According to the man’s family, a Maryland father was brutally beaten to death outside his home while protecting his children from a group of teenagers and adults who wanted to finish a fight that started at school.
Christopher Michael Wright, 43, was confronted outside his home Friday by three teens and two adults looking for his fiancée’s 14-year-old son, who had gotten into a fight with another teen earlier in the day at Brooklyn Park Middle School, according to WBAL-TV.
When Wright informed the group that the boy was not going to fight, they told him, “‘If he’s not going to fight, then you’re going to fight.” Tracy Karopchinsky, Wright’s fiancée, told the outlet.
The group attacked Wright, who was later taken to a nearby hospital, where he died on Saturday from a traumatic brain injury.
“Looking at the damage done to him, it wasn’t just punching that did it.” There’s no way punching could have done that. The damage was done before the ambulance arrived. He’d had a seizure, after all. It was completed. “The hospital could do nothing,” Karopchinsky explained.
A security camera captured the fatal beating. Karopchinsky’s three children were all present.
“My dad and I tried to go onto the camera to look, and the first video that comes up is my 12-year-old son screaming, ‘Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,’ and running out of the house into the street to help his dad,” Karopchinsky explained. “After that, I couldn’t watch anything else.”
WBAL-TV reported that school officials confirmed the fight and said they are cooperating with Anne Arundel County police in their investigation.
There have been no charges filed against any of the individuals involved.
Karopchinsky believes that parents must accept responsibility for what she sees as rampant teen violence.
“They did not simply ruin our lives. Their lives will be forever altered. “Their parents’ lives will be changed forever as a result of this fight,” Karopchinsky explained. “It’s everywhere, and somewhere, as parents, we’re failing these children.” It is not the responsibility of the school. It is our obligation.”
She referred to Wright as her best friend and described him as a devoted father who enjoyed the stars and gardening. A candlelight vigil in his honor has been planned, she said.