Man pleads guilty in beating death of dad killed defending teen son from mob of bullies

A Maryland man is facing up to 10 years behind bars after pleading guilty to manslaughter charges in the cowardly beating death of a dad who was killed defending his son from a mob of school bullies.

Trevor Garrett Taylor, 26, admitted that he attacked and killed concerned father Christopher Wright on May 19 when a rowdy mob showed up at Wright’s home looking for his 14-year-old son following a schoolyard brawl, the Baltimore Banner said in a report.

Wright, 43, suffered a traumatic brain injury when his head slammed into the pavement.

He was rushed to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he died the following night, authorities said.

“Just looking at the damage that was done to him, that wasn’t just punching that did that,” his fiancee, Tracy Karopchinsky, who witnessed the assault with the dead man’s kids, told reporters after the incident.

“I mean, he’d had a seizure,” Karopchinsky said. “It was done. There was nothing that the hospital could do.”

According to police, Wright’s son had been in a fight with another teen at Brooklyn Park Middle School earlier in the day, with the mob of three teens, Taylor and another adult later showing up at the Wright home and demanding that his son come out — or they would go in and get him.

Karopchinsky said the bullies told Wright, “if he’s not going to fight, then you’re going to fight.”

Wright then got into a scuffle with the gang.

At one point, police said Taylor grabbed his legs and sent him head-first onto the ground, then slugged the injured man four more times while he was down, authorities said.

Days later, more than 100 friends and supporters attended a vigil for Wright.

“He would have done anything for any one of us, not just our kids,” Karopchinsky told mourners at the vigil. “He would always have our backs.”

Taylor was arrested in July and charged with manslaughter, assault, disorderly conduct and fighting in public, the Baltimore Banner said.

He pleaded guilty to the top charge in court on Thursday and is due for sentencing in October.