Poplar Bluff, MO: Fifteen-year-old Walter Currie Jr. was doused with gasoline, and then set on fire by a sixteen-year-old classmate. The attack occurred on June 13 in Poplar Bluff, a small Missouri town about 125 miles south of St. Louis. St. Louis Post Dispatch story.
Walter and his family say they believe this attack was racially motivated. The sixteen year old who was arrested for the attack on Walter has been released from jail. The juvenile court in Butler County has requested that the alleged assailant be tried as an adult, where he would face felony assault charges. No hate crime charges have been filed.
Walter spent nine days in the burn unit of a St. Louis hospital. He is is expected to recover, but he faces years of treatment and multiple surgeries. His mother Winona Currie says, “Physically, he’s doing well, but I’m worried about his spirit.”
Walter’s uncle, Pastor Gregory Nichols, spoke to the media in Kansas City about the incident because he and the family did not want the crime swept under the rug.
“Walter needs to know, in a struggle like this,
you’re never alone.”
–Pastor Gregory Nichols
Please leave a message of support for Walter in the comments field below. You can also email us with a message and we will send it on to the Currie family. Pastor Nichols has also set up a blog for news about the case.
Winona Currie and Walter Currie, Sr. are not only struggling to support a child who is physically and emotionally traumatized, but they also had to hire an attorney to represent their son. Nearly a month after the attack, charges were filed against Walter for an earlier altercation involving the youth who attacked him.
Pastor Nichols is worried that justice will not be served in this case, and that the young men who attacked his nephew will not be punished. “I fear as much for the perpetrator as I do for my nephew. I fear what will grow in his heart and his spirit. If he gets away with this, what’s to stop him next time?”
The Currie family is hopeful that the good people in the community will come forward and support them in their quest for justice.
Please leave a message of support for Walter in the comments below.
Comments
Dear Walter, I am saddend
Dear Walter,
I am saddend by the events you suffered in 2009. I just learned about your story today ... July 6, 2011.
It is my verbrent prayer that God will continue to sustain you, your parents and entire family and support system! God kept you ... you are alive in your right mind for a reason! Through your pain and suffering God will use you and in the end he will get the Glory !
Not taking away from the struggles you will have during your healing proccess .... but know that in the end because of you're suffering, others will surivie and be inspired! I admire your postive attitude in the clips I have viewed. Don't get bitter if the sytem fails you , let this exeperiance make you better .... Remeber how Jesus suffered so that we might live and have life more abuntly ? God knew you were strong enough to get the job done, to show the world the ugly truth ... Raceisim is still alive.
I would like to keep up with your progress ... new blog ... Face Bool Page , Ext . Please email me with the information. YOU HAVE TOUCHED MY HEART ! I will be submitting your name for prayer at my Church, and know that everytime I go to the Alter .... I carry you with me.
Love You With The Love Of The Lord,
Claire L. Sharpe
You are in my thoughts
Once I read and seen what happened to you, I literally cried and you have been on my mind ever since. Please know there are people out there like myself who care about you and are fighting for you. This type of act is so evil, I have no words on who would even do something that. Just remember that attacker is going to get what is coming to him and everything they did will come back to them x10. That is for sure.
Stay strong Walter.
I just want to say im
I just want to say im thankful for yall keepin me in your prayers. yall support help me thrugh one of the toughest time in my life. it really raise my spirt to see that there were so many people that care and to update you i healed up pretty good and im doing very well
Glad You're Doing Better
I'm sorry to hear about what happened to you. You're a strong young man I don't care what anyone says in my eyes it was racism and I've been a victim of racism all my life growing up in the small town of Snow Hill, North Carolina. It has never reached that far but I know for a fact that racism is the most dumbest thing in the world I see no point in it. & what happened to you was HIGHLY wrong and nothing is ever that serious to set someone on fire. Just know if you need someone to talk to im here for you Walter.
You can contact me via Facebook or Email if you need someone to talk to.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/marsha.l.carmon
Add new comment