Chinatown Beatdown: A Why I Hate DC reader identified only as Meagan reported a seemingly random beatdown via the blog site on Feb. 16. Meagan says she "was walking into the gallery place/Chinatown movie theater and a group of teenagers ran out and started beating a random man in the street. They beat him unconscious and left him face down on the concrete."
"I do not know if the man received medical attention, but he was unconscious and his face was bleeding. The kids easily got away and no one chased them or stopped them," she wrote. "They headed down into the metro and disappeared."
First District Commander David Kamperin of the Metropolitan Police Department confirms the brutal pummeling took place: "We took a report for the assault and our detectives have reached out to several subjects (maybe even this writer) who may have witnessed it," he emails. "We are following up to see if there are cameras in the area and with Metro."
Again, I can't stress the importance of sticking around to talk to the police.
I like that part of the detective work is "following up to see if there are cameras in the area." I recommend creating a Google Map and plotting the cameras in the city, inviting those putting up new cameras to report them, and then saving all of that for the future. Don't mention it.
ReplyDelete"Again, I can't stress the importance of sticking around to talk to the police."
ReplyDeleteAnybody with even the slightest amount of street smarts knows that there may be severe consequences for those who choose to cooperate with the police.
The police cannot follow you around 24/7 to protect you.
That's laughable, especially in this instance. We're not talking witnessing a coordinate gang or mob hit here. We're talking about giving a description of a group of kids who beat someone up for kicks. You really think they leave a lookout at the scene, who will then also follow you home to figure out who you are?
ReplyDeleteYeah, right.
Hey man, we've got dates to go on!
ReplyDeleteWord gets around
ReplyDeleteEspecially if one is called upon to testify in court
Never talk to the police.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik
Nothing to do with lookouts or gangs or word getting around. Say it with me: never talk to the police.
oh, please.
ReplyDeleteseriously, what are you anonymous people trying to prove? we've got jackass dc native trying so hard to show his 'street cred;' pretending that he knows something about urban culture by adopting the whole 'no snitching' attitude. then we've got civil libertarian over here who somehow thinks you'll get tricked into confessing to a crime by telling the cops what color clothing an attacker was wearing.
give me a break. 'never talk to the police.' yeah, i advise you to keep your mouth shut until you have a lawyer if you're being accused of a crime. it's a well known fact the police will try to get you to confess to something, and will get you to agree to searches that you don't have to agree to. if you get stopped by the police in your car, you don't have to consent to a search. we've all listened to '99 problems,' we get it.
I came back to my parked car after a night out to find it vandalized by whoever, called my insurance company who told me to call the police because I needed to make a report in order to file a claim. DC police came out and within 20 minutes of them showing up they accused me of doing the damage myself and lying to them. You may not think you're a suspect, but to them everyone is a suspect. In your case, you were there at the time, it's not unreasonable to simply include you in a pool of potential suspects.
ReplyDeleteThere was only a few hundred bucks worth of damage to the car, so in the end it wasn't worth all the trouble that resulted. That's when I learned the lesson the hard way. Just because you can't conceive of a way in which the situation could go badly wrong doesn't mean there isn't one.
not at all reason enough to issue a blanket statement saying never report crimes or give descriptions. did you file a complaint? did you do anything about it?
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you. I feel that given my experience and the research that I have done, I now have plenty of reason not to talk to the police at this point.
ReplyDeleteWhy would I file a complaint? The police in my situation did nothing wrong. They broke no law or rule or policy, they were simply doing their jobs. Investigating and reaching what I knew to be an incorrect conclusion isn't a breach of protocol.
To answer your second question, yes... I did do something about it: I resolved to never again talk to the police.
I'm not saying I would never try to help someone who was in trouble. I just wouldn't help them by talking to the police. The risks are too great.
Anonymous should just change his name to straw man.
ReplyDeleteokay, but talking to the police to stop the kids so it doesn't happen again. I just don't see how that's bad. If I got mugged, I'd probably tell the police. If I got raped, I would tell the police. I don't see how they could blame that one on me.
ReplyDelete"holykemp said... Anonymous should just change his name to straw man."
ReplyDeleteThese words... I do not think they mean what you think they mean.
Wow. I can't wait til one of you non-talkers is a victim and no one who witnessed what happened to you will come forward to help. Good god.
ReplyDeleteI certainly appreciate your anticipatory schadenfreude, but wait no more! It's already happened. Bask away.
ReplyDelete"holykemp said... Anonymous should just change his name to straw man."
ReplyDelete"These words... I do not think they mean what you think they mean."
ummm, no, holykemp is correct. Dave presented an argument that someone who witnessed a beating should stick around to tell the cops what they saw. Various anonymous commenters say and give unrelated examples that all cops are corrupt. We end up arguing whether all cops are corrupt, instead of the original position on the actual merits of sticking around if one is a witness to a public beating.
Seriously?
ReplyDeleteThe original post says "I can't stress the importance of sticking around to talk to the police." Put another way, he's saying that under specified circumstances, you should talk to the police.
The counterpoint being discussed is "You should ever talk to the police."
Nobody mentions cops being corrupt or suggests that all cops are corrupt but you. In the end, you're the one misrepresenting the opposing position, which is (wait for it) the very definition of the "straw man" fallacy.
Whoops, meant to type "You should never talk to the police."
ReplyDeletethis may come off as elitist, racist, mean, or whatever, but maybe this beating would never have occurred if the goddamned police would crack down on the huge crowds of thuggy-looking street trash that conglomerates around Gallery Place on a busy evening?
ReplyDeleteyeah, yeah, yeah, I get it that DC is a "chocolate city" like New Orleans and Atlanta, but being predominately black does not have to mean being stupid, loud, obnoxious, violent, antisocial, or criminal.
every gangsta-looking fuck with a grill, hat on sideways, and pants down around his dick should be smacked in the face with an ASP baton the second they show up downtown.
HINT for you "urban" types: 90% of whites who might seem racist do not have a problem with your skin; its your fucking culture that pisses us off. us proper English diction, act appropriate, carry on a conversation at a reasonable volume level, and pull your fucking pants up so I don't have to look at your drawers, and maybe I won't give you a dirty look like I want to lynch you.
and you fucktards seem surprised why nobody else in the US wants DC to have a vote in Congress...
Obvious Troll is obvious.
ReplyDeleteI give you a 3/10 for effort. So sorry that you don't like the hippity-hop and the whatnot.
Years ago I was mugged at New Hampshire and V, NW. The desk clerk in the condo building on the corner would not call the police. He mentioned something about his brothers and the crimes inflicted upon them. I then walked to the police station (before mobile phones) and reported the crime. The police were polite, but what could they do. Three African American men in the their 20's with dark clothes on, etc. I know the city has far more serious crimes.
ReplyDeleteI packed my bags for Arlington and never looked back. I'm in the city at least once a week these days -- sometimes two to three times a week. I'm careful where I go, where I park, and I survey my environment. Overall, I love the city. I grew up here and DC will always possess magic for me, and it's only ten minutes away.
I don't like the current GOP administration in VA, and hope they'll lose in the next election. With all that said, I breath easier when I cross the Potomac. Arlington isn't perfect, but the crime rates drops tremendously and I don't worry about the huge corruption issues that plague DC -- 50M property tax theft; emergency medical incompetence, iffy police force, council member Barry steering contracts to his girlfriend/cronies; lead in the water, etc.
And posts like this remind me that I'm very happy to be outside of DC.