Dad Pays Steep Price After He Has High Schooler Beaten

A Canadian man is out more than $360,000 after ordering the beating of a 14-year-old boy as revenge for a high-school spat with his son. Little was previously known about the decade-old incident laid out in a British Columbia Supreme Court ruling last week, per the CBC. Describing "senseless and outrageous conduct," Justice Paul Walker noted then-45-year-old Michael Tilton set grown men with telescopic batons on the victim. The teen, identified as RS, had punched MT's son in the face after accusing him of kissing his girlfriend. Days after that spat, Tilton saw RS leaving the grounds of Delta Secondary School on April 15, 2009, and followed in his truck, with his older son in the passenger seat and the two adult males in the back. As Tilton caught up to the teen, he directed the adults to attack, telling the victim, "This is what you get," according to the ruling.

Tilton also "uttered words of encouragement" to the two men, asked that they let his older son "get in there," and head-butted another student who was preparing to intervene, per the CBC. He was convicted of assault causing bodily harm and served six months in jail for the attack, which left RS with a concussion and a broken nose, as well as paranoia, anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts, per the Vancouver Sun. The victim then sued for damages. At one point during a court hearing, Tilton, representing himself, claimed he wasn't liable since he hadn't touched RS himself. RS reminded him that he had "[brought], you know, assailants to beat me with batons at my school, a place where I'm supposed to feel safe." Walker ordered Tilton to pay more than $479,000 (Canadian) to the victim, whose "physical and psychological injuries have affected all aspects of his life." (More assault stories.)