I can’t believe this hasn’t been Pitted yet. The upshot is, 2 people were beaten to death when the van they were in lost control and smashed into a crowd of people on the front porch of a home in Chicago. Three women were injured by the van and are now in fair condition. What I find outrageous is people pulled the driver and passenger out of the van and beat them to death.
Is there something here I’m missing? One newspaper report said this is the 3rd time something like this has happened in the past few months, but the first time someone has been killed.
I haven’t read anything that indicates either person in the van was drunk. Then again, I’m not sure how easy it is to learn the BAC of a dead person. Also, while I acknowledge the existence of brutality, I don’t think we should just shrug it off.
CJ
“We could be standin’ at the top of the world
Instead of sinkin’ further down in the mud.”
Was it as hot in Chicago as it was here that day? So every-one was too hot and angry and went out of control.
I was so hot and miserable early this week, I was a walking advertisment for gun-control.
I’ve never seen anything like this happen.
But in response to spooje, I think if the people in a crowd are at the stage where they are going to beat some-one to death, they are not making rational decisions, like let’s only kill the person who was driving.
Does that sound snide? That wasn’t my intention, but know I think it sounds snide.
Drivers BAC was .084, barely over the legal limit and two years ago he would’ve been legal. The passengers was .065. I’m sure the soulless participants in this beating had their Blood/Alchohol Breathalzyers out before they decided to kill two people over an accident.
Sure these things happen. If you’re intimating that they somehow deserved it though, then you’re way off base. Just because things like this happen doesn’t make beating two people to death with your boots and with bricks any less wrong.
Latest word on Sunday: 7 men arrested and charged with first degree murder. Three were related to the injured women. All had criminal backgrounds and were gang members. All of the people involved, including the victims, lived in the neighborhood. Of the 3 victims hit by the van, two are out of the hospital; one is in critical condition.
This is why I don’t feel particularly proud of the cheering going on the other mob justice thread (based on a Brazilian story about a babysitter who may or may not have abused some children in her care) started by Mr. Cynical. Yes, it may feel good to see someone getting theirs, but in this case, death was not too good for them. This is what we have the court system for.
What struck me as ironic was that the porch they were hanging out on when they were hit wasn’t even theirs. It was a separate corner building, which they’d been asked to keep from many times.
Close to 2 dozen calls were put in to 911, but not one person could step up and do something to help those victims.
These killers, whose first instincts were not to help, comfort, and tend to their wounded, but to viciously murder two men who were screaming for their lives are unapologetically violent. It’s sad. And a little scary, too. They’re gonna deserve what they get, and then some.
Frankly, if I saw a frenzied mob of people with bricks beating someone to death, I probably woudln’t be too gung-ho about leaping in there to save them. The chances of surviving seem slim. Bet your ass I’d be calling 911, and maybe trying to identify people, but unless I was a 250 lb man named Butch I’d be staying away.
I know–hence “no one could help”. I just meant that I think it’s sad that a whole neighborhood lives day in and day out with this kind of element, knowing there’s nothing they can do to fight it that wouldn’t put their own safety at risk.
Frankly, it sucks.
One thing I learned while working in the Stop-N-Rob[sup]TM[/sup] is that if you have to call 911 for something like this, is don’t talk to the 911 operator! Slam the phone down as soon as they answer and don’t pick up again when they call back. The operator’s will immediately route the police to your location, rather than spending time trying to access the situation.
Finally, I hate to bring the whole matter of guns into this, but what would have happened if one of the neighbors had walked out of their house while all of this was going on and fired a couple of rounds in the air? It might have stopped the mob, or it might have made things worse (though I doubt it).
That’s a situation where it would be good to have some kind of gas bomb that would put everybody to sleep. Once a mob gets going, it’s hard to do anything about it.
In this particular instance, I think that would have been an extremely bad idea. This was a pack of violent gang members, seems likely that they were probably armed, too, and probably not too shy about returning fire. I think it just would have escalated things from a vicious beating that killed two to a gun battle that would have killed a lot more. The last thing this story needs is “eight year old killed in cross fire” to top it all off.
I hate to admit this, but what with being altruistic to the point of stupidity and having a thing about defending the underdog (having been one). I probably would have waded in there and tried to get them to stop.:rolleyes: Oh well, if it ever does happen, could some of you either visit me in the hospital or throw me one hell of a wake?
Same thing happened down the road from me in the weekend. I know the girl who had the party and I wouldn’t be too surprised if I knew some of the people in the angry mob too. The scary thing about this one though is I think most of the people involved were around my age (15 - 17)
People die every year from being hit by bullets from guns that were shot into the air. What goes up, musht come down. Yelling, “stop or I will shoot!” seems a slightly better idea. Actually shooting one of the aggressors after such a warning would be definding the life of another and legal, although you’d likely face an inquiry. You might also manage to save a life or two. You may kill someone as well. Shoot into the air and you could kill someone not involved in the original conflict.
“People die every year from being hit by bullets from guns that were shot into the air”
You know, I hear this all the time, and while I don’t doubt that it certainly could be true, I have never heard of one case of it actually happening. Can you point me to any?