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Hunt for Jamaica Pond muggers continues; police say one victim waited two days to contact them
By adamg on Fri, 10/03/2014 - 8:09pm
BPD Supt. Robert Merner makes a point as Supt. Bernard O'Rourke listens.
Boston Police officials told Jamaica Plain residents today that increased cruiser, foot and undercover patrols around Jamaica Plain will continue until they capture the two teenagers they say attacked several people walking on the footpath around the pond last Wednesday night.
At a meeting held outside the boathouse, one of the first questions residents asked was why they weren't notified sooner about the incidents - police did not issue a public alert about the attacks until Tuesday, although word had begun to spread earlier though a neighborhood mailing list and on Jamaica Plain News.
Superintendent Robert Merner, who oversees detectives, said police did not realize there had been two separate attacks until Friday, because while one group of victims immediately contacted police, the victim of the other attack did not contact police until Friday.
Still, Superintendent Bernard O'Rourke, who oversees patrol officers, said he ordered increased patrols around the pond as soon as he heard about the first incident Thursday morning. He vowed to continue them until the muggers are caught.
O'Rourke said police do not issue alerts about every robbery - of which there are 1,200 a year in Boston. However, he said Jamaica Plain remains one of the city's safest neighborhoods and that before last week, there had only been four robberies around the pond since 2005.
Officials said they are looking for two black or black Hispanic males in their teens or possibly early 20s, one between 5 and 5'4" and the other between 5'5" and 6". Police say they first mugged a group of people on the northern side of the pond around 11 and then went after a man walking with his bicycle near the boathouse about a half hour later. They also tied that victim to a tree.
Merner and O'Rourke urged the roughly 40 residents in attendance to call 911 if they ever see somebody who just looks like he is up to no good.
Former City Councilor Maura Hennigan, who still walks around the park, said she has taken to stopping people walking or jogging with earbuds in and seemingly oblivious to their surroundings to alert them of the robberies and tell them they should be more careful.
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Comments
Merner and O'Rourke urged the
Love that paragraph!
If I was urged to do that, I'd be pretty darn busy all my waking hours.
does Maura Hennigan run around checking skirt lengths, too?
I bet she runs around telling women their skirts aren't long enough, too. They should be more careful!
"Former City Councilor Maura Hennigan, who still walks around the park, said she has taken to stopping people walking or jogging with earbuds in and seemingly oblivious to their surroundings to alert them of the robberies and tell them they should be more careful."
Damn near EVERYONE jogs or runs with a music player. Maybe if you did your damn jobs, cops, we wouldn't have to worry about being attacked for a piece of electronics.
Idiots run with music
As a runner, I cannot stay silent on that one. If you have ear buds on, you have basically removed one of your senses. This means if a truck, car, child, or anything else is coming at you, you can only see what you can see.
On another post about a crime, someone claims that they cross the street whenever someone of a certain race is walking towards them, which is idiotic. Most of us use our better judgment. If I cannot hear what is going on, how can I judge?
And for the record, I ran around Jamaica Pond yesterday. Don't do it that often, and it was a run planned weeks ago, but I feel that it is largely a safe place even with all of this going on.
Thank you for calling those
who run while listening to music "idiots". I am and runner and enjoy listening to music. We are not all idiots.
Perhaps not idiots
But again, in my opinion, deciding to do something active outdoors with one sense intentionally disabled is not the brightest thing in the world.
Maybe it's just me. I want to be able to see and hear what is around me, so that, say, if a bicycle is approaching me from behind, I can react. I have also given grief to the missus when, greeting her when she gets home, she pulls her earbuds out and asks "what did you say?"
I do want to note that nothing takes away from the antisocial punks that are terrorizing Jamaica Pond. They need to be stopped It is sad that people cannot feel safe doing simple things like enjoying the pond, but that said, Hennigan was right even without the crime.
Fair point.
To add further, I will not wear them if I feel that doing so would put me in some sort of danger. I tend to run pretty conservatively - sidewalks as opposed to streets. If no sidewalks, running far enough away from on coming traffic on a shoulder. I generally do not run at night but if I do, I will not wear them.
Not to get away from the point
There is debate on this issue. We have opposite sides to this.
What got me what people taking Hennigan to task for warning people of the dangers. Compared to other "blaming the victim" suggestions, this one can't be seen as the worse.
Of course, if we weren't dealing with this crime spree, the two of us could be having the academic discussion. I do have songs going through my head when I run, and I might even invest in one of those earbuds with mic to make phone calls literally on the run, so I shouldn't judge too hard.
Why do some people such as you
blame police? They aren't batman, they don't have Godlike powers, they are mortal and work for institutions with budget restrictions. Why don't you blame the scum committing the violence? Why don't you blame whoever raised the violent, sociopathic scum? Why don't you blame the welfare and social services system that enables them?And why do some people refuse to take any responsibility for their own personal safety? Why do these same people also believe people should be denied the tools to defend themselves, they should be charged with a crime if they do anything but beg for mercy or run away? Why do these same people who insist cops are ultimately responsible for their personal safety also hate cops? I don't get it.Your nameE-mailThe content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Oh for cripes sake...
better to keep folks uninformed, right?
And not everyone runs with ear-buds. As a runner, I enjoy listening to music but understand that I have to remain on my toes. And running with music in high traffic areas (i.e. on the side of a road) is different than running around the Pond (which I have also done).
The long and the short of it
5'5" to 6'0"? That's a pretty broad height range for suspect #2, especially considering the first suspect was estimated to be fairly short - either the second guy was close to him in height or he was significantly taller.
This makes no sense
They didn't know there were two attacks because while the group reported it the other individual did not until Friday? THEY SENT A CAR AND TALKED TO HIM AT 11:25 THAT NIGHT, 25 MINUTES AFTER THE GROUP REPORTED THEIR ATTACK AT THE STATION. But don't trust me on this, here is what the POLICE THEMSELVES SAID:
"At about 11:25 PM, Wednesday, September 24, 2014 officers from District E-13 (Jamaica Plain) responded to a radio call for an armed robbery in progress in the area of 33 Pond Street in Brookline. On arrival, officers spoke with the victim who stated that he had been walking with his bicycle on the footpath surrounding Jamaica Pond when he was approached by two unknown black Hispanic males."
But hey, if you can save your own rear by blaming the victim, why that's just good police work, right? And explain to me why learning (for the second time) on Friday of the second attack, warranting a pattern worth alerting the public about, means they are justified in waiting until Tuesday to warn the public? Because the police don't work weekends? Too bad, because Sunday they had a public event which including citizens, including the mentally challenged and those with physical disabilities, some in wheelchairs, walking around the pond repeatedly. And I was there late afternoon, nearing dusk, when some were still on the path though most everyone had left. I thought they were inspiring and courageous then, but I had no idea.
That's the first reported incident
But since you seem to have intimate knowledge of both of these, please give us the entire timeline.
It was AFTER DARK.
Why wouldn'tsomeone expect to attacked late at night in a dark, secluded area in a dangerous-adjacent (J.P. ain't all Ten Tables and espresso shops) part of the CITY?
It isn't Chestnut Hill or Needham. It is a city with some pretty sketchy characters by day. Why would people expect safety in that area at night? My parents taught me not to go into dark and secluded areas at night. That's where the criminal element is likely to take advantage of rubes. Same thing with the Esplanade. I'm a big, over 6-feet tall guy and even I wouldn't go through these places at night. Its common sense.
I think these millennials or gen x-ers or whtever the hell they are have some kind of entitled mindset that stems from too many participation trophies and being told they can do anything. If you live in a city, which is great, you have to pay a price - which includes things like higher grocery prices, and not being able to walk exactly wherever you please after dark. Its been that way for decades in cities.
Location
My impression from the reports is that this happened between the boat house and Kelly Circle, on the lighted path between the pond and the Jamaicaway. So it wasn't in a necessarily dark and secluded area.
Maybe I wouldn't walk alone there even with the lights, but I certainly would with a group of people.
Way to generalize everything
Way to generalize everything and everyone in one comment. So far you are 1st in line for the stupidest comment of the day.