Youth punched after stopping domestic violence

Youth punched after stopping domestic violence

Kev PANLILIO AFTER HIS ACT OF HEROISM

By Jennilee Austria

On Saturday night (March 21) at 12:30 a.m. while waiting for his father to pick him up at a Brampton bus terminal, 22 year-old Kev Panlilio saw a man screaming at a young woman. When the man punched her so hard that he could hear it through his headphones, Panlilio, the lone witness in the terminal, knew that he needed to step in.

Although he was very afraid, he followed his intuition. “I wasn’t able to do a pros and cons list in my head— it was as if only my instinct was driving me to come closer to the couple,” he said. “Even before I had concluded that this may be a bad decision, I was already punched twice in the face.”

When the abuser began to hit him, the girl was able to run to her car and drive away. Panlilio realized that he wasn’t afraid of being hurt, but he was more worried about making his mother suffer if he was hurt or killed. “She loves me more than I love myself,” he said. “That was my greatest fear during the 10 seconds the incident took place.”

He was able to stop the man by pleading, “Stop and find something that’ll make you happy.” The abuser left the terminal and drove away. Within minutes, Panlilio’s father arrived to take him home to safety, and his mother put ice on his face for hours as he took painkillers and considered the possibility of an x-ray.

After uploading his story with a picture of his bruised face to Facebook, he saw an outpouring of public support, and was featured on Jim Richards’ segment on Newstalk 1010 radio. Within just 20 hours, his Facebook post has already garnered 10,500 likes and has been shared over 400 times. He has received comments from strangers around the world, and while a few stated that he should have been more careful, most of them called him a hero.

Panlilio has been overwhelmed by the response. “I actually didn’t want to post this on Facebook in fear of people thinking of me as a ‘wuss’ because I didn’t fight the guy back,” he said. “I believe it’s gotten the response it did because a lot of people are silent, waiting for someone to set a clear example.”

He urges victims of abuse not to be afraid to let people know that they need help. “People who are being abused might feel enslaved by their abuser, and that’s a reflection of how they see themselves. You are awesome and you are of worth–be with someone that is sane enough to see that!”

And for those who may witness violence, Panlilio said, “Step in, if you can. We as a community of human beings should not tolerate domestic violence, or any type of violence for that matter. God created us and planned for us to be antidotes to this virus-stricken world. Some people choose to live life to be a virus, and we should try our best to stop ‘em.”

He even regarded this as a blessing, stating, “I am just blessed enough to be put in a situation where I can choose to do what’s right, instead of just standing idly by.”

Kev Panlilio is a Brampton-based graphic designer, music video director, and producer and editor at Hamilton’s YES TV, and he loves chicken and rice with soy sauce.