The Not-So-Mythical Single Death Punch

When someone decries the shooting of someone who was unarmed, it needs to be remembered that "mere" fists can kill. Indeed, a single punch can be fatal.

In 2014, in Livonia, a soccer player sucker-punched a ref, and killed him with one blow.

The player is now in jail with an eight year sentence for his unjustified attack.

So now we have yet another case of a one-hit kill: Lyon man dies after New Hudson mobile home park assault

The story so far is that after drunkenly trying to proposition and assault a 17 year old girl, the 43-year-old drunken man in question leaves, then comes back to the home again the next day in a drunken state when he is punched by the girl's brother after he refuses to leave the premises and after police were called.

90 minutes after the single punch, he complained to police about trouble breathing and died.

Now the brother is facing charges for the punch: Man charged with manslaughter following fatal punch

But the next day, police said, Markiewicz returned to her residence highly intoxicated again and apologized for his behavior the night before. When he wouldn’t leave, Markiewicz was punched by Myers, police said.

Oakland County Sheriff’s deputies interviewed Markiewicz and asked if he wanted to press charges. He declined.

About 90 minutes later, authorities received a 911 call reporting that Markiewicz was struggling to breathe. He reportedly stopped breathing on the way to Providence Hospital in Novi and CPR was administered. He had been on life support at the hospital.

The brother may have a good claim of defense of others defense or of himself depending on the circumstances. Or, he may be well and truly hammered if he hit him not for reasons of defense but to eject Markiewicz from the property or if he did so aggressively to "defend" his sister's honor. It may also be that his death was not from the punch but from other factors altogether. Time will tell.

Even a single punch can kill, so avoiding situations where you may have to throw a punch, or be on the receiving end of a punch is always good advice as the consequences may be far greater than you might otherwise anticipated. Similarly, avoiding situations and scenarios where you might throw a punch in anything other than clear and explainable self-defense or defense of others is highly advisable.