Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Attack on the Monon.

There was another attack on the Monon in Broad Ripple.

This time, Seth and Tiffani were walking home along the Monon just north of Kessler at 0100 Monday when Sumdood leapt from the bushes, decked Seth with some brass knucks, and took his wallet and Tiffani's purse.
The trail is closed after sunset.

"We have made our officers aware that the potential exists for problems," said Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Sgt. Paul Thompson. "We would like to remind people to stay off of the Monon during the hours of darkness."
If we were serious about keeping people off the the Trail when it's closed, what I would do is I would pay somebody to lurk in the bushes during the hours of darkness with some brass knuckles...

Anyhow, it's a good thing guns are illegal on the Trail; somebody might have gotten hurt.

38 comments:

Carteach said...

So, the 'authorities' have ceded the land to the thugs and criminals.

Beats the hell out of actually dealing with the problem.... at least, for someone of their character.

B said...

INteresting that the race of the attacker is somehow left out...

Tam said...

Mr. B,

It being one AM and the trail at that point being darker than three feet up a well-digger's ass at midnight, perhaps they couldn't tell.

I don't see that it much matters.

Ken Hackathorn's #1 Safety Tip: "Don't go where you don't belong."

A closed, lonely, unlit public park surrounded and shaded by trees at 1AM? I'm strangely lacking in sympathy.

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

"A closed, lonely, unlit public park surrounded and shaded by trees at 1AM? I'm strangely lacking in sympathy."

Ditto.

Retardo said...

I misread "Monon" as "Moon". Kind of a letdown, when I read it.

Anonymous said...

Now the thugs rule the night. In some places they already rule the day.
coming soon, to your neighborhood...

Tam said...

"Now the thugs rule the night. In some places they already rule the day."

Please, like this is a shocking new phenomenon.

Just three blocks away from where this happened, at the very same hour of the night, you can't throw a punch without winding up on the bottom of a pigpile. It's all about allocation of limited resources and it's been going on since Hammurabi's first sheriff.

jimbob86 said...

"So, the 'authorities' have ceded the land to the thugs and criminals."

..... and so have "WE":

"Don't go where you don't belong."

Since when should we have to close Public spaces due to a criminal element's activities?

Yea and Verily, "Evil is not overcome by fleeing from it."

.... though a couple of timely 230 grain Crimstoppers delivered at 850 f/sec by Tiffani would have certainly overcome it in this situation.

Tam said...

jimbob86,

".... though a couple of timely 230 grain Crimstoppers delivered at 850 f/sec by Tiffani would have certainly overcome it in this situation."

True.

You know what else would have, and at only a fraction of the attorney's fees? Walking along either of the well-lit streets paralleling the trail. There's less chance of getting jumped there, plus your heater is perfectly legal. It's like a win-win!

jimbob86 said...

Ah, there were TWO assailants- Tiff might have needed 4 to 6 Crimestoppers.....

And for a "win-win", the heater would be legal EVERYWHERE, and JayG could add 2 to his Dead Goblin Count. THAT would not be "like" a win-win: That would be a win-win.

Anonymous said...

That Seth is a bad-guy magnet! First he and Jared get the Mustang and themselves shot up and now THIS!

And speaking of Jared, where was he when all this happened? Some wingman.

This bad guy must be pretty patient...the Trail is closed at night so it must take many days and nights of lurking in the bushes just to nail one vic.

Unless..."pay somebody to lurk in the bushes during the hours of darkness"...ahhhHa! That weren't brass knucks, that were stainless bracelets, and that BG was one of IPD's finest, working undercover! That'll teach those little pukes to walk around MY trail in MY city!

AT

Tam said...

jimbob86,

"And for a "win-win", the heater would be legal EVERYWHERE..."

Even if your heater is legal everywhere, it is just plain dumb tactics to take the dark secluded path instead of the well-lit and well-traveled one when you have a choice between the two.

Once again, stupid hurt.

Jonathan Bartels said...

Mr. B - Who cares what race the attacker is? A thief is a thief.

jimbob86 said...

Tam,

True, we live in the Real world, not the Just one..... the one where we have to cede the hours of darkness to the forces thereof.

....And about that Jared guy ..... he lost all that weight eating at Subway- he had so much going for him- now he's running around w/ the wrong crowd, gettin' shot at and beaten up.... fame will ruin your life.....

Tam said...

jimbob86,

"True, we live in the Real world, not the Just one..... the one where we have to cede the hours of darkness to the forces thereof."

No, we live in the same world we always have, where Thag and Og didn't go sticking their heads in the dark cave bear's den without a damn good reason.

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

Well, Tam, bottom line, if jimbob wants to walk on the dark trail late at night after the parks department has declared it closed, I say let him.

Like you, I'll stick to the lighted paths at such hours. Or, hmm, even better, be home safe in bed with my heater on the nightstand just in case.

Tam said...

Nathan,

I think Jimbob should be legally ableto walk down that path at night, and carry a gun while doing so, but to wish some world where it's just as safe to walk down the dark path as the light one is to wish for a Utopia.

Rob K said...

Why, this is unpossible! Brass knuckles are illegal in Indiana! It must've been a paper weight...

jimbob86 said...

In Utopia, I would not have to Carry ..... and flying Unicorns would take me wherever I wanted to go...... I just don't think that the gubmint should be able to tell me I must be disarmed in a Public space. Whether I want to walk in the dark or light is nunnatheirs. True, walking in well lit areas IS smarter, but I'd like to be free to make that decision.

Anonymous said...

Two people walking "The Trail" at night. certanly got whats comin to em. Probably looking to score some crack, or pimpin the girl. One needs to know ones place. A good lesson for these ner do wells. Even IMPD knows who ownes the parks at night and stay clear.

Anonymous said...

"Why, this is unpossible! Brass knuckles are illegal in Indiana!"

Ummm, no, they are not.

Robbery and Battery are illegal but it was the brass knuckles that made him do it . . . and the police . . . and society . . . and George Bush . . . your honor.

Shootin' Buddy

Tam said...

"Ummm, no, they are not."

But I thought they were, too... I mean, they told me they were at the gun show.

Rob K said...

I could swear that was in IC 35-47-5, but it's been several years since I read the whole section through, and I see portions were repealed in 2002.

Imagine that, the government repressing us a little bit less.

Anonymous said...

Seriously has the will to resist been educated out of we Americans or is it fear of prosecution if one defends oneself? Two grown people against one attacker, they could not fight back. Even if they had it is just as likely they would have been seen as agressors insted of victoms. What have we come to? Submit to the oppressors may your chains rest easy on you.

Kristophr said...

Tam:

That sounds too much like the "she's askin' for it" defense. I know you didn't intend that, but I'm just sayin' ...

I'd take the Roman view: a naked virgin should be able to walk down that path at night with two jars full of gold coins, and have both the jars and her virginity intact at the end of the walk.

The problem here, IMO, is a lack of crucifixions along said trail.

Looks like a good place for SWAT to be practicing with their night vision gear ... if the popo want to have a military unit, then make 'em put it to good use.

Anonymous said...

"But I thought they were, too... I mean, they told me they were at the gun show."

At the gun show "they" told me that you had to buy me a Les Baer rifle in 6.5x284.

Shootin' Buddy

Anonymous said...

"I could swear that was in IC 35-47-5, but it's been several years since I read the whole section through, and I see portions were repealed in 2002."

Hmmm, I've been doing this since '95 and have not seen such a statute, but I'll put the paralegal on it this afternoon and report back.

Shootin' Buddy

Tam said...

Anon12:36,

"Seriously has the will to resist been educated out of we Americans..."

I can't speak for "we Americans" as I'm not part of any collective. I only know about my will to resist.

Tam said...

Kristopher,

"I'd take the Roman view: a naked virgin should be able to walk down that path at night with two jars full of gold coins, and have both the jars and her virginity intact at the end of the walk."

I don't know what Rome that was in, but it wasn't any of the ones I've read about, where anybody who ventured off the main streets at night without an armed guard was asking to wake up with a headache and a missing purse. (And the carrying of swords was forbidden within the city walls, to boot.)

Regardless, just because I think a person is an idiot to wander into a lion's den wearing a suit made of bacon doesn't mean I have a quibble with shooting a man-eating lion. Or even an idiot-eating one.

Jake (formerly Riposte3) said...

While I agree with Tam that it's certainly tactically unsound behaviour, and not all that bright, I have to side with Kristopher on this one. It doesn't matter where they were walking, or why, or how dark/bright it was - only two people are responsible for this attack, and it's not the two who were assaulted and robbed.

Actually, I'll expand that responsibility a little - whichever idiot .gov official/officials decided that it should be a disarmed victim zone do share some responsibility for encouraging the predators to hunt there.

Tam said...

Jake,

"It doesn't matter where they were walking, or why, or how dark/bright it was - only two people are responsible for this attack, and it's not the two who were assaulted and robbed."

And nowhere did I imply otherwise.

I questioned the brightness of Jared and Tiffani's actions, but in this country you have the right to be as bright or as dim as you want to be without getting the crap beat out of you. And the perpetrator certainly needs to be found and brought to justice.

However, my desire for justice and my level of sympathy are two separate and completely unrelated things, and the level of sympathy I feel is affected by a number of variables.

Remember Farnam's First Rule of Winning A Gunfight: "Don't be there."

Bubblehead Les. said...

Park Closed, Don't go in.

Beach closed, Don't go in.

No trespassing, Don't go in.

''Here there Be Dragons", Don't go in.

Lady on Porch tell you to get off her property, Don't go in.

Attack me and mine when I legally follow the Rules, Don't go into the Hospital, go to Morgue.

Works for me, but YMMV.

Kristophr said...

Truth there, Tam.

I've seen pictures of some roman purses ... brass affairs you put your arm in, and carried under the arm to be pickpocket proof.

Still ... that saying, even if never realized in practice, was an ideal we should be trying for.

Kristophr said...

Couldn't find the quote attributed to any real emperor ... so it looks like I got snookered by the internets / popular fiction.

Did find one interesting tidbit:

"If I saw a virgin with a sack of gold riding a white ass, I think I would at least stop and chat with her ..."

markm said...

The Mongol Empire founded by Ghenghis Khan is said to have claimed that a virgin with a sack of gold could ride the whole length of the empire and arrive with both her virginity and the gold intact. (I presume this meant a Mongol virgin, as the very warriors that patrolled those trails were apt to view the possession of those things by a non-Mongol as a readily-corrected oversight.) But that doesn't say anything about dark city alleys. They knew the only way to make those safe was to eliminate the city.

staghounds said...

Wait, now Tiffani is with Jared?

Pretty cold, with Seth still in the hospital.

Tam said...

"The Mongol Empire founded by Ghenghis Khan is said to have claimed that a virgin with a sack of gold could ride the whole length of the empire and arrive with both her virginity and the gold intact."

FWIW, I've also heard this ascribed to either the Ghana or Mali empires.

It would be interesting to find the first place this was used in print.

Anonymous said...

No, Tiff is (was) with Seth. Duh!

Dude, do you not Facebook?

AT