we are all, with our comments, in some way judging that which we do not know or understand. Another human trait which is not likeable.
(no smile here today)
As always, thank you for the wonderful input.
I love that word – “knobs” – that takes me back!
I can feel for this parent who did the right thing but is also suffering for it. My heart goes out to him.
We all feel the same, I think.
Thank you for sharing your daughter’s views, Hook.
>She feels the father in this case is probably a good man who has found himself forced to teach his son one of life’s harshest lessons.
- I feel good knowing that your daughter doesn’t condemn and blame the father (and mother) outright, and that she gives him/the parents the benefit of the doubt. It is very easy to point a finger, but we never know until we get into a particular pair of Jimmy Choo’s.
>You can certainly use anything you like from this post, my new friend.
- Thank you for your generosity. I’m heading over to infiltrate mj’s cyberspace.
A correction in my earlier comment above. The word I meant is in Caps.
>All I’m trying to say is, let us step into the shoes of the parents whose child is in prison right now and be a little less STRIDENT (not stringent) in our condemnation because there is always more than one reason for someone to behave in a way that they never would under different circumstances.
Thank you also for spending all that time at my blog and leaving encouraging messages.
Kate
You’re more than welcome.
They did the right thing.
There was no other choice.
Hook, thanks for your post on a similar vein to mine. Very cool that your daughter did what she did. Need more like her.
We sure do…