Abelino Mazaniego (pictured above) from El Salvador was beaten to death after finishing his shift at a Summit, N.J., restaurant. He was allegedly beaten by three teenagers who decided to record the beating on a cell phone camera. Mazaniego was a father of four children. He was beaten unconscious and died in the hospital four days later.

Three teens were arrested after the video circulated throughout the community, with other young people passing it to one another through their cell phones. The three teens arrested are aged 17, 18 and 19. There is a fourth teen in the videotape, but authorities are saying that the person they believe to be in the video has not yet been charged.

Mazaniego was described as"a hardworking, punctual, friendly employee," by his manager, Colin Crasto. The restaurant put his picture on the wall, letting patrons know that he was the sole provider in his family and that they can make donations.

"It's a random act of violence, there's not a lot of racial strife in this town," Crasto said. "I'd like to see the parents that produced such monsters."

The defendants are being charged with murder. Nigel Dumas and Khayri Williams-Clark (pictured from left below) have been identified to the public. There is also allegedly a 17-year-old involved whose identity has been protected. What was most surprising was that the teens who beat Mazaniego didn't even take the $640 he had in his wallet. That was allegedly taken by the nurse, Stephan Randolph. Family members noticed that the money was missing, and the nurse was later charged with third-degree theft.

This story is obviously shocking and incredibly sad. While none of us knows the victim personally, the mere thought that a random citizen can be beaten to death and then robbed at the hospital is incredibly disturbing. What's also bothersome about the story is that the victim was the sole provider for his family. It reminds all of us that as much as we wish to believe that we are invincible, we must always keep a backup plan. When death comes to us, it doesn't care how many appointments we've made or how inconvenient our passing might be. Death just happens, and can sometimes happen in the blink of an eye.

An additional point is that we've got to think carefully about how we are raising our children. There's a good chance that the teens involved in such reckless, anti-social behavior were likely victims of unconcerned, and possibly irresponsible, parents. Most of us know a child in our community who is at risk of becoming a criminal in the future, and it only takes a little intervention to help them to change course. We've all got to be part of the village that raises our youth, especially men.


Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.