Montana man attacks 13-year-old boy leaving him with a fractured skull for not removing his hat during national anthem
SUPERIOR, MONTANA: A Montana man has been arrested and charged for allegedly assaulting a 13-year-old boy after he "disrespected" the national anthem.
Witnesses at the Mineral County Fair and Rodeo on Saturday, August 3, said 39-year-old Curt James Brockway grabbed, picked up, and slammed the teen on the ground because he did not remove his hat during the national anthem, according to the Missoulian.
Taylor Hennick, who knew the victim as a family member's neighbor, said she had stopped at the entrance to the fairgrounds to pause for the national anthem when she heard a "pop" ring out in the air.
"There was a little boy lying on the ground," she said. "He was bleeding out of his ears, seizing on the ground, just not coherent."
The boy's mother, Megan Keeler, told KPAX that, within minutes of dropping her son off at the fairgrounds, she had received a phone call informing her that he was on his way to a hospital.
"Dude comes up and grabbed him by his neck, picked him up and threw him to the ground head first," she said.
The teen was transported by Superior Ambulance Service for initial medical treatment at a local hospital before he was flown to Sacred Children's Hospital in Spokane.
He reportedly suffered a temporal skull fracture and had been bleeding from his ear for nearly six hours after the incident.
"He’s deathly afraid of strangers," Keeler said of her son.
"He doesn’t remember anything. All the witnesses I have talked to said this was completely random."
When questioned by bystanders who had witnessed the assault, Brockway reportedly tried to justify his actions by claiming that he had "every right to do that" as the 13-year-old had been "disrespecting the national anthem."
Brockway was arrested by Mineral County Sheriff's deputies at around 11 pm on the day of the incident and was charged with assault on a minor - a felony crime.
He made his initial appearance in Mineral County Justice Court on Monday.
The state requested that his bond be set at $100,000, but a judge ordered that he be released on his own recognizance the next day. His arraignment has been scheduled for August 14 at 10 am.
However, this is not the first time that the 39-year-old has found himself in trouble with the authorities.
Records from the Montana Department of Corrections show that he is registered as a violent offender and currently serving a 10-year probation sentence on a 2010 conviction over an assault with a weapon charge after he pulled up to a parked vehicle, got out, pulled a gun on a family and stated he was going to kill them.