A highschool wrestler has been charged with killing a father of three outdoors of a bar the place he had been ingesting underage along with his dad and mom, in keeping with a lawsuit — however was nonetheless allowed to compete for a New Jersey state title as he awaits trial.
Luke Humphrey, 18, punched Oron Beebe within the head in March 2024 in a parking zone in Mount Ephraim in Camden County, the place the 46-year-old dad was discovered with deadly head accidents, in keeping with authorities.
The wrestler was simply 16 when he was arrested and charged as an grownup with second-degree manslaughter — however has since switched faculties and competed in a sectional wrestling championship match final week whereas awaiting trial, NJ.com reported.
His wrestling coach, Kurt DeWoody, mentioned the teenager is being allowed to compete as a result of “he works arduous” and “he’s earned the fitting to be right here identical to each different child,” in keeping with NJ.com.
Beebe’s spouse, Jennifer Beebe, filed a wrongful dying lawsuit late final month in opposition to Humphrey and the bar, Bobby Ray’s Black Horse Tavern, claiming workers served {the teenager} and different minors earlier than the lethal confrontation. The bar and the boy’s dad and mom deny he had been served alcohol.
The widow claimed she and her husband had “sought to go away the bar as a consequence of conduct” by the teenager wrestler and his dad and mom, and have been finally “pressured” to go away for security, in keeping with the lawsuit.
Sooner or later outdoors, Oron Beebe approached the teenager’s automobile — only for Humphrey to “all of a sudden and with out justification bodily” assault the dad, in keeping with the criticism obtained by Regulation & Crime.
The younger wrestler “struck and punched [Oron Beebe] within the head, inflicting [Beebe] to fall to the bottom and strike his head, and maintain catastrophic head trauma,” the criticism alleges.
These accidents “finally led to his dying,” with the struck dad dying in a hospital simply over per week later.
The Gloucester-Camden-Salem Medical Examiner’s Workplace dominated the dying a murder by blunt power trauma.
Nevertheless, Humphrey’s dad and mom claimed their son acted in self-defense and solely punched Oron Beebe after he threatened to “bury” the teenager, in keeping with a legal criticism obtained by NJ.com.
One witness reported listening to Humphrey “shouting that he knocked out the sufferer as a result of the sufferer had threatened him,” the criticism mentioned.
Humphrey was charged in October 2024 with recklessly inflicting the dying of Oron Beebe and indicted by a jury in April 2025, in keeping with on-line court docket information.
Humphrey’s legal professional within the civil swimsuit, Robert Agre, “strongly denied” to NJ.com that the teenager had been ingesting that night time, too.
Black Horse Tavern proprietor Bobby Ray Harris additionally denied the allegations in Jennifer Beebe’s lawsuit, claiming her model of occasions “completely didn’t occur.”
“None of those children have been ingesting,” Harris mentioned. “We made certain as quickly as they got here in, I met with the workers and mentioned, ‘Hear, be very cautious. I don’t even need any of their dad and mom’ drinks on their desk in any respect.’”
Humphrey, who beforehand attended Camden Catholic Excessive College, joined Delsea Regional Excessive College and wrestled for his or her staff within the sectional championships on Feb. 18, the place he misplaced.
His wrestling coach, Kurt DeWoody, mentioned the teenager is being allowed to wrestle as a result of “he works arduous” and “he’s earned the fitting to be right here identical to each different child,” in keeping with NJ.com.
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Affiliation advised the outlet that there aren’t any guidelines barring college students from competing as a consequence of pending legal fees.
Jury choice for Humphrey’s trial is scheduled to start on March 4.
