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A jury took just five hours to convict a Brooklyn bodega clerk of first-degree assault for hitting a teen in the head with a hammer during an April 2008 brawl in his East New York store. Today's conviction will get 36-year-old Salah Ahmed, a Yemeni-immigrant, a minimum penalty of five years in prison, with a maximum of 25 years. Chaotic surveillance footage from the incident depicted several teens fighting with another bodega clerk over a perceived slight. Ahmed had been napping in the back room when the fight broke out; after waking up he charged at the victim, Bunkless Bovian, who was fifteen at the time, and hit him with the hammer. The teen survived, but testified last week that he still suffers from "bad headaches." Ahmed's lawyer had unsuccessfully argued that the attack was in self-defense, and speaking to reporters today said, "We're obviously disappointed. I think he's just stunned." Sentencing is scheduled for May 28th.
Bodega Clerk Found Guilty in Hammer Attack on Teen
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It's the same media that NEVER mentioned Muslims' hatred of Israel as a possible motive for 9/11.
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Will this brat get a street named after him, too?
Wow—I wonder if he'll appeal.
i hope he appeals.
I'm a little surprised, but from the surveillance video you can see how a jury might decide that he went farther than was necessary. It looks like he hit the kid after he had already been pulled away.
As for an appeal... on what grounds?
I know this comment is becoming cliched, but I can't resist. I imagine Bunkless was a good student before getting rock in the head with a hammer?
The bodega owner might have gone too far, but we all know that the biggest threat to order & civility in this city is that of a wild pack of 15 year old shitheads, and being a bodega owner in a tough neighborhood probably caused this guy to react the way he did, so my support is with him and not the "good student."
The self-defense laws in this country are wack. If I am attacked and shoot at someone, wound him/her, and then shoot again who knows how I'll be found by a jury of my peers?
Do people not understand the adrenaline and fight or flight reflexes? This is I feel no sympathy for this kid. Hey, ya it was excessive but tough shit, punk. If you and your buddies behaved properly you wouldn't have headaches.
People do understand, and I'm sure Mr. Ahmed's lawyer made the same exact argument to the jury.
while this is obviously very tragic for all parties, this is likely not self defense under nys law.
it is clear in the video that the shop owner hits the kid with the hammer after having pulled him off of the cashier, while the owner is in physical control of the kid and pushing him out of the store. essentially, the blow in question was delivered after the threat from the kid to both the shop owner and the cashier had been extinguished. since the kid was no longer a threat when the shop owner struck him, the owner probably was not technically acting in self defense.
this is just a sad case for the shop owner, who didn't wake up from a nap wanting to hospitalize some kid, and for the kid, who was injured as a result of his own actions.