Blaming the victim

It was one of those sad stories you run across from time to time — though it could have been a lot worse.

A woman in Maryland was being attacked — strangled, actually — by some creep on the floor of a kitchen in a boarding house.

Fortunately, the woman’s 12-year-old son heard her cries for help.

"I kept saying, ‘Stop! Stop! Stop!’ " the boy said. "But he just ignored me. He didn’t stop. He just kept hurting her."

So the boy grabbed a knife — this was in a kitchen, remember — and slashed the jerk in the neck. Unfortunately — for the jerk, that is — an artery was cut and he croaked.

Maybe the late attacker had a tough life or something, but I gotta tell you, basically I’m thinking no big loss.

The person I feel sorry for is the boy. Even though he did the right thing — a very brave thing, actually — that is a tough burden to carry around, especially at such a young age. I hope the lad can get past it and realize that he saved his mother from a worse fate.

Anyhow, here’s the part of the news story that really shocked me:

Even though the preliminary investigation indicates the boy and his mother are telling the truth, “Law enforcement officials were reviewing evidence and had not decided whether to file charges.”

Huh? File charges against the boy? For what, killing a dirtbag out of season?

If this incident went down the way it appears, the boy did absolutely nothing wrong. Charging him with any kind of crime would be absurd — and grotesque.

I hope there are enough sensible people left in Maryland to understand that.