Thieves foiled: Teen who kept his pants on ended up with some consolation

Okay, it’s true: What Deshawn Hull did was a little crazy.

Deshawn is 17 and lives in Charlotte. On a recent morning, as he walked to the school bus stop, two jokers in a white Ford Focus came along and pulled a gun and tried to rob him. They asked for his money, but what they really had an appetite for was those fine bluejeans Deshawn was wearing.

No way, said Deshawn. You’d never get him to give up his $78 jeans.

Some of us can remember when they were called overall pants, and they were sort of at the bottom tier of sartorial desirability. They didn’t cost 78 bucks, either.

Styles change, and for many a fashion-conscious young man today, to be clothed in denim is to be wrapped in splendor.

Deshawn Hull refused to give his up even when one of his assailants fired his pistol into the ground as a warning. Instead, he took off running. The would-be thief kept shooting, and Deshawn got hit in the lower leg.

Someone called an ambulance, and the first thing the medics did was cut up Deshawn’s $78 jeans.

At last report, Deshawn is doing well, thank goodness.

You have to admire his tenacity.

Some said he was foolhardy for resisting two armed thieves just for some pants. After all, in the long run he didn’t end up with the jeans, anyhow.

On the other hand, by golly, neither did the thieves.

Published in Editorials on January 18, 2005 10:25 AM