Woman offers her muggers money for a meal if they agree to stop robbing people; they reject her offer and take her phone
Boston Police report arresting a 14-year-old on charges he was one of the punks who robbed a woman of her iPhone around 8 p.m. on Wednesday near the Tufts Medical Center T stop.
Police say the woman was walking to the subway station when she was approached by two guys at Tremont and Oak streets who demanded her iPhone and its password.
The victim further states refused to give up her iPhone, but offered the suspects money to get something to eat instead of robbing people.
Instead, they grabbed her phone and ran toward Charles Street - along with another guy. Their victim refused to just stand there, however, and started screaming and running after them. A bystander joined in the chase. The three alleged hoods threw the phone down and split up. Police found one of the three skulking around, breathing hard, by the entrance to the T stop under the medical center. The woman's phone was recovered, but was in bad shape, police say.
The teen, too young to be publicly identified, was charged with unarmed robbery and destruction of personal property. Police continue to look for the other two.
Comments
If one of these kids ever tried to steal my iPhone...
I'd give him my headphones too and make him promise not to blast hip-hop through the speakers when he rides the T.
seriously....
Just spend the $10/month for insurance and you never have to worry about fighting off mugggers. just give it to them, file a police report, and viola, a new phone!
Why stop at $10?
Instead of paying $120 per year in mugging insurance, why not just buy
a case of iPhones and hand them out to anyone who asks for one.
Appeasement is never a winning strategy.
You forgot the $100-150
You forgot the $100-150 deductible for each replacement.
Forget your Phone Company
We've gotten much cheaper and less cumbersome warranties via square trade and other aftermarket insurers.
Yup
If you're buying asurion insurance or the like from a service provider, you mise well be flushing cash down the toilet. In the end you're paying what it cost to replace the phone anyways if you instead just saved that money in a savings account.
Go third party, lots of options and much more competitively priced fro what you're actually insuring.
Totally not worth it, unless
Totally not worth it, unless you're accident-prone or getting mugged regularly.
I've had an iPhone for about 4 years now and could have used the insurance exactly once. I'm glad I didn't spend $480 over that time to protect my phone "investment."
I don't think insuring a rapidly depreciating electronic device makes a whole lot of economic sense.
A can of Pepper spray is only
A can of Pepper spray is only $10
Gotta get an FID.
I think that's an extra $2 and some time on top of the cost of the spray.
$25 for the permit, no time
$25 for the permit, no time requirements. Just go to your local PD.
(or just drive to NH or RI)
You're right; it costs $25
You're right; it costs $25 for the restricted FID.
It takes time to go to the local PD. It takes time to fill out the form. It takes, according to Boston.gov, an average of two to three weeks to process the application.
True, It's still better than
True, It's still better than the months of time required for a gun license.
Your homeowner's or renter's
Your homeowner's or renter's insurance may cover theft of electronic devices, away from home.
But again, there'll likely still be a deductible.
The Kid
Its 8 PM... do you know where your children are? Their out mugging people. I think the parents of this punk shoudl also be brought to court and charged.
An honorable display
Never been mugged, though I've often thought about what I'd do if I were. I wonder how I'd reconcile self-preservation with empathy for my assailant. I like to think I'd put on as honorable a display as this lady did. Great story.
I would guess there is a 99%
I would guess there is a 99% chance that these kids do not need money to eat. They are going to jack you because you seem like the type of person who will give him an "in." You have more than he does, you know it, and he knows it. More often than not the person who has more, doesn't really deserve it. It's luck of the draw, who gives birth to you. This is also understood by both parties.
Why did this person offer to give them money to eat? Because their black, hispanic or poor whites? Talk about an insult! "Oh yeah, you're one of those minorities, or white trash, you must not be able to feed yourself." Shit, the kids aren't in frigging rags, they aren't homeless and living in the gutter! That probably made them even angrier.
So then for some stupid reason after they take your iPhone you chase them, screaming. So in reality, instead of having a gigantic multi-million dollar company re-imburse you, you get these kids/children arrested, and their lives may be totally fucked because of that on their record. This all after you wanted to help them and give them food?
Talk about totally missing out on the big picture.
All good points. Just out of
All good points.
Just out of curiosity, what would you have done?
Well, she was probably
Well, she was probably screwed the second she was approached. How did these kids know she had an iPhone? I am going to presume that she was listening to music on it, texting, what have you. Basically waving money around. Secondly, she has taken her attention away from what is happening in her environment. The streets of a city (I don't care what neighborhood you are in) are never a controlled situation. You should be tuned into that, not your iPhone.
However, once approached or a mugging is in progress, give them your stupid toy! Unless you are totally confident in your abilities to physically subdue them, and then contact the authorities, let it go. Don't chase them or call out for others who are not police officers to chase them either. What if one of the kids freaks out draws a blade or a gun. He gets nervous that he's going to jail, so he pops a shot off, and you or someone else takes it to the chest. Well shit, the situation just went from a small inconvenience to a life changing or a life ending one. All for a little bruising of your ego, and the loss of a toy.
Well argued.
Well argued.
Agree, it was totally her fault
I don't understand why someone would think it's safe to take a phone out to text at 8 p.m. on a Wednesday. Probably just wanted to flash her fancy iPhone around to make people jealous. Everyone knows the best and safest place for your cell phone is at home behind locked doors -- your texts and voicemails will be there waiting when you get home.
Then there are people who think they can just walk around with a wallet full of credit cards and cash. I've even seen people take out their bank cards outside of ATMs -- in the middle of a notorious ghetto (Downtown Crossing)! Stop waving money around! And don't call for help if you're being mugged or raped -- you could scare the offender and get someone hurt!
But seriously you sound like you've never been mugged and like to think it's because of your "street smarts" instead of just dumb luck. If I ever get mugged again, I can only hope there are people around like the ones who gave chase in this incident, instead of a bunch of fucking cowards like you.
Soo....
Is there any possibility that people may rob others just because they're dicks and not due to the societal injustices they face on a daily basis? If you have things, you "more often than not" don't deserve them? I didn't think I'd ever find myself on this side of the fence, but putting out nonsensical arguments/statements like these are really doing no one any good. Half the folks reading are probably thinking the little shits should be slowly tortured to death along with their no-good parents in City Hall Plaza and you're taking this woman to task because she assumed that these kids were poor? Talk about missing big pictures...
It sounds like she had read that story about the social worker in NYC (Bronx?) who got held up on an MTA platform but started a conversation with the kid and ended up buying him dinner. Makes a great feel good story on the inter-news but in reality something like that probably plays out more like what happened to this woman.
I agree completely.
I cringe at the inevitable mouth-breather comments that follow a story like this, but sheesh--that woman was handing out racist insults because she offered these kids a meal? It sounds a little naive, but well-intentioned. And come on--the attempt to turn these kids into modern-day Robin Hoods is pretty weak. They're not stealing loaves of bread or life-saving drugs for their ailing grandma, nor are they storming the barricades or mugging people as they step out of their limos. Eighty percent of the people on the Orange line--black, white, old, young--are staring into some pricey device or other--this sounds like a regular girl on the T, not Leona Helmsley. Please don't try to justify this kind of petty thuggery by trying to shape it as if these kids don't have other options or as if they're battling racial and economic injustice by ganging up on a woman to rob her. It's pathetic and sad and now they've screwed up their lives by a significant notch.
Obviously, the woman should
Obviously, the woman should have offered more money. Maybe in the stress of the moment she didn't realize the money would need to be split three ways.
typically "progressive" thinking
She assumed that they were robbing her for need of money, in fact they were probably robbing her for the thrill. To paraphrase St. Augustine, why did he steal the pears? Because he could and because it felt good to be wicked for wickedness' sake.
It's OK though, that kid will be out robbing people again in a few weeks.