Pleasant Hill Park bystander faced ‘difficult situation’

As criticism mounts toward a man who recorded the beating of a mother by a swarm of children in Pleasant Hill Park, a Saskatoon defence lawyer says the bystander had a tough decision to make.

The conversation emerged after Bonnie Halcrow was attacked by a group of children on Monday evening, after she had recorded them throwing rocks at people passing by the park’s playground.

An unnamed man recorded the kids punching and kicking Halcrow while she was down on her knees, attempting to stand up. He turned over his video to police, but didn’t attempt to stop the altercation, according to Halcrow.

Social media commenters and callers to Gormley questioned why the man chose to record the incident instead of pulling the kids off of the woman, with some calling him a “coward.”

However, Saskatoon defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle said the man may have done the right thing by choosing the “lesser evil” of collecting evidence through video.

“Both for personal safety and in terms of criminal liability, it would be a very difficult situation,” he said Thursday. “You could end up in a situation where you get charged yourself if something happens improperly.”

He noted while the children involved were young, anyone in a bystander situation has to consider the possibility the assailants are armed.

Pfefferle pointed to the 2003 death of Landon Pitre, an off-duty security guard who attempted to intervene in a fight between two groups of teenagers in downtown Saskatoon and was stabbed in the heart. A 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the case in 2006.

“I’m never critical of people who do or don’t do it,” Pfefferle said. “But to call them cowards, it’s easy to do when you’re not the one standing there with the risk of facing (an attack).”

The defence lawyer also spoke about why some of the children involved could get away without any consequences.

He explained that the justice system recognizes children under 12 don’t have “sufficient understanding” for their actions to be considered criminal, except under rare circumstances.

“If these kids are under 12, there’s nothing that would happen in all likelihood,” Pfefferle said.

He did say the police could meet with the kids to try and explain to them what is wrong with their behaviour.

Saskatoon police have said they’re investigating the attack on Halcrow.