12-Year-Old Black Boy Yelled at and Insulted by Man for No Fault of His—Jace Jung Came to His Aid and Humiliated the Man for His Insults
Lakeland, Florida, March 12, 2025 – A peaceful afternoon at a local park turned ugly today when 12-year-old Malik Turner, a Black boy, was viciously yelled at and insulted by a grown man for no apparent reason. The unprovoked attack left onlookers stunned—until Detroit Tigers prospect Jace Jung stepped in, turning the tables on the aggressor with a blistering defense that humiliated the man and won the crowd’s roaring approval.
The incident unfolded around 4 p.m. as Malik, a shy middle-schooler, sat on a bench sketching superheroes in his notebook. Witnesses say a burly man in his 40s, later identified as Greg Hammond, stormed over, red-faced and bellowing. “You don’t belong here—go back to your side of town!” he shouted, hurling a string of racial slurs that left Malik trembling. “I wasn’t bothering anyone,” the boy later told reporters, his voice barely above a whisper. “I just wanted to draw.”
Hammond’s tirade grew louder, drawing a small crowd, but no one dared intervene—until Jace Jung arrived. The 24-year-old infielder, in town for Tigers spring training, had been jogging nearby when he heard the commotion. Dropping his earbuds, Jung sprinted over, his athletic frame cutting through the tension. “Hey, tough guy—pick on someone your own size!” he yelled, stepping between Malik and Hammond with a glare that could’ve melted steel.
Hammond, unfazed at first, sneered, “Mind your business, kid.” That’s when Jung unleashed a verbal fastball. “My business? It’s everyone’s business when a coward screams at a child for existing,” he fired back. Then, in a move that left the crowd gasping, Jung pointed to Malik’s sketches and boomed, “This kid’s got more talent in one drawing than you’ve got in your whole miserable life—why don’t you try creating something instead of tearing people down?” The onlookers erupted in cheers as Hammond’s bravado crumbled.
Jung didn’t stop there. He pulled out his phone, snapping a photo of the flustered man. “Let’s make you famous,” he said, posting it to his X account with the caption: “Meet the guy who yells at kids—real classy, right?” Within minutes, the post went viral, amassing thousands of retweets as flooded Hammond with scorn. “He turned beet red and just slunk away,” one witness recalled. “Jace made him look like a fool.”
Malik, still clutching his notebook, called Jung “like a superhero.” “He didn’t even know me, but he stood up for me,” he said, a shy smile breaking through. Jung, brushing off the praise, told reporters, “Nobody deserves that—especially not a kid minding his own business.” The Tigers organization lauded his actions, and fans online dubbed him “Captain Justice.” For Hammond, the humiliation is a wound that’ll sting far longer than his fleeting outburst. For Malik, it’s a day he’ll never forget—thanks to a ballplayer who swung hard for what’s right.
