Posted on 08/17/2004 11:33:54 AM PDT by KC_Conspirator
Fatal Beating of Bar Owner by Homeless Man in Tulsa, Okla., Sparks War Against Indigents
The Associated Press
TULSA, Okla. Aug. 17, 2004 — A homeless man's fatal beating of a brass-knuckle-wielding bar owner has triggered something approaching a war against Tulsa's homeless population. T-shirts around town blast homeless people with a four-letter word, and some people are warning of vigilante justice. Downtown bar owners have stapled wanted posters to telephone poles with a picture of Terry Badgewell, the man who used a length of pipe to kill Deadtown Tavern owner Shawn Howard.
A prosecutor said the killing was self defense and refused to file charges, but the victim's family is gathering thousands of signatures on a petition to force a grand jury investigation.
"We're very committed," said Howard's mother, Kay. "Shawn deserves this."
Meanwhile, Tulsa's homeless are feeling the heat. Michael Cypert, 31, who usually stays at a Salvation Army shelter near downtown, said patrons of the Deadtown Tavern chased him away from the area during a memorial for Howard a few days after his June 25 death.
Police have warned homeless people to stay away from the bar, and Cypert said has seen people downtown wearing "F--- the homeless" T-shirts handed out by bar owners.
"I think it's crazy to say 'F--- the homeless.' I don't think it's right," he said. "Most of the people I see around here are either mentally ill or have family problems. We don't panhandle over there or anything."
Badgewell left Tulsa after the wanted signs and T-shirts surfaced, said his attorney, Steve Hjelm. He won't say where Badgewell has gone for fear of retribution.
"We took it as a kind of vigilante effort," Hjelm said.
It started in the wee hours of June 24, when Howard and bar manager Josh Martin left the Deadtown Tavern wearing brass knuckles, as usual, for protection against the many vagabonds and drug dealers who inhabit the dimly lit neighborhood.
A fight began with Badgewell, who was resting in a warehouse stairwell across the street. Howard struck Badgewell in the jaw, and the homeless man grabbed a pipe and began swinging.
How it started is unclear. Martin said he and Howard encountered Badgewell while chasing two crack dealers away. District Attorney Tim Harris said the pair told Badgewell to leave the spot where he was preparing to sleep, starting an exchange of words that escalated into violence.
Police called to the scene about 4:30 that morning found Howard unconscious in the parking lot. He died of head injuries the next day.
Badgewell, 38, was arrested on two complaints of assault with a deadly weapon, but he was released June 30 after Harris declined to file charges.
"It is a tragic, tragic deal," Harris said. "But under Oklahoma's law, he has a right to defend himself with as much force as he thinks is necessary."
The Howard family and fellow bar owners were outraged, saying Howard was chased down and bashed repeatedly in the back of the head.
"It just really makes me sick to my stomach that Harris could even consider this self defense, that this man is released into the community," Kay Howard said.
Martin said the decision would spur Tulsans to take vigilante justice against the city's many homeless, who comprise the vast majority of downtown residents after dark. Estimates on the number of homeless in Tulsa at any given time range from 700 to 1,500 in a city of nearly 400,000.
"It's actions like the sort of inaction that's being taken that leads people to chase bums around the back of buildings in downtown Tulsa," Martin said.
Sandra Holden, executive director for the Day Center for the Homeless, said she has warned those who stay at her shelter five blocks from the tavern against sleeping outside while tensions are high.
"Those kinds of things (posters and the T-shirts) concern me greatly," Holden said. "Backlash is a very serious problem. We have seen some of that happening as a result of this incident."
Hjelm maintains that Badgewell, whom he describes as a "cordial" and "soft-spoken man," was merely acting to defend himself.
"Who can say with any degree of certainty what you would do if you were in a deserted warehouse at 4:30 in the morning and two armed men with brass knuckles attack you?" Hjelm said.
However, he thinks Howard's family will have no trouble getting the 5,000 signatures they need from registered voters to force the state attorney general to convene a grand jury, "given the media attention this case has gotten and the fact that Shawn Howard was a very well-liked man."
Hjelm warned that any indictments coming from a grand jury investigation would likely come against Martin, as the sole survivor, for assaulting Badgewell with a deadly weapon.
"It's going to force the hands of the district attorney and the grand jury to go back and look at all the offenses that were committed that night. Terry Badgewell will be exonerated."
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The http://www.packing.org/ shows that OK is a shall-issue state, and recognizes any valid CCW issued by any other state.
Could be.
Bar owner didn't "bounce" that night, feeling his oats - went searching for a fight.
To beat up on a wine-o ain't no big deal, until those brass knucks are outdone by a length of steel.
Where did you see this bum? Was he of the ones living under the bridges in Georgetown?
"The http://www.packing.org/ shows that OK is a shall-issue state, and recognizes any valid CCW issued by any other state."
OK, then. Why was the bar owner not carrying, then, instead of knuckling up? This smells, to me, like a couple of buttheads out to rough up some person who couldn't defend himself. Guess they were wrong, eh?
Interestingly, I believe, from a short search, that OK bans brass knuckles altogether, as do most states.
Again, there's more to this story than was written, I'm quite sure.
"Bar owner didn't "bounce" that night, feeling his oats - went searching for a fight.
To beat up on a wine-o ain't no big deal, until those brass knucks are outdone by a length of steel."
If that's true, it's hard to claim self-defense. OTOH, just for the sake of argument, look at it from the bum's point of view . . . TWO punks with brass knuckles -- and anyone who carries brass knuckles IS a punk -- attack you in the middle of the night. I think I'd want to make sure they didn't come back, myself, knowing how punks think.
Nice rap, AZ! Another possibility is that the bar owner fancied himself a one-man "neighborhood improvement" crew, and thought he was doing a service by chasing bums out of the area.
Either way, two guys with brass knuckles vs. one with a pipe sounds like, "Fair fight, sorry you lost."
The Howard family and fellow bar owners were outraged, saying Howard was chased down and bashed repeatedly in the back of the head.
Unless "The Howard family and fellow bar owners" were there (and why didn't they help, huh?) then they're just guessing. Only the 3rd man in the fight knows much about what really happened.
"TWO punks with brass knuckles -- and anyone who carries brass knuckles IS a punk "
I'll second that! As someone points out in a later message, two guys wearing knucks take on a guy with a pipe. Pipe guy wins. Could have gone the other way, too.
Some guy comes at me with brass knuckles, I'm going to pick up whatever's handy and brain him with it...period. Of course, that's if I don't have a firearm handy.
But, then, this guy was just a bum, eh? Not really a human being at all. Seems to be the sentiment upthread.
"Only the 3rd man in the fight knows much about what really happened."
Well, unless I misread, he's the one who threw the first punch. I guess he's not saying all that much. Taking the Fifth, I suppose.
This story stinks. Not enough info.
That seems typical of national news stories that we discuss on FR ... we chase around this and that point, but end up with "Huh"?
Either way, two guys with brass knuckles vs. one with a pipe sounds like, "Fair fight, sorry you lost."
Yep. CLEANUP IN ALLEY TWO!!!
Other than a description of the incident, the D.A.'s refusal to prosecute and the family's petition, I haven't heard a bit of this on local news. It appears that the AP has scooped the locals. And yes, T-Town is around 400,000 and the proud home of Roy D. Mercer.
Tulsa ping
Moe? Curly? Shemp?
Law enforcement in Tulsa has gone into the toilet in the last 18 months, since they settled a lawsuit with a group of black police officers. The settlement was so bad that the original plaintiffs offered to just forget it, but the judge wouldn't allow it! Now every action by every police officer has to be logged into a database, with the race of every participant prominently mentioned, so the whole force can be analyzed for "discrimination."
You can imagine how diligently the police are patrolling downtown at 4:00 a.m. (/sarcasm), and it's not really surprising that business owners would be getting angry and stupid.
(I'm attributing law-and-order intentions to the bar owner, perhaps wrongly.)
LOL - you're safely out of Tulsa! (But so am I ...)
BTTT
We only go to Tulsa to go to the airport, thank goodness.
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