Sam’s Son
The day Sam’s son died was also Sam’s last day of freedom.
Sam’s son was named Matt. Matt was ten years old and resembled his father’s good looks with dark hair and blue eyes. Sam was a tall lean man and Matt was a wiry athletic boy that was good in many sports. Matt’s favorite hobby was fishing with his dad. Although Sam was divorced from Matt’s mom, he remained a very active part in Matt’s life. He was a great dad.
Matt was on the sidewalk near his dad when a car suddenly swerved off the street and bulldozed over the boy with brutal bone breaking and flesh raking results. Sam scrambled to his son and screamed in grief and disbelief at the mangled remains of his slain son.
“He came out of nowhere,” the tall, burly, drunk driver complained as he got out of his car.
Sam’s mind snapped. He hadn’t been in a fight since high school. He was a nonviolent, 33 year old, computer programmer without any criminal record. Sam displayed no fighting finesse attacking the drunk driver in a frenzied flurry of flailing fists at the face of the drunk driver. The big drunk was a brawler and bounced back from the blows flogging his face to hammer haymakers into Sam’s stomach and skull. The men grappled in a blur of holds, blows, throws and rolls on the pavement with their limbs lashing and bodies banging. They both suddenly broke apart and rose. Sam was fast to dash and snatch the man with a powerful push. Sam shoved the thug into the path of a passing motorcycle.
The big biker flipped over his handlebars flying face first through a truck windshield and he was killed on impact because he didn’t have a helmet on. He lay sprawled on the street, a red ruin amongst the glittering glass that shined like diamonds in the sunshine. The drunk driver lay paralyzed screaming in anguish. He would remain a paraplegic for life from the impact.
Cops and EMTs quickly arrived and pulled Sam from his slain son’s side. Sam was booked into jail for manslaughter of the innocent biker and the aggravated battery to the drunk driver. Sam lived paycheck to paycheck like most Americans do and he’d lost most of his savings in his divorce, so he couldn’t afford the high bail to get out of jail. He couldn’t afford a good attorney either. He was stuck with a public defender that wasn’t very experienced and didn’t really care about clients. Sam’s lawyer filed a motion for speedy jury trial within 90 days, as was Sam’s right.
Sam tried adjusting to jail life. He had a few hundred dollars cash on him when arrested, so that helped him buy things he needed in jail, such as food and hygiene, and writing items. His wife refused to help him because of their bitter divorce. Sam became very suicidal in his cell.
Sam’s second jail roommate was a violent sex predator. Sam woke up with the predator’s shank at his throat. The predator warned him not to struggle or shout out and to cooperate with his sexual demands or die. Sam wanted to die and fought back. Sam slugged the thug’s eye and knocked his nose in a burst of blood. During the savage struggle in the small cell the predator’s shiv spiked and sliced Sam in several spots before Sam seized and squeezed the shiv free from his foe’s fingers. Sam jabbed numerous stabs into his opponent. The predator crumpled in the corner and uttered some last ghastly gurgling gasps while dying.
Sam was charged with manslaughter for killing his sick cellmate.
On trial morning, Sam took a last minute deal pleading guilty two counts of manslaughter and the judge gave him 15 years in prison. Ironically the paralyzed drunk driver that slew his son received the same sentence.
I went from the county jail to prison with Sam. We became friends. He was a decent dude. I watched him try to adjust to prison life, but the mental and emotional anguish over losing both his boy and freedom proved too much for Sam to live with. During his second year in prison the guards found Sam hanging dead in his cell. He’d escaped his hell on Earth by suicide.
When I watched his body be moved, I prayed that his soul found his son’s soul waiting for him in a better place.