Via Borderstan, this interesting piece from the weekend:
The victim of a Saturday-night mugging on the 900 block of U Street NW fought back with the help of two friends and caught the mugger, according to a friend who saw the incident.
Seems a would-be mugger picked the wrong group of guys to accost on U Street on Saturday night. After snatching something from one of them, the mugger took off east on U Street--followed by the three men. They caught up with him in front of Nellie's, where they proceeded to administer a beat-down in front of cheering bystanders.
Now, there is a part of me that relishes this. After all, muggings have been plaguing our neighborhood in increasing numbers for some time, and there's a certain sense of justice in seeing one of them "caught in the act." Who knows--if it had been me, I might have done the same thing. God knows it can be infuriating to have your purse or wallet taken forcibly by some thug.
But this could have ended much worse for all parties. Luckily for the three men who gave chase, the mugger was not armed; otherwise this incident might have become a homicide. (Although it seems that even homicides aren't attracting that much ire from prosecutors these days...) As it was, it made for a nice story of vigilante justice--but what about next time?
So what do you think: were the actions of the three man vigilante crew an act of justice-seeking bravery, or spur-of-the-moment stupidity?
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Brave or stupid? You decide.
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9 comments:
Well the mugger was outnumbered. If there'd only been one of them, I doubt they'd have given chase.
Sounds like a rookie mugger. The sad thing is next time he'll probably go back to targeting more helpless victims than.
than a group of three guys*
I say that the mugger got everything he deserved and DC needs more vigilantes. The cops aren't doing anything.
Brave and stupid. Thankfully the mugger didn't have a weapon. I fear that the only lesson he probably learned is to carry a weapon next time.
I personally would have done the same thing IF I had a group of friends with me. However you have to be careful in these situations because had they severly injured the mugger, the mugger could have filed charges against them! So therefore it could have been a far worse situation.
Bad behavior won't stop until the perps suffer consequences. I am shocked we don't have more vigilante justice in DC - Lord knows there are lots of people that deserve to have it served upon them. I say more power to the victims fighting back, and beat down the perps!
Good grief, maybe they knew the mugger was bluffing and just decided to go after him. He did run after all, and didn't try to deter them from following. Just give them a cheer and let it go. People will act as they do and there's no sense worrying about it!
in terms of mugging, there are pros and cons to every choice we make. even if the mugger had a weapon, there's the question of whether the mugger will hurt or kill you regardless of getting the wallet/purse/etc.
so i would just put aside the 'what ifs' since there are too many to consider. and focus on what *did* happened.. we fought back.
this DEFINITELY has made the muggers out there hesitate. it also made us more aware of our surroundings (please do carry a whistle/mace or be in a group).
i applaud the three guys who chased this mugger down.
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