Across Nation, Unprovoked Beatings of Homeless Soar; 142 Attacks Occurred Last Year Alone

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Associated Press

Across Nation, Unprovoked Beatings of Homeless Soar; 142 Attacks Occurred Last Year Alone

04-08-2007 6:20 PM
By TODD LEWAN, AP National Writer

ORLANDO, Fla. (Associated Press) -- It was a balmy night, the sort that brings the homeless out from the shelters, when the police were summoned to America Street. On the driveway of a condo, just a few paces from the gutter, lay a man. A dying man.

He looked to be 50-ish, and a resident of Orlando's streets, judging by the moldy jacket. And he'd been bludgeoned _ so badly bludgeoned that he could hardly move.

Before being rushed to the hospital, where he died of his head injuries, the man, August Felix, described his attackers. Young fellows did it, he whispered to the officers who got to him first. Kids.


This photo released by the Orlando Police Department shows homeless murder victim, August Felix. Felix was attacked by youths on March 26, 2006 in Orlando, Fla., and died 30 days later. (AP Photo/Orlando Police Department)


Within three months, two 16-year-olds and three 15-year-olds had been charged with second-degree homicide in the March 26, 2006, attack. The motive? "I don't think there was a motive," Sgt. Barbara Jones, a police spokeswoman, said, "other than, 'Let's beat someone up.'"

Read more: http://omaha.cox.net/cci/newsnational/national?_mode=vi...

[democraticrevolution]

1. Sadly

This is what happens in the new gilded age....

[Deja Q]

2. Homelessness is one issue. These paltry brats engaging in this senseless vicious attacking

should be forced to enlist as punishment.

See if they like it in a battlefield where folks, some of which are subhuman, WILL fight back.

Damn savage cowards, these punk undisciplined devolved brats.

(sorry, I'll never have much good to say about these creeps except to say they should be enlisted. Good riddance.)

And there's always a motive. "Senseless malice in order to feel good" is as much a motive as any tangible one (e.g. money)

[Truthiness Inspector]

3. How disgusting

It takes a special breed of vicious, sadistic "people" to do something like this. I'm glad that at least this bunch of attackers were taken off the streets, hopefully for a LONG, LONG time.

[youngdem]

4. Compassionate Conservatism in action

I would bet my front teeth every last motherfucker who did this would self-identify with the Republican party.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. The kids who did this are really sick

and trust me, if they aren't stopped now, look out for their names to be in the news later in life--for spousal abuse, child abuse, or some other sort of violence.

[JerseygirlCT]

8. Yes, I agree. I feel sick and sad for them. They truly need help. nt

[Codeine]

23. Need help?

People who prey on the very weakest and most helpless among us don't need help, they need to be put somewhere where they don't pose a danger to regular human beings. I'm not talking about death penalty or prison rape or any of the other things the Revenge Porn crowd likes to fantasize about, but I really don't think that a person who manifests an evil this monstrous can ever be trusted again.

[JerseygirlCT]

26. I understand your anger entirely. I feel it, too

And maybe it's being a parent, but all I can think is that some awful psychic wrong must be present in those kids in order for them to behave like that.

Do we throw them away forever, or try to treat their very serious pathology? I don't think they were born that way, you know?

[Codeine]

28. I'm not even angry, really.

Just a bit disgusted and, to be honest, frightened. I dunno, it just seems futile to try and fix a person that broken.

[JerseygirlCT]

30. But so young! I just cannot imagine it, having a

kid around that age.

What would it take to do that?

It's just truly unfathomable. Maybe it's just that I'm very, very lucky that behavior like that is so far outside my experience.

[Codeine]

31. Amen to that. nt

[sasquatch]

6. I ask you this, what the opposite were to happen?

What if gains of roaming violent teens were beating up wealthy people? I bet if this was the case this shit would tommorrow if that was the case.

[Codeine]

29. That would be kinda awesome, though.

Admit it.

[sasquatch]

32. Yeah it would be in a way

[JerseygirlCT]

7. How sick do you have to be, how utterly lacking in any compassion

to attack these people who have so little?

Don't you walk past and think "that could be me"? Doesn't it rip your heart out that anyone in this incredibly rich country should lack for a meal or a roof over their head?

Is this twisted guilt acting out in violence?

[Bicoastal]

9. A living example...

...of adding injury to insult.

[BrklynLiberal]

10. Trickle-down effect of the "compassion" being demonstrated at the very top

of our Society..by those in charge in Washington.

[ninkasi]

11. This is what happens

when a country turns it's back on the weak and vulnerable. It changes from indifference to hostility. What in the name of all that any of us consider holy have we become? Are these brutalities the act of the "greatest nation on earth?"

[zonmoy]

19. makes me wonder how long until thugs like these come for me

simply because I happen to be disabled and not born into a wealthy family.

[ninkasi]

25. You are like me

I am also disabled, and my husband and I live on an income that is far below the poverty level. The only thing that would save us is that my grown children, and two of my nieces, are fairly well-off. I reject financial help from them, because we manage to survive, but there would be a very large stink raised if we were screwed with. If it's ever necessary to accept help, we know that it's there. Many, far too many, don't have a loving family to fall back on.

I will fight the thugs however, and whenever, I can. Society should judge us by our merits, which doesn't mean our ability to amass money. We should be judged by our compassion, our love of others, and how much we contribute to making life better for all. Using these standards, the majority of Republics would fall far short. Just ask Bar, she of the "beautiful mind", how much she does to make the world a better place.

[JerseygirlCT]

27. Yes. We have a responsibility as a nation for the negligence

we've all (willingly or not) participated in. This is a symptom of a much larger problem.

[Matamoros]

12. Disgusted with the human race

I am disgusted with the human race.
We behave more and more like animals with each passing day. Just when you think we can sink no lower, something like this starts happening... and it is across all of our cultures and societies.

Poor African-American kids are doing it.
Rich white kids are doing it.

What is wrong with us?

It seems that we have become like wild animals, with packs of disenfranchised roving males exterminating the weak - like packs of young wolves killing off the old wolves who have been banished from the pack.

I am totally disgusted with humans. There is no hope for us. Maybe bird-flu...

[Tyler Durden]

14. Don't "diss" the animals: they do not act from malice.

I have yet to find a well-adjusted animal of any species that searches out one of the most feeble members of its species and abuses it for amusement.

WE are animals. WE give animals a bad name.

[BushOut06]

13. I place much of the blame for this squarely on the GOP

They are the ones who have been demonizing the homeless for so many years. It's their whole "why don't they just get a job" attitude, and the constant harassment techniques, that have led to this. Continually closing down their shelters, denying them places to stay, and trying to get them "out" of their towns.

Seriously, have you EVER heard a conservative or rethug say a positive thing about homeless people?

[zonmoy]

20. have you ever heard a rethug say anything positive about any poor person

unless they were the puppets of the evil god they worship.

[petgoat]

15. In Chicago about 20 years ago someone killed a homeless man with an arrow. nt

[FiveGoodMen]

21. There were many such stories at the end of the eighties.

I remember reading about woman who was attacked with a board that had nails pounded through (and thus the pointy ends sticking out of) it.

I think when there's enough hate in the air for long enough, it just starts spilling everywhere, and the weak and helpless can't defend themselves, so they get the brunt of it.

The Limbaughs and Coulters of the world are the worst kind of criminal there is.

[Roland99]

16. American Society is turning into a giant Clockwork Orange.

[RexDart]

17. There were two homeless killed in Santa Cruz in 2006.

However, neither was listed in the study. I went to the list www.nationalhomeless.org and went through the report. I'm
hoping this isn't the case, but did these two not get listed because both were homeless on homeless? It makes me depressed, as the problem of violence agains the homeless is much worse then anybody is reporting.


Homeless man held in S.C. bludgeoning death This case ended in a conviction last week.


Police detective testifies suspect admitted to beating death of homeless Watsonville man This case is still pending.

The other thing I noticed, is that in the local paper, you're homeless until you break the law. At that point, you become a "transient". There were 17 homicides last year in Santa Cruz County the most in over 20 years.

[AngryAmish]

18. This article is a load of shit

What are we to take from this article? That there is a sudden increase in violence against homeless people.

Fine.

Where do the statistics come from? Media and self reports. How do we know they are not looking at more media or seeking more reports from homeless agencies and that created the increase? We don't. So the statistics used are meaningless.

Plus the tone of the article is that privileged youth has set upon the homeless because there is a new hard-heartedness amongst the youth. Well, how do we know that the homeless victims were not overwhelmingly attacked by other homeless folks? We don't.

They say Bumfights causes this? Their evidence? None. Just an assertion, surrounded by anecdote to make it appear that there is a causal relationship.

Homelessness and the violence inherent in the problem is a problem. Bumfights is disgusting. And the first person who says that I am all right with violence against the homeless will reveal themselves as an innumerate a-hole. My problem is misuse and abuse of statistics - as is done here.

[superconnected]

22. That's what you get when a "compassionate" conservative runs the country.

The brutes feel justified.

They've been told the poor are just lazy and living off of their tax dollars.

[VegasWolf]

24. Children of compassionate conservatives just blowing off a little steam.