Posted on 01/03/2016 1:42:34 PM PST by Kaslin
Right after Christmas on the night of Saturday, December 27th, there was a riot at the mall in St. Matthews, Kentucky. Did you hear about it? Odds are that you did not if you were relying on the usual cable news outlets. It’s not the type of story that the mainstream media likes to cover for reasons which should become obvious shortly.
It all began when groups of youths simultaneously began causing disturbances at several stores in the mall. That’s the word the media likes to use… “disturbances.” Of course, what they really mean is looting and vandalism. There were only a limited number of security personnel in the large mall, but they responded quickly. That didn’t help much, though, as NBC news reported.
Chain-reaction brawls involving up to 2,000 people erupted in one of Kentucky’s largest malls Saturday night, forcing the entire mall and businesses in the surrounding area to shut down, police said.
The hours-long chaos at Mall St. Matthews began about 7 p.m. ET when the six St. Matthews police officers assigned to the mall for the holiday season began responding to “disturbances,” said Officer Dennis McDonald, a police spokesman.
“As they were responding to those disturbances, others were breaking out. … Disturbances started to feed on themselves.” McDonald said. “They were just overwhelmed with a number of calls for service and reports of disorder.”
The officers on duty at the mall called for backup, and 50 officers from five different agencies responded, according to police.
Reporters were describing it as “a series of brawls” which involved anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 “young people” ranging in age from 13 to their early 20s. It soon engulfed the entire mall, shutting down business entirely. Watch the video below and see for yourself the great lengths that both the police and the reporters on the scene to go in order to avoid saying what’s really going on here.
Here’s the next thing to note: despite all of the wreckage and lost property, not a single person was arrested. Not one person. How can we possibly explain this? Were all 2,000 of them modern day Batman style superheros who swung out of the building on steel grapples? Not hardly. And did it seem strange to you that a lot of very specific details about the “youths” were missing from the NBC report? If so, you’re probably on to the underlying story already. But for a better explanation, I’ll turn it over to Mike Mcdaniel at Bearing Arms. (And please do read his entire piece.)
What NBC did not mention is the racial makeup of the thugs. Considering the location, it takes no imagination to realize a significant portion of them were black. It also takes no imagination to understand that no police officer wants to be involved in an altercation with any politically favored minority. That's a fight they can't win, and the chances are at least 50/50 that being in the right and scrupulously following the letter of the law wouldn't be a defense.
Were some of them white? Surely, but that doesn't matter. People will do things in mobs that they would never do individually. They draw energy and not positive energy from the worst intentions and excesses of those surrounding them, and they know that in the crowd, they'll likely be anonymous.
And so the officers were reduced to running here and there, using their mere presence in a desperate attempt to keep some kind of order. If the crowd wanted to rape, could they easily have drug women into bathrooms, dark hallways and other convenient, out of the way places without the police having the slightest idea what was happening? Of course. Murder would have been as easily accomplished. It's amazing none of these crimes occurred, or perhaps we just don't know about them yet.
What Mike is talking about is the Ferguson Effect, which we are continually assured does not exist on cable news. The cops were overwhelmed by a massive group of lawless thugs and didn’t have the resources (or more importantly the respect and support of the community) to get it under control. This isn’t a question of the race of the perpetrators in terms of who is breaking the law. (So have a seat, race baiters, and spare me the usual accusations.) It’s a question of the cops being handcuffed in certain areas by fear of the media and SJW backlash. And as a result they made little progress in stopping the crime and arrested nobody.
To go any further, they would have needed to draw weapons and put some serious fear into the hearts of the criminals. But they did not. Why would they? Odds are that local politicians wouldn’t have backed them up and they would have been made out to be villains. And since this group got away with it, you can rest assured that you’ll see more in the future. The basic fabric of social order is breaking down in too many places.
Off of Blanding or 17?
Front rank, FIRE! Second rank, FIRE!
We’re way beyond “parents and
morals”. This is a “I don’t give a f$@? about anybody but what I want” mentality. There is no one willing to do or say anything to stop this garbage.
I believe you’ve got the gist of it, sir.
Jacksonville is the city I want to love but just can’t because of Duval homies.
You are kidding, right? It is already happening. How many mall riots do you want? How many Baltimores? Chicagos?
The thin veneer of civilization is fraying.
Street savages don’t get arrested, and so they learn that it’s safe to riot and loot again.
“What NBC did not mention is the racial makeup of the thugs. Considering the location, it takes no imagination to realize a significant portion of them were black.”
Umm... I lived there up until about a year ago.
The location is in an upscale area. Actually, very close to the most upscale area in Louisville. If it were over the river on the Indiana side, I would agree. That was just a stupid race-baiting thing to say.
An African co-worker, when Obama was elected in 2008, insisted Obama wasn’t African. He said, “We call him the man from Africa, but he is not African”...
If Momma says ta gets her a new tv, I gets her one!
Someone needs to put together a video of all of this crap.
I've noticed that too. They want nothing to do with them.
Posted: Dec 30, 2015 12:01 PM EST
Updated: Dec 30, 2015 2:20 PM ESTLOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- St. Matthews Police released brand new details about the events leading up to the unrest at Mall St. Matthews on Dec. 26 during a press conference Wednesday morning.
In an opening to the press conference, St. Matthews Police Chief Dennis McDonald issued a challenge to the public.
"Idle time is the playground of the Devil," McDonald said, adding that behavior at the mall on Saturday night ranged "from childish to criminal."
McDonald added that, "times are different" now than they were when he grew up, pointing out that when he was a teenager, there was no social media like Facebook or Twitter.
"There were elements in this that may be involved in social media," he said.
McDonald lashed out at those who argued that there may be a racial component involved in the makeup of the youths that took part in the disturbances Saturday.
"Why in the world is that important?" he demanded. "These are our kids!"
"We as adults are failing!" he added. "What we ought to be doing is standing in the gap." He said adults could do this by becoming more involved in the lives of youth, through mentoring or coaching a sports team.
"This is a community issue," he said, adding that what happened Saturday night is "symptomatic" of a community-wide problem.
McDonald said the mall estimates that 1,000 to 2,000 youths were in the fray Saturday, but cautioned that many of them were innocent of any wrongdoing. He said the mall regularly keeps tab of the number of people inside, but said, "I don't think any of them had an abacus. I don't think any of them had a clicker counting how many people were there."
McDonald directly confronted questions to police about why no arrests were made. He said officers responded quickly but incrementally -- and they didn't have 50 officers on the scene until the end of the event. He said that their primary goal was to preserve public safety, and that, had officers witnessed crimes first-hand, there would have been arrests.
He said officers who responded "did a great job -- they showed great restraint," and pointed out that there were no serious injuries and that there had been no serious damage to property.
At that point, Tony Cobaugh, Special Response Team Commander for St. Matthews Police took up the press conference, and began outlining events leading up to Dec. 25.
"There has certainly been a lead-up, or a build-up, if you will," he said.
In fact, Cobaugh said officers have been dealing with increasing problems at the mall -- specifically on Saturday nights -- since October.
He outlined a number of events, including an Oct. 5 break-in of a car near LA Fitness. He noted an October report of seven juveniles setting a fire at a bus stop near Hubbards Lane. When asked where they came from, one of the juveniles allegedly said, "The mall."
On Nov. 7, Cobaugh said about 50 juveniles were reported loitering inside the Taco Bell near the mall. Cobaugh said the juveniles were not buying anything, were acting disorderly and were trashing the store. When officers arrived, Cobaugh said several of the juveniles jumped the counter and ran away.
Cobaugh said that in the same month, a victim reported an armed robbery near the LA Fitness in that area.
Cobaugh outlined several other incidents, and said it was decided that St. Matthews Police would "beef up" its presence at Mall St. Matthews on Saturday nights.
"Our chief had heard enough about the last month's activity in the area of Mall St. Matthews," Cobaugh said.
The first night of the increased police presence was Nov. 14, according to Cobaugh. He said police stopped three men in the mall parking lot. One of them allegedly threw a gun into the bushes.
Cobaugh said police began to notice "suspected gang members" at the mall. He said they were suspected because they were using gang symbols and wore clothing consistent with gangs.
On Nov. 28, Cobaugh said police saw "large numbers" of youth at the mall, despite the rainy weather. He said they began receiving numerous reports of disruptive behavior, including youths who grabbed landscaping rocks and began throwing them at the windshields of passing cars.
Then came Dec. 5 -- what Cobaugh called "the most chaotic night to date for us." He said "amazing things" happened that night, and the number of juveniles inside the mall doubled. Cobaugh said there was an assault inside the mall, and one person suffered a head injury. He said there was also someone inside the mall that had a gun in his waistband, but officers failed to apprehend him.
Cobaugh said that at this point, two plainclothes Louisville Metro Police detectives approached St. Matthews Police and offered to help beef up security at the mall. Cobaugh said that the officers "inserted themselves" into the mall on Dec. 12.
Dec. 12 was a quiet night, according to Cobaugh. He said the mall had just posted a brand new Code of Conduct, and that the unsupervised crowd of youth was, "very low, light in numbers, thus that particular night was very low in activity."
The following weekend, Cobaugh said police beefed up their presence on both the nights of Friday, Dec. 18, and Saturday, Dec. 19, due to the fact that kids were out of school for Christmas vacation. He called Friday a, "peaceful, uneventful night," but said things "picked back up on the negative side," on Saturday night, with police active for 90 minutes responding to reports of disruptions.
A few days later, on Dec. 22, Cobaugh said a man was confronted by an unarmed mall security employee. That man allegedly turned around, and showed the security employee a gun that was in his waistband.
All of that, Cobaugh said, provides a snapshot into the situation leading into last Saturday.
Saturday, Dec. 26
Cobaugh began his account of the events of Saturday, Dec. 26 with what he said was a frank admission. He said he decided not to work at the mall that night, due to a desire to watch a Christmas movie with his family. Although there were four St. Matthews Police officers working at the mall that night, Cobaugh said, "We did not have a presence on this particular evening, working the external area of the mall."
"I'm the first person to point the finger at myself," he told the media.
As the night progressed, Cobaugh said he was communicating with his officers at the mall. One of them warned him, "I've never seen the mall this packed...I hope I don't have to talk to you later tonight."
Later in the evening, Cobaugh said an officer told him that he was "one fight away" from asking for additional help. That call eventually came.
"I'm calling the SRT out. This is out of control," Cobaugh said an officer told him.
On his way in, Cobaugh said he put the Jeffersontown Police Department's special operations unit on standby.
When he arrived, Cobaugh said he immediately knew police were "short on numbers." He recounted a call from an officer inside who was reporting on the trouble, adding that you could hear "fear" in the officer's voice.
The dispatchers heard it too, Cobaugh said.
"When they heard that crackle in the officer's voice," the dispatchers declared a "10-30" -- meaning that an officer was in trouble, Cobaugh said. That brought available police officers to the scene immediately.
Cobaugh said in the aftermath of Saturday night, he wanted to thank everyone -- all of the police officers and members of law enforcement, including dispatchers -- who responded to the chaos.
Since then, more information has been pouring in. He said there were numerous reports of 2-3 shots fired in the mall -- but those reports cannot be verified. He said at least one employee at the mall has quit their job and refuses to return after the incidents. He said that one store owner told police that, "my employees were crying. They were scared -- in fear of their lives."
Stay with WDRB News. We'll update this story as it develops.
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