Is 5 to 10 years enough for assaulting Sesame Place worker?
Freedom. You’re taking away my freedom.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, that’s all we’ve heard amid mask mandates, vaccine requirements and other efforts to keep the virus in check.
Troy McCoy learned last week what it really means to lose your freedom.
He is going to jail, for a long time, for his “misjudgment” of sucker-punching a teenage employee at Sesame Place who had confronted him about his “freedom” not to wear a mask properly.
McCoy, 41, of New York, was sentenced to five to 10 years for breaking the jaw of the young man who simply was trying to do his job.
Faced with the reality of what losing freedom really means, McCoy threw himself at the mercy of a Bucks County judge during his sentencing hearing on Oct. 25.
“I really didn’t mean to injure him at all,” he told Judge Wallace Bateman, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. “It’s really unfortunate that he got injured by my misjudgment and reaction to the situation.”
Bateman chastised McCoy for his “violent, unprovoked assault on a defenseless teenager.”
Then the judge took away McCoy’s freedom.
All McCoy had to do was properly wear a mask on Aug. 9, 2020, at Sesame Place. He had the freedom not to go to the park if he didn’t want to wear a mask. But he chose to go.
He was convicted in July of aggravated assault. Trial testimony revealed that employee Dillon Mays, 17 at the time, reminded McCoy he was required to wear his mask over his nose, the Inquirer reported. McCoy said he didn’t have to listen to him because he was old enough to be his father.
Later in the day, McCoy’s girlfriend, Shakerra Bonds, confronted Mays. She struck him in the face. McCoy then hit Mays from behind, knocking him down.
Sensing their freedom could be at stake, they fled but were tracked down easily through their license plate.
Bonds, 32, of New York, was sentenced Monday to four-to-24 months in Bucks County jail.
The assault was just one of the low points of the pandemic in Pennsylvania.
Fortunately, such violence was rare. While a lot of people have lost their cool during the pandemic, they’ve reined in their rage before it got physical.
But even recently, they’ve still caused big problems.
A few weeks ago, a youth cheerleading event at Easton Area Middle School was halted because too many adult spectators refused to wear masks. Stubborn adults deprived their children, who had practiced hard, of the opportunity to compete.
Nearly 20 months into the pandemic, most of us have returned to a relatively normal life.
We can eat inside restaurants again. We can attend crowded concerts and ballgames. We can go to school, regrettably with masks in Pennsylvania. We can run our businesses without capacity limits or other restrictions.
Our “freedoms” largely have been restored.
But we can’t forget about those who remain permanently scarred. They deserve our continued support. And in a few remarkable cases, they deserve justice.
Are school mask complaints overblown?
Angry and sometimes vile parents have made headlines across Pennsylvania as they fight the state’s mask mandate for schools.
I’ve long believed those parents likely don’t represent the majority of the public’s opinion, and two recent experiences bolster my belief.
A recent poll by Franklin & Marshall College found that 48% of respondents strongly favor masks in schools, while 23% strongly oppose them.
In the middle, 16% somewhat favor masks and 12% somewhat oppose them.
I’ve said previously that I don’t believe vaccinated students and staff should have to wear masks. And I don’t believe the state should have issued a mandate; that decision should have been left to each school district.
But amid the mandate, I saw something recently that surprised and impressed me.
I was at Parkland High School, around dismissal time. As I approached the main doors, dozens of students were leaving. Everyone I saw was wearing a mask as they exited. Inside, the halls were filled with mask-wearing kids.
I’m sure many, probably most, would have preferred not to wear masks. But they wore them.
Some likely wore them because they believe it’s the right thing to do to protect their community. Others surely were wearing them because they’d get in trouble if they didn’t.
But I think it’s just become second-nature for students. I think many parents have a bigger problem with the mask requirement than their kids do.
The kids want to be in school. If they have to wear masks, they will put up with it. Hopefully, they will be relieved of that requirement soon.