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13-year-old didn’t take off his hat for the Anthem at a rodeo, so a man fractured his skull

A 39-year-old man is in jail after allegedly assaulting a 13-year-old boy for “disrespecting” the National Anthem during a rodeo at a Montana fair this weekend, the Missoulian reports.

The man, Curt James Brockway, allegedly attacked the boy after he failed to remove his hat for the Anthem. According to VICE News, the boy suffered a fracture to his skull.

“There was a little boy lying on the ground,” a witness told the Missoulian. “He was bleeding out of his ears, seizing on the ground, just not coherent.”

Brockway was charged with assault on a minor. The boy was airlifted to a hospital in Spokane, Washington and was treated for temporal skull fractures. He’s now reportedly back home.

According to witnesses, Brockway tried to justify the assault as people began to confront him, saying that he had “every right” to do so because of the perceived disrespect to the Anthem.

“It’s just a lot of pain in my head. I don’t remember anything – the rodeo – the helicopter – nothing,” the boy told KPAX.

Brockway is reportedly already serving a 10-year probation sentence for an assault with a weapon charge in 2010.

Featured image via Flickr

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