"I don't think they'd ever had
a street encounter before," said Peterec. "I try and
tell kids what to do, but even for me, I just don't understand
it" "There was nothing like this when I
was young," said Peterec.
Peterec is no
stranger to teen violence. He remembers being bullied himself
in elementary school by a highschool boy. He grew up in the 1970s
in Port Alberni - it was a rough town. He learned self defense
through martial arts, and two years later on advice from his martial
arts teacher, he faced his bully, who left him alone after that.
Today, people of all ages walk through Peterec's doors
looking for self-defense tips. He also gives seminars on self
defense at Victoria area secondary schools such as Oak Bay high.
The learning goes both ways: The teens tell Peterec
what they face. For the last decade, he's seen an increasing number
of girls bullied. But the most baffling trend for Peterec is when
teens gang up on one victim. It lacks the unspoken rules that
Peterec remembers.
Back in Peterec's
day, fighting was usually one-on-one. And buddies would break
the fight apart if they felt someone had taken enough. Now it
seems buddies jump in, and curbings lead to comas and death.
"I've talked to the kids and even they don't
know where it (mobbing) started," he said. Peterec thinks
that mob attacks are more common than many people know.
Just yesterday, I had another." Peterec said
a young boy came in to the centre and said that he and a friend
were attacked by six guys when they were walking through a park.
The assault that Peterec's son witnessed was
the third mobbing in Saanich this summer. On June 30, two teenaged
boys, 15 and 17 years old, told police they were walking through
Hampton Park, when they were attacked by four older teens. A 17-year-old
and 18-year-old were arrested. |
Just a few days earlier a Saanich resident
was walking home along Cedar Hill Cross Road when he was hit
from behind. As he lay on the ground disoriented and bleeding
from a gash to his head, the man heard what sounded like the
voices of teenagers making comments such as "hurry up,"
and "come on, get his wallet." The incident
shook the man and his wife's confidence in her suburban neighbourhood.
Are drugs involved?
Peterec wonders if drugs are adding an element
of unpredictability to attacks. Two teens recently showed a
curious lack of judgment when they attacked Peterec's friend
and fellow kick boxer, Chris Peak. Peak, a King of the Cage
contestant, is six-foot-three, 240 pounds, bald and tattooed. "He
looks like he just came out of jail" Peterec said.
Two teens approached Peak outside a bank machine
in Esquimalt. They asked Peak for the time and when Peak went
to look at his watch, one of the teens punched him. Peak punched
back and one teen went down, the other ran.
"When I heard that he (Peak) go mugged, I was
laughing so hard" said Peterec. "That's either really
crazy - or really high." More seriously, Peterec speculates
the teens were so desperate for a fix that they didn't notice
who they were targeting. |
Peterec wonders if the teens involved
in his son's case were on drugs. Shane told his dad that one
guy didn't seem drunk as much as wired, talking really fast.
"It scared the hell out of my son," Peterec said.
What is the solution?
If you can't ward off an attack with big biceps
and a confident attitude, and you can't fight your way out when
you are outnumbered, what can you do?
Peterec isn't sure. He blames Americanization for
growing violence and a gang mentality among teens. One thing
he doesn't advocate is living in fear and only going out in
groups. "You can't walk through life like that," he
said. "The best defense is awareness. I believe everyone
has a sixth sense - bells go off. You just know something isn't
right." When that happens - run.
|
