Elderly Woman Body Slammed At Pool Party

You must be able to get along with other people. You don't have to like them but you must live with them. Our actions continually impact other people. When you are neighbors with someone you recognize this. You and your neighbor can't solve every dispute by shouting and fisticuffs. When you are neighbors with someone there's a good chance that neither of you is going anywhere anytime soon. You and your neighbor may need each other's help someday, whether it's something as prosaic as your neighbor plowing your driveway during the Winter Deathstorm of 2017 or you being willing to let the police know the license plate of the van that was parked outside your neighbor's house while it was burglarized. 

So when your neighbor asks you to turn your music down you might be annoyed. But if you are normal you'd remember the time that your neighbor helped you to change a flat. You'd probably turn down the music. Even if you didn't know your neighbor from Adam, you might consider granting their request because, as mentioned, reciprocity often works. You and your neighbor will be in a position to help and hurt each other for a while. 

But people who aren't neighbors and who aren't normal may not recognize the benefits of relationship reciprocity, as 68 year old North Lauderdale, Florida resident Nancy James discovered when she asked a group of teens to turn down their music at a pool party. The teens, many of whom did not live in the complex, didn't appreciate her request.

In the video, James enters the pool area to what looks to be a raucous party at the Players Place Apartment Complex in North Lauderdale. With her two dog leashes in hand, she appears to point and ask a few of the partygoers to turn down their loud music.

Suddenly, she is picked up by Balfour, who slams her to the concrete ground. It’s unclear if Balfour slipped and fell while hoisting James up into the air, or if he intended on slamming her to the ground. But James crashes to the ground with Balfour and she lays motionless for a brief moment. Then, a chant of “throw her in” the pool are heard from the surrounding crowd and Balfour abides.

He gets up, picks up James forcibly — with at least one dog leash still attached to her wrist — and throws her into the pool. The person who took the original video runs away from the party with the rest of the crowd, who is heard laughing and in shock at what just occurred. James, who is on the apartment complex’s association board, said that she asked the party to turn down the music because she heard several complaints from other neighbors about the noise level. “Kids are kids, no matter what,” she said. “They’re going to have parties, just lower the music.” 

The Herald reported that James suffered minor injuries — bruises to her shoulder and thigh — from the fall and was released from a hospital the morning of May 8. James’ two dogs were unharmed in the incident, but ran away after she was thrown into the pool. A neighbor at the complex chased them down and returned them to James. “Thank God, nice kids that live here, they helped me,” James said to WSVN 7News. “They went and they found my dog for me. The kids that live here are wonderful kids.” 
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Balfour turned himself in. There is another court hearing in June. For now Balfour is under house arrest (except for school, church or basketball practice). Were that one of my elderly female relatives that Balfour attacked I think I might want a bit more justice than house arrest. I would want to put hands on him. But that's just me. I know that kids make mistakes. But attacking an old woman is of greater magnitude than stealing cars for joyrides or the like. Florida is still a stand your ground state. What if Nancy James had been armed? Would she have been in the right if she came up blasting after Balfour slammed her into the concrete? I couldn't blame her. Having my head slammed into the pavement would certainly put me in fear of my life. If people can't discuss little things like proper noise levels without resorting to violence then perhaps we can't all live together after all. Maybe A Clockwork Orange was prescient. 

I guess all we can do is to hope that Balfour learns from this not to attack other people. But since his father is apparently in prison for murder, it looks like the apple didn't fall far from the tree. I think we'll read something else about young Balfour in a few years.