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Marathoner knocked to ground feels fine, doesn't want to pursue charges; police, however, do

Boston Police report the runner knocked to the ground by some guy who wanted to run alongside a friend contacted detectives today:

While she is grateful and thankful for the interest and efforts taken by the Boston Police Department to locate her in an effort to better understand the extent of her injuries, she reports feeling fine and has respectfully declined seeking or pressing additional charges against the spectator who knocked her down.

Police, however, say they will continue to build their case against Brendan Quinn, 20, of Medfield, on charges of disorderly conduct and disturbing a public assembly.

Innocent, etc.

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Comments

Is that really necessary if the victim doesn't want to press charges?

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I'm all for pressing charges on the out of town, drunk hooligans that the media always ends up blaming on the college kids and YUPPIES of Boston.

Once again it wasn't a Bostonian doing something stupid and possibly injuring someone / destroying property.

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First of all Quinn is "technically" an outsider as he is from a suburb of Boston...but that's still pretty local. Besides that, does it really matter where he's from?

On another note, Quinn made a dumb decision which resulted in an accident, but you can bet this wasn't the first time there was an incident like this and it won't be the last. This has been so blown out of proportion and is treated as if Quinn intentionally assaulted her, when all he did was accidently bump into her and knock her down.

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In regards to Quinn making a "dumb decision which resulted in an accident", I see it more like Quinn intentionally decided to break a rule by jumping over the guard rail, intentionally interfering with the event itself, and apparently not intentionally caring (did he stop to help? Ah, no.) whether a woman he "violently" ran into and knocked over was OK. And as someone who has worked as a volunteer for the Boston Marathon and who volunteered for security duty, I have witnessed a lot of people, like Quinn, who feel it is fine to intentionally breaking the rules.

Which makes your analysis "all he did was accidentally bump into her and knock her down" sound even more ridiculous.

"but you can bet this wasn't the first time there was an incident like this and it won't be the last."

Possibly, but if you are referring to just road races, as someone who has run many, many road races, including three half marathons and three marathons, I have never witnessed nor heard of anyone being knocked over by this type of jerk behavior.

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i am a veteran marathon watcher on this area of the course. in this area you could be puked on, assaulted, pooped on, offered a beer, meet a pretty girl or groped. it really bottlenecks here and maryannes is only yards away. the chances of running into or being run into by a drunken meathead are as high as anywhere in the city, on this day, during this event. the cops have always done the best they could to keep it open for the runners but some kid is going to drunkingly run onto the course everytime. im sure he did not intend to intentionally hurt this woman, he was just being drunk and stupid which is not unusual in this neighborhood. give him the standard $100 "you sir are an idiot fine" and send him on his way.

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Man, the scene at Cleveland Circle looks like a Catholic mass compared to the TDF heading up the Col de Galibier. ;-)

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When I watch the Tour I always wonder why the group running the race allows that to happen? It screams race tampering to me. Allowing fans to put their hands on riders and push them up the hill; or knock down other riders in the rush to get to their favorite rider. And remember that rider who fell off his bike into some trees and died. That could have been prevented if the course had barricades on it.

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it's not just a Boston marathon, now, is it? So let's cut the outsider crap.

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so blaming college kids sounds about right in this case.

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You want to tell the world that it's acceptable to commit crimes? Of course not. He needs to be punished.

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I agree with Will.

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If criminal charges are preferred, that means the victim will more than likely be asked to appear in court. We don't know where she's from, what she does for a living, how inconvenient it might be for her to travel to Boston again, etc.

While punishing a jerk is a good thing, we have no idea how much this would punish the victim further. Sometimes it makes sense to the victim to just move on.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

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requires participation of all members of the community. (Not just the law enforcement officers padding their retirements by officiating at road work sites.) Oh, Boston? Never mind.

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Still think the police should charge him with disorderly conduct and disturbing a public assembly. Would people feel differently if Quinn had jumped into the race to run with Ryan Hall and in the process had knocked down two Kenyan's and an Ethiopian? She was physically knocked down, he is not being charged for knocking her down, he is being charged with disrupting the race. She is a witness to his disrupting the race. So she should sit down with the police and give a statement.

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Well said.

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