Failing Health of Beatdown Victim May Lead to Serb's Release

2009_01_steinhauer.jpg The clock is ticking on the arduous journey of bringing fled Serbian Miladin Kovacevic to justice for the alleged brutal beating of fellow Binghamton student Bryan Steinhauer last year. Serbian officials claim that Brooklyn-born Steinhauer must testify this Thursday or else Kovacevic may walk free. The Serbian athlete's lawyer told the Post, "If there is no examination of witnesses, how can there be a case?" But Steinhauer's lawyer says that he received no notice of the January 15th deadline. With reports of Steinhauer's failing health including brain damage, the Post questions whether the 22-year-old would even be up for testifying via video link. As for Kovacevic, after being let out of prison recently, he has defended himself to the Serbian press as the real victim claiming, the 5'6", 135-pound Steinhauer "was very aggressive. He kept thumping his chest and saying, 'You don't know who I am!' At one point, I managed to free myself from him." Kovacevic, 6'9" and 260 pounds also brags he was a model student, "I was one of a handful of foreigners who helped American children with special needs."

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These cowards are too much, first the cat killer stated he was attached by the declawed cat and now this brute was defending himself against a man half his body weight.

For the love of God, will you stop calling this thug "the Serb"?

You wouldn't say "Failing Health of Beatdown Victim May Lead to Black Man's Release" if this guy was African American instead of Serb, wouldn't you?

You shouldn't make such racially/ethnically charged blunders no matter what the race/ethnicity, not just in case of those who've already logged complaints, you know?

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Isn't "Serb" short for "Serbia" which is a country? Are we not allowed to refer to anyone by which country they're from, and, in this case, which country they're currently hiding out in?

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The reason why you Americans don't get this is because "American" only means citizenship. Well, in Europe, countries often have the same names as ethnicity, so you have to be careful. It's ok to say "Serbian citizen arrested" but it's not ok to say "Serb arrested", for the same reason it's not ok to say "Jew arrested" or "Italian arrested".

sorry... I replied to the wrong post

The fact that he's a foreigner and fled to his country is a central detail in this story. He happens to be a Serb. Problem?

See my reply to the comment above. If you don't agree - fine. I can live with commenters being ignorant or racist... heck, it's not against the law to be a biggot in your private life. But I am sure that the bloggers who write these stories strive to be respectful, so I just hope they can understand their mistake.

Ok fine, we should address him as "the scumbag from Serbia". Is that better for you?

Thank you for not posting the photo of the ogre with his shirt off again.

>>Steinhauer must testify this Thursday or else Kovacevic may walk free.

In what, a series of fucking blinks and toe wiggles? Put the fcking criminal in the can; its a super easy job -- you take the scumbag's wallet and belt and put it in a manilla envelope, you walk him down the hall, you open the fcking cell, you tell the scumbag to take three steps forward, you lock the fcking door. What seems to be the problem?

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"I was one of a handful of foreigners who helped American children with special needs."

Well, if you're so admatant about helping out people with "Spcial Needs", why don't you come back here and face the consequences for the "special needs" person you helped create here.

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