A rather strange and unfortunate series of events has resulted in two teenaged brothers facing charges for a fight they were involved in a family fight with each other and their mother’s boyfriend.
According to the Bay County Sheriff’s Department, they were dispatched to a residence at the Shady Rest Trailer Park in Bangor Township after a woman there called 911 to report that her grandsons had attacked each other, and that a butcher knife was involved.
The Arrested Brothers Story
Deputies arrived at the scene and broke up the fight, detaining the two young men, and then attempting to discover what had led to the argument. The story they were told was this:
Shortly after the younger brother, a 15-year-old boy whose name is not being released due to his status as a minor, came home from school, his mother’s boyfriend, Joseph Thibo, went through his book bag to check on his homework.
Thibo apparently found a bookmark in the teen’s backpack which had crass wording on it, and confiscated it. The teen became angry, and attacked Thibo by kicking and slapping him. He also apparently used a marinade brush as a weapon in his assault of Thibo.
Hearing the noise, 18-year-old Leo J. Carlisle, the older brother, came out of his room and attempted to break up the fight by pulling his brother off Thibo. However, at this point all he was able to do was redirect his brother’s rage onto a different subject – himself.
The brothers became embroiled in a physical fight that moved about inside the trailer. At one point, according to Thibo, the younger brother shouted out that he would “kill them all!” At some point during the altercation, Carlisle grabbed a butcher knife and ended up cutting his brother in the face.
In recounting the events to police, Carlisle explained, “I pulled a knife on my brother and he got cut. He wouldn’t stop so I was trying to make him stop.” To corroborate this claim, deputies noted, the younger brother’s face was apparently swollen, red and cut, and his shirt was stained with blood.
Deputies found the knife in question in the bathroom sink, where it had been rinsed clean after the attack. They also noted blood in the sink and on a bathroom floor.
Carlisle was arrested and charged with a single count of assault with a dangerous weapon, which is a felony under Michigan law. His younger brother was also arrested, and has been charged with a juvenile charge of domestic violence.
Carlisle appeared for his preliminary exam on November 17th, but his younger brother’s court dates have not yet been disclosed.