Abusing the Homeless OR Photos of My Summer Vacation

[3113]

I wonder what kind of "What I did on my summer vacation" essay they'll be writing from juvenile hall....

4 youths arrested in attacks on homeless

Four teenage boys were arrested for allegedly driving around Los Angeles and attacking homeless people while using a cellphone camera to capture some of the assaults, LAPD officials said Monday. The youths allegedly attacked at least eight homeless people either by throwing smoke bombs or firing plastic pellets from an air pistol at them and in one case throwing a bike into a homeless person's tent as he slept.

Police said the suspects filmed some of the attacks with a cellphone camera, and the attackers intended to post the recordings on the Internet. "That's not going to happen now," said LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon.

One of the smoke bombs caused a homeless man's blanket to catch fire early Sunday, leading to the arrest of three of the four teenage suspects shortly afterward. A fourth boy was taken into custody Monday while at summer school. All four teenagers have been booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and could face arson charges, Vernon said.

The incidents sparked outrage on skid row and beyond, with some advocates saying it was just the latest of several high-profile attacks on homeless people. "There is a vulnerability to being out on the street. It's just a terrible situation," said Rebecca Isaacs, executive director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

The youths, ages 15 to 17, are all from Los Angeles and have no prior criminal records, Vernon said. Cellphones with recordings of previous assaults have been confiscated and the teenagers' parents have been cooperating with authorities, police said.

Detectives believe that other homeless people were attacked and are asking the public to provide information about other possible incidents, Vernon said. The attacks occurred between July 3 and July 15, although police said the dates, which were taken from the cellphones, could be wrong.

The first attack happened July 3 near Melrose Avenue and Vine Street in Hollywood, where, police said, the youths used an air pistol to shoot a man whose head was covered with a blanket. Then on July 4 in Hollywood, police said, the teenage boys threw a homeless man's bicycle into his tent.

Evidence linking the foursome to four smoke bomb attacks against homeless men in the early hours of July 15 in downtown L.A. has been collected, police said.

The victims include a sleeping homeless man on San Pedro Street near Washington Boulevard; a group of several homeless men at Olympic Boulevard and Santee Street; a homeless man on Olympic, east of Broadway; and a homeless man whose blanket caught on fire after a smoke bomb was thrown at him in the 1000 block of South Broadway.

...A 2006 study by the National Coalition for the Homeless recorded 142 attacks last year against homeless people, 20 of which resulted in death — a 65% increase from 2005, when 86 homeless people were violently assaulted, including 13 homicides, the advocacy group said.

It was thoughtful of them to take cellphone pictures and provide the police with evidence.

Or is this just another example of "YouTube" culture?

 

[rgraham666]

To many people in our society, the homeless are the worst of sinners.

By being 'weak' and 'lazy' the homeless are acting in a manner that shows how weak their faith is. If they were faithful, worked hard and were strong, they wouldn't be homeless.

No society treats its sinners well.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

There was a "homeless" man who wandered around my town for a few decades. He lived in a garbage filled old car even though the state had given him a house, two new cars, and a few hundred thousand dollars. He was probably worth more than my father when he disappeared.

That's not lazy. Lazy would have just hung around the house all of the time. That's a man with problems. I never did understand that. Then again, I didn't lose my mind in foreign combat. Poor guy.

 

[Guest]

I wonder what kind of "What I did on my summer vacation" essay they'll be writing from juvenile hall....


It was thoughtful of them to take cellphone pictures and provide the police with evidence.

Or is this just another example of "YouTube" culture?

Very sad. And horrifying.

 

[SeaCat]

When I worked in a gas station in Mass. I dealt with a woman. Everyone called her the Bike Lady.

She traveled around on a bike. She gathered cans from dumpsters. She spent her days collecting trash into bags and leaving them on the side of the road. She was well known, and yet most people didn't know her. They looked on her with pity. She was attacked multiple times.

What most people didn't know was that the Bike Lady had multiple degrees. She had more money than the entire State. Her annual income from her inventions was more than the yearly Budget of the County. She owned properties in several states. All people saw of her was her traveling on her highly modified bike. They never saw where she went at night.

The Bike Lady lived in an RV that just blew my mind. She befriended me and we talked more than a bit. She brought me out to her RV one afternoon.

She chose to live in this manner. She enjoyed it in her own way. She had grown tired of the rat race and decided to withdraw from it.

All anyone saw of her was this badly dressed older woman on a bike. The never looked at the bike, nor did they ever see where she went at night.

Her RV was fully operational. Her RV was one of the largest I have ever seen. Inside it was comfortably urnished and had more than a couple book cases. (She didn't have a TV and she didn't want one.)

My wife and I could have easily lived in that RV, as she did.

All people saw of her was a homeless woman. They reviled her and some attacked her. Few knew her history or who she was.

She was an incredible woman. (Was because I haven't seen her in many years. or all I know she is still hanging around Hyannis and picking up cans.)

Cat