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Man charged with civil-rights violation in Green Line attack

A homeless man was arraigned yesterday on charges of unarmed assault with intent to rob, assault and battery and violating his victim’s civil rights for a Nov. 13 incident on the Green Line at Park Street, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

According to the DA's office, Matthew Franklin, 27, began yelling ethnic slurs at another Green Line rider around 9 a.m. that day.

Both the victim and his harasser exited the train at Park Street station, where the man continued to harass the victim and attempted to steal the victim’s phone out of his hand. During a brief struggle over the phone, the assailant punched the victim in the face and knocked him to the ground.

As the man fled, a witness chased after him and was able to grab hold of his jacket before he escaped. The witness remained at the scene and provided it to MBTA Transit Police along with a description of the assailant.

Inside the jacket, officers discovered personal papers bearing Franklin’s name and a small notebook containing a sketch of area streets marking the location of the St. Francis House homeless shelter.

Prosecutors asked for $2,000 bail. Judge Thomas Horgan imposed $1,000 bail, the DA's office reports.

Innocent, etc.


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Comments

Department of Redundancy Department is out in full force today. Unarmed assault with intent to rob AND assault and battery?!?

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Two different crimes. Two different charges.

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anything in the police report about a second victim?

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Thats why its called assault AND battery.

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"Attempted robbery and Assault and Battery?" Kinda stupid to put an assault charge on top of an assault and battery one, if you ask me.

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Assault and battery is not. You could probably just go with the one charge, but the punch in the face may not have been a part of the robbery?

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If this a civil rights violation how come there is no description of either the perpetrator or the victim.

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Because in the context of the charge, it doesn't matter. If the perpetrator states that they're attacking the victim because that person belongs to (or the perpetrator perceives that they belong to) some protected class of people, then it's a civil rights violation. It doesn't matter who belongs to what category, if they belong to the same category, or what. In the story, it said the attacker yelled ethnic slurs just before attacking. It doesn't get much more clear-cut than that.

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I didn't realize that certain "classes" of people are "protected" more than others. Can you provide us with the list of protected classes in this country? I wouldn't want to run afoul of a group of bleeding heart activists who want me arrested for inadvertently talking to a member of a protected class.

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...you could get on the Google and inform your own damn self. The concept of protected classes is pretty simple, and not exactly new. But you have no real interest in that, do you?

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Everyone should be equal in the eyes of the law, no matter what "don't shoot" "activist types like you think. By the way, on an unrelated note, two NYPD cops were murdered in cold blood yesterday. Guess why? Will you be protesting it?

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Here's an example of a protected class: white Protestant middle-aged American men of English descent. I know you're thinking that "protected class" means that certain people are given preferential treatment but you're wrong. The laws protect _anyone_ against discrimination on the basis of their race, religion, nationality, sex, etc.

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Equal prosecution on these incidents. Is that a joke? Check the statistics.

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Seriously, give it a rest.

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to be unhappy about something that isn't even true.

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Wikipedia can provide that list for you! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_class

In fact, YOU are a member of several protected classes. Unless you don't have a sex, race, age, or citizenship. So maybe you should be worried about inadvertently talking to yourself.

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I'm glad they bothered to put a civil rights charge, I'm sure this homeless crazy person certainly has a lot to lose with that on top.

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What about the white man who was beat up by a group of young black "men' about a month ago on the Red Line train, two of them were arrested. These "men" were not equally charged with CR violations even though it clearly was. Who does this investigation Transit PD or BPD? Does the DA's office make this decision? I did not see this incident reported in any media outlets. Selective media coverage also?????

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Were your "young black 'men'" yelling racial epithets at the victim? This guy was, and that's what makes for the civil-rights charge. If your guys had done it, they would have been subject to such a charge, too, but because you don't claim they did, we can assume it didn't happen.

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