It’s a short black and white security video with no sound, taken outside of a bar in Ann Arbor, Michigan — but it’s going viral for a pretty brutal reason.
The clip is from July 18 and shows a group of students having an animated discussion. This one guy in a white shirt just waltzes through the group like nothing special is happening. Everyone is engaged in conversation in the circle around them.
The guy in the dark polo? He has no idea he is about to become the unfortunate victim of young Csont’e York, a sophomore wide receiver for the University of Michigan’s Wolverines.
A few short words, perhaps something York takes offense to, and bam!
This video makes me think of the little rhyme, “he who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day,” since that’s just what York does.
He probably realized as soon as his fist made contact that he was in big trouble. Whether or not he’d had some drinks and suffered from cloudy judgment at the time, we don’t know, but the result of this powerful punch was a shattered jaw in three places and a knocked-out tooth.
According to MLive, the victim had to have his jaw wired shut for reconstruction.
Everyone looks shocked in the video, which leads me to believe there wasn’t much provocation here.
A witness told MLive’s John Counts:
A group of people were arguing about football and hockey. Everyone was talking … crap…. [The victim] was jaw-jacking. All [of a] sudden, the guy just came up and cold clocked [the victim].
And that’s that.
Sadly, a few seconds of poor judgment will result in long-term punishment for York. He’s been suspended indefinitely from Michigan’s football team. The man on the receiving end of York’s punch required “temporary use of a breathing tube,” according to reports.
The unfortunate thing about this story is really that there are two victims.
York made a terrible decision to act upon his anger, and he may have been unaware of the strength behind his punch. He is a wide receiver, not a fighter, and has an otherwise clean record up until now.
C’sonte York is being charged with one count of aggravated assault and two counts of assault and battery. His arraignment is set for August 22.
These are misdemeanors, so perhaps, if he works really hard at apologizing and showing he regrets his actions, this incident won’t destroy his potential career in sports.
But for his victim, who may now suffer facial disfigurement and jaw pain for the rest of his life, his future is forever changed.