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Teens attack two on the Common; two arrested

Lalalava reports she and a companion were walking across the Common near Park Street around 9:30 p.m. yesterday when a large group of teens suddenly attacked them, knocking them to the ground and beating them:

In the moment I thought I might die. I held onto my stuff with my dear life so they couldn't take anything at least.

The Globe reports two teens from Dorchester were arrested.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports:

The 16-year-old Dorchester male and 15-year-old Dorchester female were arraigned today in the Boston Juvenile Court, where prosecutors recommended bails of $1000 each and orders that they stay away from the area; a Juvenile Court judge released them to the custody of their parents without setting bail, but did order that they abide by a curfew of 8:00 pm and attend school.

Last spring:
Pack roamed downtown, robbing and beating people.

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Comments

"I thought I might die, so I held onto my stuff for dear life."

My life or my stuff. I can't lose my stuff! 2015, everybody.

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People who are mugged are so funny, amirite?

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Probably the same psycho who laughed at the women who jumped from the World Trade Center still holding their pocketbooks.

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The park, especially the Park Street area is dangerous. There are gangs of kids, a huge gang of junkies, the mentally ill, drunks,and general trouble makers camped out there all day. right ON the Freedom trail where people can't walk by without getting hassled.

I have tried calling the Rangers and they do nothing. The police rarely do anything unless the SEE them breaking the law.

It's BS. It's the drugs and the violence that bother me the most. If the authorities know it's going on and they certainly know that two Rangers were nearly stabbed to death there last year then WHY the heck aren't they policing the area more frequently.

After the winter we just had all small business especially the vendors in the park need to be protected and helped.

Ignoring the pleas for safety is mind boggling.

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Agreed Cappy. Given the amount of use by Boston residents (like me) and the pragmatic value of the Common to visitors who come to the city to spend money I wonder why it is not better policed. Maybe unarmed rangers are not the best solution. Turn them and their budget (they still have horses!) over to the BPD? I don't know. Something.

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Because who doesn't want to lose their phone, laptop, purse, etc. What a dummy for not just taking the beating and giving her stuff up. I must have missed the part of the story where they said to her "give up your possessions or we'll beat you to a pulp." Seems like if you're going to get the beating anyway, might as well try and hang onto your possessions. But what do I know, relaxyapsycho probably would have been able to make the split second decision to overcome this sneak attack and drag all the hoodlums to jail.

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Shame on you for victim blaming.

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You pulling that from this story proves how vapid you are. Guarantee these "kids" will do this again.

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That's why she was hanging on. Read the globe story before judging. And just btw, judge not lest you be judged.

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My suggestions are as follows:

Always pay attention to your surroundings and what / who is in your vicinity.

Ditch any politically correct ideas you may have been naively brainwashed with, if your safety is involved. Don't freeze....don't be passive aggressive....be proactive and if necessary, aggressive. Learn at least some basic fighting techniques, including dirty fighting....and carry some kind of reasonably effective weapon on you, if possible.

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Because the city I live in is nowhere near rough enough to be reflexively scared of black men or for me to ever think that I'd need a weapon. It's true that I live in Dorchester, near Mattapan, and there are gangstery folks about. It's also true that I live in a pretty nice part of town and can walk to Walgreens or Flames without being scared - even at night! With black youths around! Listening to the hippety-hop!

It's true that I might lose my phone or wallet or something to some jerk with a weapon. It's also true that the most dangerous part of my walks along Morton Street is when I jaywalk to get to the other side.

Although, as a politically correct naive liberal who thinks black strangers almost certainly won't steal my cell phone, I would have needed to make snap ethnic judgments if I lived in 1835 Boston. I probably would have been an outspoken abolitionist, which means I had a lot to fear from well-to-do Anglos. (cf http://www.teachushistory.org/second-great-awakening-age-reform/resource... )

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You mentioned race multiple times, while the comment you replied to didn't.

I find that terribly and annoyingly ironic.

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We can ask for a rewrite with louder dog whistles if you can't hear them already. Would that make you feel better?

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That if a gang of youths attack someone and happen to be black, if you describe them that way then instantly you are a racist. I'm not saying that's what happened here, (even though it did) but sorry guys. If a cop asks for a description and I tell them it was 5 black youths then I am not a racist. We throw that word around a little too easily lately.

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That's a for real thing that actually happens or a straw man argument?

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Let's see:

Ditch any politically correct ideas you may have been naively brainwashed with, if your safety is involved.

Gee, what politically correct ideas could he possibly be referring to?

Of course, he wasn't wearing a white hood and burning a cross, so it's not Real Racism.

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Easing up just a little on the smugness might help you be a more persuasive instead of having a whole bunch of folks rolling their eyes and hope that someone on Morton Street does mug you for your cellphone.

Here's a point to consider. You might well be exquisitely safe in Mattapan. Demographically you're an aberration. If you were a young black man living on Beacon Hill you'd be safe too. Unless you're perceived as a threat or as an easy target (and I'm guessing the latter is more likely) you're fine. That doesn't have anything to do with this incident at all.

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Hey there. I'm Hispanic, proudly born South of the United States border but raised in Boston proper, and I wrote the comment that brought up the fact that that guy brought up race multiple times.

The original commenter wrote to be aware of your surroundings. Completely accurate.

The reply where the guy brought up black people multiple times? Terribly racist. I was actually pretty horrified reading the diatribe.

Being aware of your surroundings is completely different from being aware of people's ethnicity. I'm as aware of what's going around me in Southie as I am in Mattapan. It's just common sense.

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We have a tough guy in town that knows locations probably google the area or drives through daily

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Officer: Could you describe the assault?

Nick L: Well it was midnight, I was walking alone across the common while listening to music when a group of 7 sporting young lads started walking towards me while acting a bit eccentric. They surrounded me and demanded all my possessions.

Officer: Could you describe the assailants?

Nick L: Just some young black teens, eyeing me from afar. They must have thought highly of my wool peacoat!!

Officer: You didn't attempt to turn around or avoid them?

Nick L: Why golly no! I'm not a racist! Why should I have been afraid of them or acted differently?

Officer: They proceeded to mug you, stealing your phone and wallet so...

Nick L: Dastardly kids these days, just some pranksters is all, boys will be boys. I am just glad I didn't offend those little rascals. Do ring me if they return my things!

being aware of your surroundings and using your head, is not racist

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Then there is this.

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It just seems backwards to me that in Nick's post, the more accepted risk

It's true that I might lose my phone or wallet or something to some jerk with a weapon. It's also true that the most dangerous part of my walks along Morton Street is when I jaywalk to get to the other side.

is being mugged instead of appearing to be "racist"

Because the city I live in is nowhere near rough enough to be reflexively scared of black men or for me to ever think that I'd need a weapon

by avoiding potentially shady people?

What about waving around wads of cash in dark alleys at night? Can we have a heated cultural debate about that, too, or can we all agree that maybe you should just think rationally and realistically before you act?

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They were ordered to go to school.

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it sounds like, as long as the 'precious juveniles' attend school and abide by the 8 pm curfew, they don't actually have to stay away from the Common.

WTF?

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Where they can learn how to deal drugs properly.

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Something doesn't smell right.

The whole "I recorded it on my phone ..." part.

And, the final sentence in the article:

She said they plan to meet up again soon.

“We’re actually planning on meeting in a couple days over a drink to discuss what happened,” she said.

Um, wut?

Is this Dinner with Cupid?

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Possible scenario:

Young teens try the knockout game. Victim isn't knocked out. Companion of victim takes a picture of some of the young teens with her phone. Young teens freak out because the plan (person is knocked out and they laugh and run away to no consequences) didn't work, so a few of them decide to do whatever they can to get the phone/evidence. Companion of the victim won't give up the phone easily enough, so young teens lose their nerve and run away. Victims go to police, etc...

Sure, it's conjecture on my part, but it wouldn't surprise me. Nor would a male and female who survived an attack meeting up at a later date for a drink, though you seem to think that's unlikely.

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How many urban legend cards in that deck, now?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/11/25/why_the_knockout_game_trend...

You can still play the "smiley face murders" and the "acid laced children's character sticker" ones, so long as you don't draw an exploding kitten.

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and you still have a bunch of young kids violently attacking complete strangers in a well-populated public place. Unlike Mikey drinking pop Rocks and Coke, this actually happened. And it seems to be happening over and over again at DTX and elsewhere--how would you like to describe it? No, it probably doesn't indicate that the Race Wars are upon us but don't act like it's fiction or some kind of suburban hysteria.

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I provided a citation.

The "knockout game" is an urban legend. Period. Do your own google search. Debunked.

This particular incident is no game. Nor is it the OMG latest thing teens are doing all over everywhere! It is an appalling robbery attempt. Nothing more. Nothing less. Just like yet another tragic drowning of an inebriated young man isn't a serial killer on the loose.

I'm just sick and tired of "OMG the latest TEEN CRAZE that will KILL EVERYONE" nonsense.

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No one is saying these teens are killing everyone. I can tell you're intelligent, but it's impossible to take you seriously when you're so naive and dramatic.

Teens ARE de facto robbing and assaulting people in the Common and the Crossing.

I'm just sick and tired of reading about it. When I go down there, I will be hyper vigilant of my surroundings. Take off the headphones and put the cell phones down people. It's a high crime area now.

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I wish I saw this comment when it was posted.

Swirly, you can quote as many studies and Googles as you want, but being the victim of a "knockout game", I can assure you it's not a myth. I have the scars and crooked nose to prove it.

When I was in high school, I was walking home after an event, when four kids (of various ethnicities) roughly my age approached me. I had never met them before. One asked for directions, and another asked me for the time. As I looked down at my watch, I heard and felt a deep thud as my vision was reduced to a tunnel. I fell to my knees. When I got me head back together, I realized the kids ran off, had nothing taken from me, and I had blood pouring out of my nose. I pinched it off even though it hurt like hell and walked the rest of my way home. My parents called the cops. Nothing came of it.

So when people say that this is a myth, I imagine this is what victims of rape and sexual assault feel like when they are met with disbelief, since their assailant is a "nice guy, he'd never do that".

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Two people were attacked. One got a picture when the first was assaulted. Kids noticed the picture and attacked her. The two people assaulted are going out to talk about it. Makes sense to me...

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I have lived in this area all my life. I don't walk through the Common after dark. Chances are 95% of the time you will be fine, but, it's easy enough to go around.

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The man was walking with a 27-year-old woman, who took a picture of the assailant on her cellphone, McGuire said. After the woman snapped the photo, a 15-year-old Dorchester girl emerged from the group of teenagers and allegedly attacked her and tried to steal the phone, McGuire said.

Wait ... did she take the picture of "the assailant" first? I am not victim blaming, there is no justification for her being beaten, but being "street smart" or even just civil means not running around snapping pictures of people without their consent. Could absolutely be perceived as provocative.

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According to the local news report:

BOSTON (WHDH) - Two people were left bruised and battered on the Boston Common Thursday as they were walking through and a group of teens jumped them, but the woman was able to get a key clue.

She has bruises on her nose and deep scrapes on her knees.

“I felt my life flash before my eyes

He has a black eye and cuts on his hands.

“Someone punched me two times,” he said.

Both were too frightened to share their identities after the attack.

“Then suddenly one of the teenagers runs up and punches my friend in the head and knocks him down to the ground,” she said.

They scrambled to escape and she took her phone out to get pictures of the attackers.

“They saw that I was doing this so they ran over and tackled me to the ground and started punching me, beating me up and trying to take my cell phone,” she said.

She managed to keep her phone, get away and call police - who caught two of the teens.

“It felt to me like it was part of knock out game I've heard about,” she said. “In the beginning they weren't trying to rob us, it was really just they wanted to attack random people for fun.”

She's a local PhD student who's never had a violent experience and her friend is a foreign exchange student confused by the violent attack.

“Furious and embarrassed and curious about it. What is that? I didn't do anything, just walking the street and talking with friends,” he said.

Both hope police arrest more of the teens involved and help to make sure nothing like this can happen again.

“It's sad because after the incident he said ‘oh, this is America?' And I was like ‘no, please don't take this as your image of America,'” she said.

A 16-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl were both arrested and appeared in juvenile court Friday.

Good for her to attempt to photograph the violent attackers and therefore help the police i.d. and hold them responsible! And, screw you for victim blaming! I think it's sad that a woman and a man can't walk together in the Common at 9:30 pm without being beaten up and then blamed for it on universalhub. Get your head out of the sand. I hope nothing unfortunate ever happens to you through no fault of your own, because surely other anonymous armchair detectives who think like you will blame you for it.

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Thanks for the additional info!

screw you for victim blaming!

Aren't you nice.

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It is so much more pleasant, polite, and follows all the "rules" that aren't "rules" but are so very important, right?

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Both hope police arrest more of the teens involved and help to make sure nothing like this can happen again.

A 16-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl were both arrested and appeared in juvenile court Friday.

Want to "make sure nothing like this happens again"? Here's a clue - instead of giving them special treatment because they're "juveniles", arraign and try them like any other criminal suspects. Do that a few times and perhaps these hooligans will begin to get the message that assault and robbery actually have real concequences.

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and she wanted to try to get a quick shot of the attackers.

I can't imagine that two late twenty somethings would go around provoking a fight with teens by randomly taking their picture.

And on what planet does that justify being beaten and kicked by a mob of low-lifes?!

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Um yeah, I was in error based on the limited information I had, thanks.

And on what planet does that justify being beaten and kicked by a mob of low-lifes?!

Dude, I *did* type:

there is no justification for her being beaten

but whatevs.

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