I’d be annoyed, too, if kids spent a couple of nights ringing my doorbell and taking off. I’d probably have a few words for their parents. What I can’t get my head around is how a kid playing ding-dong-ditch on Lincoln Street in Eugene ended up going to the hospital Saturday night. He’s nine.
In a Facebook post, the Eugene Police Department said Collin McPherson Lounsbury, 30, came out of his apartment, chased the kids and hit the boy in the face. Witnesses described a solid wooden stick about two feet long and an inch and a half wide, with one end sharpened to a point. A witness told police Lounsbury also swung at a girl in the group and missed. Officers arrested Lounsbury and booked him into the Lane County Jail on charges of second-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon. The Eugene Police Department listed the incident as case #26-17762.
The kids should’ve quit ringing doorbells. Any parent can have that conversation, and I doubt it takes more than a minute. What do you tell your nine-year-old on the way home from the hospital about why a grown man would chase him down and hit him in the face over a doorbell? That’s the conversation no family on Lincoln Street should’ve had to have.
