Police: Drum soldier assaulted college student (possibly related to derogatory remarks about Obama)

[sabra]

Source: ArmyTimes/AP

OSWEGO, N.Y. — Police were investigating Monday whether derogatory remarks about President-elect Barack Obama triggered a weekend fight outside a pizza shop that left a college student hospitalized and a Fort Drum soldier in jail.

Oswego police charged 23-year-old Pvt. Kevin Flanagan with assault.

A fire support specialist with the Army’s 10th Mountain Division, Flanagan got into an argument with Angel Moreno just after 3 a.m. Sunday outside the Pizza Pub in Oswego, police said. Flanagan then hit Moreno, leaving the Bronx man with a severe head injury. Police said it did not appear Flanagan used any weapons.

Police Capt. Michael Beckwith said police have heard reports the fight started over remarks about Obama, but that the incident was still under investigation. Friends told police that Moreno is an avid Obama supporter.

...

Moreno is a student at the State University of New York at Oswego. He was airlifted to University Hospital in Syracuse in critical condition but a hospital spokeswoman said his condition was upgraded to serious on Monday.

Read more: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_drum_assault_111008/

[enki23]

1. throw away the fucking key.

.

[Alexander]

4. Agreed. Lock the bastard away in solitary for 20 years and see how he likes it.

This could very easily be a hate crime.

[The Stranger]

2. If he dies, that becomes a murder charge.

[Alexander]

5. Thankfully it looks like he'll survive.

Although I wouldn't mind if the fascist prick who beat him got charged with attempted murder.

[kestrel91316]

3. They can kill us, but they can never defeat us, because we are

right and they are wrong.

[OswegoAtheist]

6. Yeaahhh....guess who lives in that area.

This guy. Seriously, it was a bad weekend for fights on Bridge street, because a police officer got involved in a scuffle at The Raven that night. It must be all the excitement in the air, because the Bridge Street Bridge has FINALLY been reopened. I live right across from the police station, too, but I slept right through the hubbub. I'll nose around a bit.

Oswego "Pizza Pub is also my last option for pizza in Oswego" Atheist.

[eilen]

7. I used to live there

I went to school there and now live in the Syracuse area. Honestly, at 3am the fight could have been about anything-- most up moving about on Bridge St. at that time are so inebriated they will argue and fight about the first thing they can find. Drunk stupid soldier and Drunk stupid student fight. Drunk stupid student loses big and gets airlifted to hospital. I'd be worried if the soldier lost. When my husband was a drunk stupid student he egged on a fight with a golden gloves boxer and was in surgery the next day.

The best thing that could be said about this is that no locals were involved.