On the night of December 12th, 1997, Amarillo punk Brian Deneke was cut down in a parking lot by Dustin Camp, a 17-year-old junior varsity football player driving his 1983 Cadillac.

The events leading up to this final altercation were straight out of the film The Outsiders (1983). Two groups of kids, the Punks and the Whitehats, a rivalry because each looked different than the other. The rivalry went from harsh words, to blows. When the punks found themselves outnumbered 3 to 1 by the Whitehats in an International House of Pancakes parking lot, on that cold December night, Brian Deneke was cut down by the intoxicated Camp.

No one's story is the same. In the back seat of Camp's car was a girl who would later graduate as valedictorian of their class. She was the only person to testify that could possibly be considered a "Reliable Witness". She said that Camp drove into the midst of the melee, and after hitting and knocking over one of Brian's friends, then said "I'm a ninja in my caddy" and succeeded in running Brian over. There were no skid marks, no signs that Camp tried to avoid hitting the youth head on. As he pulled out of the parking lot Camp said, "I'll bet he liked that."

"I remember after he was hit, there was a cheer," Brian's girlfriend later told a reporter, "We ran to him as soon as he went down. He was trying to talk, but there was too much blood coming out of his mouth. Jason (his brother) put his arms around him and held him while he died."

The girl and her friend who she was in the car with went to the police station that night. Camp was arrested on murder charges the next day.

An emotional trial ensued that saw, on the prosecuting side, Brian's friends, his employer Stanley Marsh III of the Cadillac Ranch, his brother Jason who held him in his arms as he dies in that gutter. On the prosecuting side: Brian's old Boy Scout troop leader who had kicked him out of the troop when he was 13 for bringing a skateboard to a meeting, officers who displayed the clothes Brian was wearing as if it was supposed to be an excuse for slaughtering the wearer, Camp's football coach, his pastor, and his teachers, who all told the court about what a "good kid" Camp was.

The end result was a conviction on charges of manslaughter with a sentence of ten years probation and a suspended $10,000 fine.

On June 7th, 2000 an Amarillo jury found in favor of the Denekes in a wrongful death suit against the Camps, and awarded the Denekes $20,000.

Related Article(s): BrianDeneke.org, Brian Deneke: Punk Rock Martyr, Punks Unite a tribute to Brian Deneke, In Loving Memory of Brian Deneke

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