Teen dies after friend punches him at party
LAKE STEVENS, Wash. — One teen is dead and another behind bars because of a punch that authorities say may have been a fatal blow.
Jarom Thomas died early Sunday after agreeing to fight with Michael Shane Galen. The two 18-year-olds from Lake Stevens had had a minor vehicle collision outside a party at a cabin on Lake Roesiger, about 40 miles northeast of Seattle, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff's Department.
Before the fight, the two shook hands and smoked a cigarette together, witnesses told sheriff's deputies. Thomas, who apparently hit a car that the suspect was sitting in, agreed to let Galen hit him.
But Galen hit Thomas so hard that he fell backward on the pavement and never regained consciousness, sheriff's spokeswoman Shari Ireton said. After friends could not revive Thomas, one drove him to Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Wash., where he later died.
"My son is not a bad boy. He's not a bad kid," said the suspect's father, who also is Michael Galen. "I feel really sorry for this family for their loss. This is what I'm crying for is for their loss. Yes I'm sad for my son, but he's alive.
"I spoke to my son, and he told me, 'I didn't want this to happen. I didn't mean for this to happen," the elder Galen said.
The father said his son had no criminal history, had just gotten a job at Burger King and was determined to finish his education at Crossroads High School in Granite Falls, Wash., where both the suspect and victim were students. Crossroads is an alternative high school for students who have not been successful in a traditional school.
Now Galen worries two lives have been ruined.
"Don't drink please because things like this can happened," the suspect's father said. "When you don't expect it, you don't mean to. Please don't drink."
The Snohomish County Medical Examiner hasn't released a cause of death for Thomas, so police aren't sure if the punch was a contributing factor in his death.
A judge found probable cause Monday to hold the younger Galen for investigation of second-degree manslaughter. He was released late Monday on $10,000 bail.
Contributing: The Associated Press