Posted on 06/24/2011 4:32:14 AM PDT by MissEdie
A teenager had emergency brain surgery this week after police say he was the victim of a violent beating in Five Points.
The 18-year-old was running along Blossom Street near the Walgreens and Wachovia after midnight Monday when he was attacked by four men, the Columbia Police Department reported. After the beating, the man managed to run several blocks to Edisto Avenue, where a passerby found him two hours later and called 911, police said.
The teen, whose name was not released by police, was taken to the hospital, where he had emergency surgery to remove a clot from his brain, police reported. The teen remained in critical condition in a Columbia hospital and was expected to have reconstructive surgery on his face, according to police.
The 18-year-old victim had been helping a friend earlier in the night and was jogging back home when he was attacked, said Columbia Police Chief Randy Scott. The chief did not know where the victim had been or where his home was.
The Police Department on Thursday released video footage of men it says are the suspects. The footage, recorded by security cameras in Five Points, shows eight men walking along a sidewalk. Late Thursday, police had eight people in custody and were interviewing them.
Earlier the night of the beating, the group of suspects had tried to attack others, but those people managed to escape unharmed, Scott said.
The police department also has footage for four men darting across the street toward the man, said Jennifer Timmons, the department spokeswoman. However, the department did not release that footage to the public.
All of the footage was provided to police by the Five Points Merchants Association, which has installed dozens of security cameras outside businesses, Scott said.
The security cameras are just one response to increasing concern about crime in Five Points.
A 2 a.m. bar closing, with many exceptions, will go into effect later this summer, and City Council is considering a curfew. The police and fire departments have beefed up overcrowding inspections at bars, and city police are allowed to work off-duty security in the bars.
Strictly Running, a Harden Street shop that sells running gear and organizes training events, has security cameras inside and outside its storefront, said Selwyn Blake, one of the co-owners and a U.S. Track and Field coach. When coaching runners, Blake said he emphasizes safety tips.
But a jogger getting beaten is rare, he said. “I think what you have here is a unique situation, that’s for sure,” Blake said.
Runners more often face injuries caused by distracted drivers and the extreme South Carolina heat, he said. That’s why joggers are advised to run in pairs, to wear identification, to carry cellphones and to wear reflective vests at night. He also suggested runners let someone know when they leave and when they should be expected to return, Blake said.
Strictly Running hosts groups of runners who leave from the store in the early-morning hours. Blake said he feels safe in Five Points but always advises people to use caution.
“You have to remember you are in the city,” he said. “You have to put your city armor on.”
If you have time, read some of the posts, the victim's mother is one of the posters and she has given updates on her son's condition.
A small request -
While it’s not part of the ‘Posting Guidelines’, it would be a courtesy, when posting ‘local’ stories like this, to indicate the City and State, either in parentheses with the title, or in the “Poster’s Comment”...
This is still another that will curiously be ignored by the State-run, Lame -Stream Media.
This is still another story that will curiously be ignored by the State-run, Lame -Stream Media.
I think we need to really start throwing the book at people who commit UNPROVOKED violence against others - long sentences with no parole. If the jails are too full, put the non violent offenders on house arrest.
Somewhat OT: Newt Gingrich at a press briefing yesteday said that the media will cover “nothing of substance” because they are protecting Obama.
His comments mostly went unreported.
I try very hard to not become racist, but with the way the black youth are behaving these days there’s really no other choice. We are quickly coming to the point where it’s shoot first if threatened and ask questions later. (and due to events such as this one being approached by two or more blacks is becomming equivalent to being threatened)
Do the black leaders not understand that their own behavior is pushing people back to KKK type organizations? If they do not control their youth then we will have to and it will be ugly.
Agree. Would be helpful.
Columbia, South Carolina in this instance.
I missed the part of the story where the ethnicity of the perps was given. Knowing Columbia, SC, I am assuming that those zany Amish kids are acting up again.
Sounds like a gun would have been the only suggestion that would have prevented this. Of course that is not a valid suggestion because people can get hurt when guns are around.
Amish?
Usually a code word for blacks of Muslims.
Outside of Obama and his cronies, the Lame-Stream, State-run media is our biggest threat and obvious enemy with which to deal.
“If they do not control their youth then we will have to and it will be ugly.”
Well, anyone who exercises his God-given right to self-defense will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, I’m sure. If the state doesn’t do it, the feds will go after them on some bogus “civil rights” crap.
How horrible. Our nation is becoming a jungle. I read the comments following the article and his mother had posted that her son had driven two friends home who had been drinking and were not able to drive. It was a friend’s car so he was going to just run back home since it wasn’t far. He had talked to his mom shortly before the attack to let her know he would be a few minutes past his curfew. When he wasn’t home shortly thereafter, she knew something was wrong. How long will we as a civilized society put up with wild animals in our midst? I don’t consider myself a racist, but crap like this makes me not trust blacks very much.
I think we need to start throwing small pieces of lead (at very high velocity) at people who commit unprovoked violence. If they manage to avoid all of those pieces, THEN we can put them on house arrest.
Rabid animals are killed, not contained.
While liberals carry a lot of the burden for failing to do this, conservatives are just as guilty because conservatives cannot tell the difference between soemone who commits violent uprovoked mayhem, and someone who merely committed one of about 10,000 sins that indicate a lack of their idea of god's grace. Liberals only want to lock up those who commit a crime against liberal thought, and conservatives want to lock up everyone, as near as I can tell, since we are all guilty of something.
This is why in any choice between all the dems and all the repubs the overwhelming favorite is none of the above.
Timmons said most of the suspects turned themselves in with their parents after the surveillance footage was shown on the news.
Section 16-3-210 of the South Carolina Code of Laws defines lynching as an attack on one person by two or more people. Police haven’t said whether lynching charges will be filed.
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