Source: nydailynews.com

An eleven-year-old boy in Brooklyn named Terrance Allen is being hailed as a hero today for stabbing a 42-year-old man who was attacking his mom and cousin, effectively fending off the assault.

The story is hardly heartwarming though when you consider the fact that the assailant was the mom’s live-in boyfriend, Timothy Pender.

New York Daily News reported that the man “snapped” and began choking the mother, then when the cousin tried to get him to stop, he began choking her. It was then that the little boy ran to get a kitchen knife and stabbed Pender in the back.  The boyfriend was arrested  and charged with second-degree assault, criminal obstruction of breathing and criminal mischief. He was taken to the hospital to treat his “non-life-threatening injuries.”

They’re reporting that the boyfriend snapped because that’s probably how the mother characterized it, but let’s be real, this man is an ex-con with multiple prior arrests stretching back twenty years. The report said he has pleaded guilty in past cases to forcible touching, trespass, resisting arrest and theft of services. He didn’t “snap”. He is plain dangerous and the mother endangered her child by not only dating this man, but allowing him to live with them.

There isn’t enough love (or loneliness) in the world that should rid a mother of her common sense when deciding to let someone live in her house with her and her child. There is no excuse for this sort of foolishness.

How often do we hear of some woman whose abusive boyfriend killed her kids? Sure we can “boo-hoo” when tragedy happens, but can we also point out that women need to wise up about the men they attach themselves to? This is more than an emotionally-unavailable man that doesn’t return calls in a timely fashion. These are men who will come near killing a woman and have no qualms about turning that same wrath on her unsuspecting children.

In this case, the kid is being lauded as a hero, but he’s probably traumatized for life and it’s his mother’s fault. We can only hope that she has learned her lesson and won’t go back to this guy or any other physically abusive man who puts her and her child’s life in imminent danger.

Alissa Henry is a freelance writer living in Columbus, OH. Follow her on Twitter @AlissaInPink

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