Police warn Watch out for The Rippers - bold purse snatchers

San Jose Mercury News ^ | March 27, 2008 | Sean Webby

[a_chronic_whiner]

(ROBBERY TEAMS ARE TARGETING LONE ASIAN WOMEN)

Watch out for The Rippers. The Rippers are watching for you.

The Rippers are what San Jose police are dubbing packs of purse snatchers who have been targeting Asian women in recent months as they stroll through parking lots with purses fat with cash.

The dangerous and unprecedented epidemic includes 21 recent robberies, according to San Jose detective John McElvy, many of them carried out brazenly in crowded and well-lit lots.

Despite four arrests of the robbers, the crime wave continues. On Tuesday, a woman was robbed of her purse at 7:20 p.m as she walked through the Costco parking lot at Senter Road. It was the second Ripper robbery in that lot.

"The word on the street is that if you need cash, this is an easy way to get it," said McElvy. "They seem to be going after Asian woman as easy targets."

[Global2010]

IF these Asian women are shopping at Costco can I assume she is doing large amounts of food shopping?
If the above assumption is correct then if I were these targets of recent I would insist two males from the family/business accompany me for the shopping event.

[a_chronic_whiner]

I’m sure many will do so now that news has gotten out. A lot of people just simply don’t expect these kinds of things in broad daylight in front of crowds of people. Meanwhile, your average person there watches the whole thing go down, doing absolutely NOTHING. In this day and age, no one is coming to your rescue, the police are there after the fact. You either take proper precautions or you become a victim.

I repeat this for everyone.

It’s up to YOU to protect yourself. NO ONE will be riding to your rescue in a scene of a crime.

All too predictable.

[JillValentine]

This is why knowledge of effective self-defense techniques is so important. If just one of these ladies unleashes a Category 5 ass-kicking on a would-be mugger, and the incident is well-publicized, it would be a very effective deterrent and other muggers would think twice before continuing their lives of crime.

[Global2010]

I wanted to post a ling from the 70s song:

Everyone will be Kung Fu Fighting!

(poor taste tho)

[garyhope]

Suggestion, don’t carry your piece in your purse or don’t carry a purse. Get a fanny pack, wear it in front, keep your hand on your gun in a pocket, loaded, chambered and ready to fire and shoot all the perps.

[Ronin]

Tear gas gernade in purse. Three foot cord attached to said gernade. Cord attached to hand. Ripper grabs purse and runs, cord removes pin. 10 seconds later, BLOOIE!!!

May screw up the purse, but credit cards and cash will survive.

Plus it would be fun to watch.

[a_chronic_whiner]

Lol, I like the way you think >;)

[Aggie Mama]

I was in the parking lot of a nice grocery store right after a woman’s purse had been stolen (daylight, and lots of people in the parking lot). She was shaking from shock, so I helped her call her husband and then walked her into the store so the management could help. Strangely, it was the women in the parking lot that came over to help. Not a single man rendered aid. One of the women actually tried to chase down the robber.

I’m not sure if the women in Texas are just more self-reliant...It was rather sad that a man didn’t stop to help.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Cop faces Taser hearing

Youth zapped, injured

BY KIMBALL PERRY

A Cincinnati police officer faces a hearing that could lead to his firing after investigators found he violated policy by using a Taser on a high school student he mistakenly thought was a robbery suspect.

• Read the police department's internal report (PDF)

Officers Andrew Mitchell and DeWayne McMenama have been under investigation since the Jan. 22 incident. The investigation report was made public Thursday.

The two officers were in the same cruiser in Westwood about 7:30 p.m. that night when police received a holdup alarm at Jersey Mike's, a restaurant at 5555 Glenway Ave.

Mitchell, driving the cruiser, and McMenama responded to the Glen Crossing mall parking lot where they saw a man walking from the restaurant, his head down and his hands in his pockets.

Both officers said they repeatedly yelled at the man - Chris Bauer Jr., 19, a Western Hills High senior - who didn't respond to commands to stop.

Mitchell was sitting in his cruiser, which may have been moving, when he fired his Taser, shooting electric current into Bauer, knocking him to the ground.

The first time, Mitchell zapped Bauer for seven seconds. The Taser delivers a shock of 50,000 volts.

Because Bauer's hands were in his pockets when he was first shocked, he fell face-first, landing with his hands under his torso.

Mitchell zapped Bauer again for five seconds when he didn't respond to commands to show his hands.

The pair quickly handcuffed Bauer and got him to his feet. That's when they should have realized, Bauer's attorney said, that his client wasn't ignoring their commands to stop.

Bauer didn't hear the commands because he was listening to his iPod with ear buds, attorney John Helbling said Thursday.

"It was pretty outrageous for this poor kid," Helbling said.

Helbling is perhaps best known as the attorney for the estate of Roger Owensby Jr., who died in police custody in 2000.

In that case, he sued on behalf of the Owensby family and estate and settled with the city for $6.5 million.

Bauer was unaware of any police officers' presence, much less their commands, Helbling said.

Because of the fall caused by the Taser - Bauer was hit in the back of the neck and a hand - he suffered a chipped tooth and cuts on his face

It was particularly painful, Helbling said, because Bauer was recovering from hernia surgery the week before.

"He has loss of memory and other problems," Helbling said. "He has difficulty trying to do simple tasks."

Bauer, who was neither charged nor arrested, works at a video store in the same shopping plaza and lives five minutes away.

Supervisors for police District 3 - which generally covers the West Side - began an investigation that night that included their district commander, the assistant chief in charge of the patrol officers as well as Chief Thomas Streicher.

Streicher showed up at the scene and apologized to Bauer's father, Helbling said.

Police later learned the initial report of a holdup at the restaurant was a false alarm.

The police department's internal report concludes Mitchell "did not verify the status of the alarm," that a holdup had been committed or the description of a suspect before trying to stop Bauer.

The report also said Mitchell didn't give Bauer an oral warning before jolting him with the Taser.

Mitchell's hearing is April 10.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Ooops, sorry. Posted on the wrong thread.

[aruanan]

How about handbags with razor sharp wire inside the straps so when the ripper rips, he gets cut to the bone?

[mowowie]

remote-controlled exploding handbags.
If only it was legal.....