i was assaulted today, park pl between underhill st jo

the0ther

five dudes, looked like a bunch of high school kids. they were coming from the opposite direction, gave each other some sideways looks and then spread out and grabbed me. the biggest dude tuned me once in the head, i started making as much noise as i could, and one of the other pieces-of-shit grabbed me and tuned me in the head a second time. sucks.

the0ther

this happened between underhill and vanderbilt. clearly my mind was on the shit that went down a couple of months back on St. Johns.

whynot_31

no theft?

...they just wanted to show off to each other that they could hit you?

Depending on the time of day, they may have been leaving a nearby high school.

Did you call the police afterward?

the0ther

Subject: just for fun

no there was no theft. they just wanted to bully and beat someone.

i did report it to the police, went down to the precinct. they'd had five guys in on a similar beating incident but from the description i gave these were not the guys who beat me.

the0ther

and this must have happened around 2, actually a bit too early for them to have been getting out of school.

but while i was waiting for the cops to come meet me, i was sitting on the steps outside my apartment on washington and the kids getting out of school were literally running down the middle of washington ave, fighting...

amazing.

tybur6

Wow -- that totally sucks. Groups of teenagers are the most dangerous types out there, indestructible attitude etc.

But about school -- let's assume these enlightened gentlemen actually stay at school the whole day. You have to remember High School in Brooklyn is totally fucked... I'm always amazed by how short the school day is. The daughter of the former secretary in my office would stop by the office to pick something up from her mom after school... that's normal, right? Well... it was 11:45am.

Twice a week her FULL school day was something like 8-11

Effing ridiculous. I wonder why kids leave high school unprepared for college or work?! Not to mention they're roughing people up for "fun" instead of doing ANYTHING else....

j0518

there's tons of reasons why some teens have shortened school days. some are schedule-related, as in some kids only need a certain number of credits to finish, etc. some kids also have split days in which they take go to a separate vocational component for credits. in other words, it's not all bad reasons why there are shortened school days.

if these kids don't live too far away, as in these are kids who live on the CH/PH fringe, etc. then, really, what afterschool programming is there in that neighborhood? what deterrents are there for kids? it doesn't seem like there are many options. maybe someone needs to be doing that instead of opening another faux-dive bar.

this is not excusing their behavior in any way. someone out there needs to be thinking of prevention, though, as i'm reading these stories just way too often on here. that prevention also needs to go beyond the Band-Aid of a cop at every corner.

MOD NOTE: Split out the employment of local teens into another thread

brooklynleather

UGH. i am so sorry this happened to you!!!!

i was mugged and hit by a group of three teen boys last week.

wingedearth

Maybe get a copy of the high school's yearbook and try to identify them.

bklynwhat?

this is not awesome at all... people being mugged in the middle of the day? is there any way to get the local precinct to put more police out on the street? did anyone see how many cops there were during the west indian parade... like four on every corner!

i'm a native new yorker, so i tend to downplay street crime and can get defensive about the way teenagers are treated (i was a nyc public school kid hanging out in packs on the street once too -- though i was definitely not mugging anyone -- but i did get harassed by police and treated badly by store owners, etc., so i'm sympathetic). and to be honest, i come home late at night by myself all the time and have never felt unsafe in this neighborhood...

but this is too much... frequent muggings in the middle of the day??

happyneighbor1980

Waaaaa

tybur6

J0518 -- the only GOOD reason you provided for the school day to be short is the outside vocational training. And that means the school day isn't actually short, they just finish it somewhere else.

There should be NO REASON for any kid to be let out of school before the end of the school day... i.e., when the school is closed and there are no more periods to the day. There shouldn't be a situation where kids only have a certain number of credits and they're done. This isn't college. If they've fulfilled the minimum state requirements -- they should still have classes to take! That's how it should work.

I'm not going to comment on the rest above. There is a lot to be said of the lack of respect in the community (both someone respecting another person AND people having respect in general and standing up when they see disrespect.) You don't know how many dumbass kids I've told to pick up their wrappers and garbage as they just basically shed it onto the ground as they walk... usually within 8 ft of a garbage can.

xlizellx

tybur6 wrote:
There should be NO REASON for any kid to be let out of school before the end of the school day... i.e., when the school is closed and there are no more periods to the day. There shouldn't be a situation where kids only have a certain number of credits and they're done. This isn't college. If they've fulfilled the minimum state requirements -- they should still have classes to take! That's how it should work.

that i don't agree with. If they fulfilled the minimum state requirements then they have fulfilled requirements -- this isn't prison. They are there to learn and meet standards set by educators/politicians -- not sit in a room because we said so. If too many kids are leaving early then maybe the standards are too low -- but keeping them in a building for the sake of keeping them off the streets just breeds a "we're criminals so let's act it" mentality.

In many interviews, kids say that having metal detectors and pat-down searches on the way into school makes them feel less safe - because it assumes someone has something even though most days there is nothing coming into the building and reminds them that they are simply criminals we "must" educate.

whynot_31

In the 80's many schools appeared to simply be places that would feed students lunch and perhaps keep them off the streets during the day by simply providing them with attractive amorous people their age in close proximity. ...not much learning occurred.

Many of the District 75 schools may still fill this role.

P.S. I don't assign the majority of the blame to the schools....

armchair_warrior

blame should goto parents or lack of parents.

god

Having children is a privilege NOT a right.

mr. met

i agree. most of this has to do with shitty parenting, and there are no signs of this cycle coming to an end.

don't have kids ftw

brooklynleather

FYI there have been multiple daylight muggings nearby in Crown Heights -- I was violently mugged a few weeks ago and someone was mugged at gunpoint today...please see the Crown Heights forum for more info.

hamilton

GOD wrote: Having children is a privilege NOT a right.

*********************************************
I don't see you as the voice of reason, look what happened to your kid.(':(')

god

hi

whynot_31 wrote: In the 80's many schools appeared to simply be places that would feed students lunch and perhaps keep them off the streets during the day by simply providing them with attractive amorous people their age in close proximity. ...not much learning occurred.

Many of the District 75 schools may still fill this role.

P.S. I don't assign the majority of the blame to the schools....

Aren't district 75 schools special education