New YouTube hit: New York subway riders take down alleged groper

[Liberal_in_LA]

Source: LA times

New York subway riders, famous for their ability to ride for miles in crowded cars without speaking to each other or making eye contact, came out of hibernation with a vengeance over the weekend in an attack on an alleged groper whose takedown has become a YouTube hit.

It happened Friday night at the Lorimer Street station in Brooklyn, which serves both the G and the L trains. "He groped me!" a woman shrieked at a man who entered the L train. According to local news reports, the woman had just emerged from a G train when she was grabbed on the platform by the perpetrator, who had apparently planned on melting into the crowd.

After she followed him onto the L train and pointed him out, two male passengers began struggling with the accused, who hung tight onto a railing as the men tried to pull him off the train. "This boy's strong!" one man is heard exclaiming as the fight goes on, the alleged groper wrapping his arms around a metal pole while others try to pry him off of it.

They eventually hauled him off the train and onto the platform as other passengers applauded. Minutes later, transit police showed up and took the 30-year-old man into custody on charges of forcible touching.


By Monday morning, the video had been viewed more than 72,000 times on YouTube (be warned that the video includes what sounds like some coarse language), and local news reports of the incident were sparking discussion on whether it amounted to vigilante justice or a refreshing display of community spirit. Most appeared to come down on the side of the crowd that hauled the alleged groper off the train and stood guard until police arrived.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-subway-groper-20120716,0,4249629.story

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watch the video here:

[2on2u]

1. Can we donate our frequent flyer miles to him?? Just sayin'. n/t

[valerief]

2. I didn't know Groper Norquist rode the subway

[AsahinaKimi]

3. vigilante justice? No.. a citizen's arrest...

Every citizen has a right to make an arrest, if a crime is committed. The thing is to hope you don't get sued for doing it wrongfully.

[JoeyT]

10. +1

I watched the video twice and I'd swear it skipped over the part where they beat him with clubs both times, because if that part isn't in there, this wasn't anything remotely approaching vigilante justice.

[JNelson6563]

18. You're exactly right.

[kestrel91316]

4. Nothing vigilante at all. A totally appropriate group performance of citizen's arrest.

[Renew Deal]

5. That's not vigilante justice

Vigilantism would have been meting out punishment.

[onehandle]

6. I don't believe it. Impossible without a gun. nt

[UnrepentantLiberal]

19. Or tasers or clubs or pepper spray.

[Ter]

24. It would be if there weren't others around to help her

n/t

[JayhawkSD]

7. Just for the sake of justice...

What if she named the wrong guy? Or if he was an ex-boyfriend and she was exacting revenge? Was the crowd still a bunch of heroes?

[markpkessinger]

8. What if? That is for the police and the courts to sort out. n/t

[Posteritatis]

9. Increasingly far-fetched hypotheticals are the best reason to condemn anything! (nt)

[tru]

14. JayHawk

Thanks for clearing that up. Whenever a victim alleges sexual assault, obviously he or she is after revenge on an ex. No one would ever be able to prove the accused was an ex, right? And innocent people run

[JayhawkSD]

23. It has been done many times.

Once to a close friend of mine, who was in a different city, with me, on the date and time that his ex claimed the assault happened, naming him as the person who assaulted her. She wound up being fined for "false reporting." I don't know whether or not she was actually raped or not. She may have been, but it certainly was not by my friend as she claimed.

And now, of course, you will accuse me of being a slime ball who provides false alibis for rapists. Right?

And if several people run at me, I'm probably going to run.

I wasn't suggesting they did anything wrong, but are they still "heroes" under those circumstances. We base things on how they appear to us. Remember how we wept in sympathy and sent money to a woman whose children were murdered? And then felt like hell when it turned out that she murdered them herself. I try to wait to cheer until I know facts.

[closeupready]

15. He can then probably sue Youtube for damages.

nt

[MADem]

16. For what? He was in a public place. Whoever uploaded that video was also in a public place

operating a recording device.

He can sue his parents for raising him wrong, if he'd like.

You have no right to privacy in the subway. Even less so when you think it's a fine idea to place your grubby paws on some woman's unwelcoming behind or other body parts.

[closeupready]

20. Not w/o a model's release. Youtube profits on page hits, and is liable financially

for any damages that result from the video.

Faces must be obscured.

[SemperEadem]

13. neither. what is your point?

[jumptheshadow]

17. The police have been slow to catch gropers in NY

We had a long-running, well-publicized problem in my neighborhood with assaulters/gropers and a lack of police response. I don't think they want to add to their crime statistics.

[Enrique]

21. is 72,000 views on YouTube a hit?

it's an interesting video, but they are exaggerating it and frankly I don't see the news value in it. They bring up a supposed debate over vigilantism, but I'm not seeing it. It's not like they beat him up, they called the cops which is pretty much the opposite of vigilantism.