A guy got his arm torn off in a botched robbery attempt

botched - if a plan is botched, it does not work out well. In fact, a botched plan is a plan that goes very badly.

There is a lot of pressure on poor teenagers in New York City to wear 'cool' clothing. Air Jordan sneakers (athletic shoes) are considered cool shoes. If you are a teen and do not wear cool clothing to school, other students will mock you (make fun out of you - criticize you).

Therefore, some teenagers are so desperate for expensive clothing and athletic shoes, which they cannot afford, that they try to steal these things.

This is a horrible story in which a 17 year old African American student answered an advertisement on a website to buy a pair of  Air Jordan sneakers for $199.00 (one-hundred ninety-nine dollars). The man selling the shoes agreed to drive to the student's neighborhood to sell him the shoes. However,when the student got into the man's car, he pulled out a gun and stole the shoes. 

As the boy started walking away, the man then decided to run the boy over with his car, tearing the boy's right arm off of him. The boy then, unbelievably, climbed out from under the car, missing an arm, and started running away. He even got onto a bus and demanded that the driver help him escape.

Folks, this is what's called a "New York Story" - this kind of thing only happens in New York City.

So the boy will be arrested for trying to rob the shoe seller and the shoe seller will be arrested for attempted murder because he ran over the boy with his car. Do you think this is fair? 

Here is an article about this horrible situation:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3445009/Carjacker-17-critical-condition-having-ARM-ripped-trying-rob-man-met-Craigslist.html

Vocabulary from the article:

excruciating - extremely painful

robbery - when someone illegally takes something from another person

a scam - a plan to steal something or make money illegally

accused of - if a person is accused of something, it is claimed that the person did something illegal

a revolver - a gun

headlong - right at, directly at

He managed to flee - he was able to run away

He is charged with attempted murder - to be charged with a crime means that a person has been arrested for a specific crime. So if a person is arrested for murder, after the paper work is done, the police will say, "He has been charged with murder..." He will have to go to trial for murder.

armed robbery - robbery with a gun or other weapon

squirming out - crawling out slowly, like a worm

bystanders - people standing around

to stun - to shock

"I saw the gun on the floor. The arm was in the floor..." - should be: on the floor

instant karma: karma basically means you get rewarded for good behavior and punished for bad behavior. Instant karma would be an immediate reward or punishment.  John Lennon wrote a song called Instant Karma: