Shucks! Mugged in the Hallway (St. Johns/Washington)

restassured

I stupidly neglected to close the building door after me on Thursday night, and wouldn't you know it, three young men followed me in and proceeded to methodically strip me of my cash, my iPod shuffle, and a Metrocard.

All things told, they were nice kids, but I don't know if it was worth their time. I don't really have the kind of scrilla that outweighs the risk of a robbery.

Out of curiosity, though, for those who have lived here way longer than I have: would it be safe to venture that these aren't kids from the immediate neighborhood?

MOD

Subject: Re: Shucks! Mugged in the Hallway (St. Johns/Washington)

restassured wrote:

All things told, they were nice kids,

Are you serious? Wow, ok.

restassured

Subject: Re: Shucks! Mugged in the Hallway (St. Johns/Washington)

Mamacita wrote: [quote=restassured]

All things told, they were nice kids,

Are you serious? Wow, ok.

They didn't even have a tone of aggression when they talked to me, and in fact, one of them insisted that I get my wallet back with all my credit cards and identification. I was incredibly lucky. I just hope that this is one of those cases where these kids are just acting the fool instead of forging ahead on a path of increasingly worse crime.

hamilton

Subject: Hi Mom I just met the nicest muggers

Sounds like dialogue from a Woody Allen movie.
If you prefer to be mugged by locals you can contact," We Be Muggers" they will send someone over. They specialize in polite muggings.
I use them my self and have never been disappointed.
Mention my name and they'll give you 10% back.

restassured

Subject: Re: Hi Mom I just met the nicest muggers

Hamilton wrote: Sounds like dialogue from a Woody Allen movie.
If you prefer to be mugged by locals you can contact," We Be Muggers" they will send someone over. They specialize in polite muggings.
I use them my self and have never been disappointed.
Mention my name and they'll give you 10% back.

Haha. Obviously I'm being just a little tongue-in-cheek. It was mildly traumatic in the sense that I feel a bit less secure in my surroundings, and it's nothing that I'd want to experience again. I should have been more careful. It seems, though, that whether or not these were locals, PH has had this problem for a minute now (judging by earlier posts on the forum I've read).

MOD

Subject: Re: Hi Mom I just met the nicest muggers

Hamilton wrote: Sounds like dialogue from a Woody Allen movie.
If you prefer to be mugged by locals you can contact," We Be Muggers" they will send someone over. They specialize in polite muggings.
I use them my self and have never been disappointed.
Mention my name and they'll give you 10% back.

apollonia666

All the joking aside, I'm glad you didn't get hurt. Did you report it to the police?

paraderest

Did they give you a "muggins-r-us" customer satisfaction survey? I heard that every 20th customer gets a free burglary.

king without a crown

Are these the kids with the gray and black hoodies that ran down Classon ave? Did these alter boys display a firearm? After donating blood at the Bloodrive, the choir boys struck again last night. Along with IPODS from their victims ,they demanded cookies stating that they felt weak.

restassured

apollonia666 wrote: All the joking aside, I'm glad you didn't get hurt. Did you report it to the police?

Not this time. I tutored in prisons for two years and after seeing what going up north does to kids, I'm in no rush to send teenagers to prison for petty theft. Also, the fact that they didn't brandish any weapons makes me less inclined to worry much. I've kept my neighbors abreast of the situation, though.

hamilton

ParadeRest wrote: Did they give you a "muggins-r-us" customer satisfaction survey? I heard that every 20th customer gets a free burglary.

****************************

I called ,but they don't work on weekends, has something to do with Union rules.
I'm sticking with "We Be Muggers"
They are really a great bunch of felons.

king without a crown

Last time I checked Robbery wasn't considered "petty theft". I believe it's #3 right below Murder and Rape and the FBI's 7 Major crimes list. No wonder these little shitheads are doing this. The victims are defending them on Message Boards on their right to ROB people.

paraderest

King without a crown wrote: Last time I checked Robbery wasn't considered "petty theft". I believe it's #3 right below Murder and Rape and the FBI's 7 Major crimes list. No wonder these little shitheads are doing this. The victims are defending them on Message Boards on their right to ROB people.

King, I think your being a little hard on this young citizens. I'm afraid they are just mis-guided youth with a poor upbringing. They themselves are victims, victims of society.

That was sarcasm folks.

joehep

King without a crown wrote: Last time I checked Robbery wasn't considered "petty theft". I believe it's #3 right below Murder and Rape and the FBI's 7 Major crimes list. No wonder these little shitheads are doing this. The victims are defending them on Message Boards on their right to ROB people.

sounds like they were just exercising their constitutional right to earn a living in free market economy. :twisted:

hamilton

Subject: Soon to be #2

their crimes are in the #3 catagory well they have to start somewhere

leet

restassured wrote: [quote=apollonia666]All the joking aside, I'm glad you didn't get hurt. Did you report it to the police?

Not this time. I tutored in prisons for two years and after seeing what going up north does to kids, I'm in no rush to send teenagers to prison for petty theft. Also, the fact that they didn't brandish any weapons makes me less inclined to worry much. I've kept my neighbors abreast of the situation, though.

Oh please.

You owe it to your neighbors to be a good citizen and call the cops when you are the victim of a crime in the neighborhood. YOU don't know whether or not these kids had a weapon, and you don't know if their next act will seriously hurt or kill someone. Not calling it in isn't helping the situation.

jgregorie

Subject: Re: Shucks! Mugged in the Hallway (St. Johns/Washington)

wow

Are you so paralyzed with liberal guilt that you have convinced yourself its your fault you got mugged because you neglected to immediately close the door behind you in your own building?

They were nice kids? these little scum bags just robbed you!
You really sound pathetic.

restassured wrote: I stupidly neglected to close the building door after me on Thursday night, and wouldn't you know it, three young men followed me in and proceeded to methodically strip me of my cash, my iPod shuffle, and a Metrocard.

All things told, they were nice kids, but I don't know if it was worth their time. I don't really have the kind of scrilla that outweighs the risk of a robbery.

Out of curiosity, though, for those who have lived here way longer than I have: would it be safe to venture that these aren't kids from the immediate neighborhood?

leet

I don't think it's right to verbally attack someone who has just been mugged. I've been there (many years ago, not in NYC) and it takes time for what happened to sink in. You feel violated, scared and angry but there's no outlet for your anger.

My post wasn't intended to sound cruel. My point was just that you seem to be giving lots of consideration to the people who committed a crime against you without considering others in your community who may be indirectly affected by the incident and your response to it.

MOD

This is a weird thread :?




random comic

apollonia666

Yeah, I'm going to agree with Leet on this one. Maybe you can afford to get mugged and laugh it off, but lots of us sure as hell can't.

In another thread (can't remember which one) someone pointed out that it's probably better for the kids doing so many muggings in the neighborhood that they get caught now while they'll go through the juvenile system instead of when they're adults and will face the possibility of prison time. Either way, though, they're committing crimes, and this isn't something anyone should encourage by letting it slide. I'm all for a compassionate justice system, but not reporting them at all? Come ON.

armchair_warrior

joehep wrote: [quote=King without a crown]Last time I checked Robbery wasn't considered "petty theft". I believe it's #3 right below Murder and Rape and the FBI's 7 Major crimes list. No wonder these little shitheads are doing this. The victims are defending them on Message Boards on their right to ROB people.

sounds like they were just exercising their constitutional right to earn a living in free market economy. :twisted:

in a true free market. jackasses like that after being caught would of been sold as slaves to make up for their theft.

hamilton

Subject: slaves?

get ready for rev. $harpton

smokin joe

i have to agree with the cops (although without the sarcasm) and some of the other posters here. robbery, which is what this was, is a serious crime, regardless of how much or how little was taken. reporting it is important, whether they ever catch the kids or not. accurate statistics showing how much crime we have in our neighborhood can help direct more resources here.

livetotravel

I just knew after reading the OP's first post that the word "liberal" would appear - so predictable :roll:

but - restassured - don't you see the active form of violence that was extant in your mugging? And 3 people - I mean how intimidating is that. Maybe you need to process this a bit more.

I served on Grand Jury in Brooklyn twice and was determined not to send young men to trial and hence to Rikers for nickel and dime drug busts, but robbery? Hey, that's a whole 'nother thing.

homeowner

This stuff is sort of cyclical. Kids will continue to stick up folks so long as it is an easy crime to get away with and there are little to no consequences. If the kids know that there is a possibility they could 1) get caught; 2) catch a bad one (get beatdown); or 3) have some really serious ish go down, they will stop. So you'll continue to see three and four kids robbing single folks until the word gets out that its a stupid thing to do.

Folks who grew up in the city remember when the crimes du jour were stolen hubcaps, chain snatching, stolen radios, and the winter stolen jacket of the period (sheepskins, 8-ball jackets, cross-colors, etc). This is a phase, and hopefully it is the precursor to a quieter period in the area for everyone.

vanilla

nice kids don't follow people into their homes and mug them.

i'm not for sending kids to prison, but i also know that the "nice kids" aren't the ones that get sent up north. these kids need to be held responsible for their actions. please make a police report, this could help prevent your neighbors from having to experience the same situation.

i'm sorry this happened to you, but you shouldn't feel guilty. mugging people is just not o.k.

restassured

Subject: Re: Shucks! Mugged in the Hallway (St. Johns/Washington)

jgregorie wrote: wow

Are you so paralyzed with liberal guilt that you have convinced yourself its your fault you got mugged because you neglected to immediately close the door behind you in your own building?

They were nice kids? these little scum bags just robbed you!
You really sound pathetic.

It's not so simple as "they were scum bags." I don't have to demonize them just because they committed a crime against me. I didn't deserve to get robbed (no one does), but speaking as someone who was inside a prison every week, mostly dealing with young men who were there for property and drug crimes, I can say that putting these kids away would defer, not solve, the problem for anyone.

As I wrote already, I'm keeping my neighbors well aware of the details of the situation. I still may notify the police that the incident occurred, but given the fact that I'd little identifying information for them, and no desire to see these kids locked away, just maybe more police presence as a deterrent (which comes with its own complications), I was hesitant to leap to my phone in the aftermath of this episode.

Although to keep calm in the face of a troubling event, I emphasized what went right in a semi-comical fashion, rather than what obviously went wrong, I recognize fully that there are diffuse community impacts here. Just as it's one's responsibility to take that into consideration, it also seems incumbent upon other people to respect the person who's actually been robbed's discretion in handling such a matter.

I also scarcely find it sound to handle this with a broad-brushing "white knight/black bandit" approach. Maybe I should call the Aqua Teen Hunger Force, they'll be about as helpful to me as you are.

King without a crown wrote: the victims are defending them on Message Boards on their right to ROB people.

At what point did I defend anyone's "right" to rob someone? I'll give you an iPod, too, if you're able to cite where I expressed that these kids were entitled to my belongings.

And this, "Mamacita:"

[quote=Mamacita]

is a delightful comic strip from A. Wyatt Mann, who I would definitely trust as a source for insightful social commentary were he not a virulent white supremacist who happens to hate everyone of my ancestry.

emily

Subject: Re: Shucks! Mugged in the Hallway (St. Johns/Washington)

restassured wrote:
young men who were there for property and drug crimes

You may have a point here, but I would see what happened to you as not being a property crime, though your property was taken. It seems rather more ominous to me.

Don't you, as a member of society who sees that it's wrong to rob people, have a responsibility to report it to the police? Otherwise, aren't you tacitly accepting the behavior?

MOD

Hey now! that was a random comic I found on the web. It happened to fit a silly post you made about feeling guilty about the guys who mugged you.
Damned if I know who the the comic is. Get a grip with your issues then get back to me.

restassured

Mod note: The post referenced below has already been removed for violation of our site rules, (restassured, I assume you were already replying at the time that I saw it and removed it) and the poster has been sent a warning. Everyone please remember: You're welcome to disagree with people, but you are NOT welcome to call people names or participate in direct personal attacks. Please read the site rules, available at the big honkin' READ THE RULES link at the top of every page of the site.

Thanks,
apollonia666




Again, thank you for pretending as if I have taken no steps to alert those around me to the danger that may or may not exist. I also thank you for ignoring the fact that I've little useful information to provide for the police besides the mere reality of the incident. I also appreciate the self-righteousness that you exhibit to someone who just got robbed. I suppose that's the foremost trait of a "caring member" of the neighborhood. Like I already wrote (as you seemed to ignore) I may have initially characterized the episode with a lightheartedness before, but as I later qualified, that was cathartic in the moment. I still don't like having to check behind me, anxiously mind what hour I return home, or worry that this could occur again with worse results.

The other posts I've seen that are rational and sensitive to the situation, rather than reflexively condescending and strident, have made me realize that in some capacity I need to involve the authorities, but that's tempered by the fact that I don't want to see kids, intimidating or otherwise, go to prison over property theft.

restassured

Subject: Re: Shucks! Mugged in the Hallway (St. Johns/Washington)

Emily wrote: [quote=restassured]
young men who were there for property and drug crimes

You may have a point here, but I would see what happened to you as not being a property crime, though your property was taken. It seems rather more ominous to me.

Don't you, as a member of society who sees that it's wrong to rob people, have a responsibility to report it to the police? Otherwise, aren't you tacitly accepting the behavior?

Oh, I definitely acknowledge that even the implicit element of intimidation makes it more difficult to peg as just property crime, but those kids didn't hurt me physically. They deprived me of my sense of security, implying a lurking threat in their body language and all, but prison (or the juvenile judicial system) still will just chew them up and spit them back out onto the same block with the same problems. Those same kids, or kids in a similar situation, will rob someone else or me.

I also grant that if I took no action (reporting it to law enforcement, neighbors, etc.), then I'd be abiding and nurturing criminal activity, but I'm not passive in this. I'd invite anyone to also suggest any solutions beyond just notifying the police because judging by what people have complained about on this board, which I've been reading for months, the police attention to the neighborhood is shaky, at best.

At a time like this, I'd like any advice I can get besides some of the castigation I've received.