Posted on 07/19/2006 6:25:00 PM PDT by Graybeard58
The next time a “spokesman for the community” begins hollering for a greater police presence in crime-ridden neighborhoods, here’s hoping someone asks why he or she had nothing to say in the wake of what happened three nights ago on Sonoma Street in Roxbury.
If you missed it, a rookie Boston cop was in full pursuit of a suspect, whom he believed might be armed, when the chase led them through a yard where a children’s birthday party was in progress.
“We could tell by his radio transmission what he then experienced,” Mike McCarthy, a Boston police spokesman, said. “It was difficult to make out his exact words, other than screaming for help, because while he was on the ground with this guy, partygoers began pelting him with Pepsi cans, sets of keys, anything they could find. Some actually began to kick and punch him.”
But Jarrod Gero, 33, managed to scramble to his feet and resume the chase, eventually subduing Jerome Goffigan, 24.
During the melee, Gero’s cell phone was ripped from the pocket of his shirt, so, after the arrest was made, he returned to retrieve it.
“Everyone played dumb,” McCarthy said. “No one knew what happened to the officer’s phone.”
That was Sunday night, and not one political or pastoral leader in Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan has seen fit to acknowledge, much less condemn, the unconscionable behavior of that cowardly mob.
There hasn’t been a single a peep of outrage.
“Here we are, in the peak of summer,” McCarthy noted, “when everyone’s looking for more cops, and these folks had one in their own backyard, but didn’t want him there. They could have assisted the officer, or at least not impeded him, and yet they did neither; in fact, they did everything they could to prevent him from doing his job.”
For the kids looking on, it was a riveting display of warped values, a disgraceful endorsement of a mindset “community leaders” profess to abhor.
“The kids witnessed adults encouraging the bad guy to get away,” McCarthy pointed out. “That was the message the adults gave them, loud and clear: Beat up the police and help the bad guy get away. You’d think they wouldn’t want someone like that running through their children’s party. But nothing’s unbelievable to me anymore.”
It’s a story to remember the next time you hear some headline-hunting, cop-bashing “community leader” rushing to a microphone to rail against “the system.”
Remind him or her about Sonoma Street, and ask if that’s how they think “the system” ought to work?
If the party-goers and the suspect shared an ethnic background that differed from the cop's, wouldn't you consider that as making a difference in the situation? Since the races of neither the suspect nor the people beating up on the cop are mentioned, there's no way to tell from this article if that was the case.
The obvious intent of the group was to assist the suspect in getting away. For one reason or another, they aligned themselves with the suspect rather than the cop. Saying anything beyond that is pure speculation without having further details.
Never been there. I don't think in terms of ethnicity when I read about crimes like this. Naive? Could be.
A cop gets beat in Roxbury and "odds are it is an ethnic issue".
LOL! I'd say you're right!
God bless you -- you've been spared life in the Northeast.
What difference does that make? Lawless scumbuckets don't see black or white, only blue. Blue is their enemy.
While that may be true for the suspect who was running from the cop, how does it explain the actions of the party-goers in their efforts to help him escape?
Back at ya!
Partygoers knew the man being chased? Black cop and white everyone else? Did the partygoers ever get in trouble for it? Questions, questions.
I tend to think someone's a little pissed at having to pay a ticket and probably change the windows. That could get expensive.
We have a law here in Illinois about the shade of windows. It's for the protection of the police. I wouldn't want to be a cop and walk up to a car that I couldn't see in.
You know the answer, your post is delusional.
Not a regular news reader, are you?
Not mentioning the races of the participants is confirmation of the obvious. It is from the same rule book where failure to mention the political party of a corrupt politician confirms his party...
I hated to ask but I wanted to know if there was a racial issue here. Since this happened in the Roxbury area I think we can assume it was a mostly black crowd. Whether the cop they beat up was black or white, it was a disgraceful act. It's a sign of how low our society is sinking and just how hypocritical are the "community leaders" who say they want an end to urban violence.
I wonder if a white cop was set upon by a black crowd whether there are going to be "hate crime" charges applied.
I am 61 years old and have known a large number of people of varying ethnicities in that time. Most of them were law abiding decent citizens, regardless of the shade of their skins. It's probably the same experience you have had in the northeast too.
Even northeastern liberals as dumb as they are probably obey the law. (Most of them) Criminals like Kennedy and Kerry stand out because of their prominence.
Same here in our area...in fact I've had some friends who have recieved citations for the same offense. Some had no idea that there was even a limit...others knew and went ahead anyway. Maybe a fine for the installers, who should know better, is next.
Like I said, you have never lived there, and only someone who's never lived there can fail to fathom the putrid taint of racism woven into every fabric of public life there.
You presume to lecture me, whereas I thought I was being charitable to you. You've never been there, so how can you tell someone who grew up there (and you may also note some of the -- in fact, nearly all of the -- other posts and what they either suggest or declare) what the score is?
You're swimming upstream on this one.
You mean by only ticketing people who break it? Yes, I agree.
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