Enough With the Marauding Teenagers!
A couple of months ago as we were walking East on Greene Avenue between Waverly and Washington we noticed in our peripheral vision someone approaching fast from behind. When we spun around, it was a teenage boy, probably about 15 years old, who had crept up and was hovering inches from the back of our…
A couple of months ago as we were walking East on Greene Avenue between Waverly and Washington we noticed in our peripheral vision someone approaching fast from behind. When we spun around, it was a teenage boy, probably about 15 years old, who had crept up and was hovering inches from the back of our head mocking us provocatively to the clear delight of his jeering friends. Ever risk-averse, we quickly walked out into the middle of the street and starting dialing on our cell phone. With a few shouts, the pack continued down the block. We jogged back to a police car we had noticed parked back on Vanderbilt, told the cops what had happened and went home. The next day we heard that a woman had been mugged half an hour later a few blocks from there by a bunch of teenagers. We’ve heard of several similar instances in the area in recent weeks. And it’s not just Clinton Hill. A post on Brooklynian describes how a trio of teenage girls (19, 17 and 12) mugged five different people in Prospect Heights on Saturday night (and how only one of them decided to press charges) and an email we received yesterday told of a violent mugging of a twenty-something male by a group of boys at around 8:15 Monday night at Dekalb and South Oxford Street in Fort Greene (above). What can the community do to combat this activity? Obviously greater police presence would help, but given the paltry resources the NYPD devotes to this part of town, it’s going to take a lot of vigilance on the part of residents in terms of reporting even small incidents of harassment and pressing charges. And everyone should be aware that a lot of these muggings are happening during daylight hours, often between the end of school and dinner time, so it’s a good idea to minimize iPod and cell phone usage during those times. Please use this comment thread to document other similar incidents that you know about in recent months as well as to suggest ways to address the problem.
That’s right! Americans have a right to relocate to any nabe in the USA (including Bklyn) without any questions asked. if rents go up…so what else is new in life!?
Americans have been relocating all over the US from day one.
change happens everyday; again, what ever happen to the “It takes a Village”, proverp??? it’s all bullsh!t.
mugging ppl is a crime no matter which way you look at it.
Let the “Gentrification” continue!
More gentrification will solve this problem real quick!
again with the naysayer’s; somehow it’s someone relocating to NYC (Bklyn) from anywhere in “America”, are the blame for being mugged by so-called “black teens” with nothing else better to do; but create more hate to themselves!
Yeah…what about the so-called “Village” proverb; we always hear about??? How so-called nabe families are suppose to be watching out for the kids/teens. to me…it’s all BullSh!t!!! Let the “Gentrfication” continue.
Last Thursday I was walking home from the grocery store around 10:30pm. I was about 2 blocks from my house (on Lafayette and Clinton) when a group of kids (probably 13 or 14 yrs old) surrounded me, stole my ipod and tried to take my purse. I started yelling and making as much noise as possible and they scattered, but continued to verbally threaten me. I was surprised how aggressive they were. Thankfully my only injuries are a couple bruises and a sore neck.
I’ve never felt unsafe in this neighborhood and didn’t expected to be mugged by a group of kids… it was horrible. I didn’t call the police b/c all they got was my ipod and I didn’t think the police would take the time to track down a group of punk kids. But now that I know this is common in the area I’m going to report it and if any kids ever try this again they’re going to get slapped/maced in the face.
Last Thursday I was walking home from the grocery store around 10:30pm. I was about 2 blocks from my house (on Lafayette and Clinton) when a group of kids (probably 13 or 14 yrs old) surrounded me, stole my ipod and tried to take my purse. I started yelling and making as much noise as possible and they scattered, but continued to verbally threaten me. I was surprised how aggressive they were. Thankfully my only injuries are a couple bruises and a sore neck.
I’ve never felt unsafe in this neighborhood and didn’t expected to be mugged by a group of kids… it was horrible. I didn’t call the police b/c all they got was my ipod and I didn’t think the police would take the time to track down a group of punk kids. But now that I know this is common in the area I’m going to report it and if any kids ever try this again they’re going to get slapped/maced in the face.
Gentrification has created a lot of tension in these neighborhoods with white students and new residents the target for people to take out their frustrations of being disenfranchised out on.
This kids are VERY dangerous and confronting them physically will only get you hurt, if not killed. Do not provoke them and just get the hell out of the area fast and call the cops.
You are dealing with people who have no tolerance for being shown up in front of their peers and they will make you pay dearly for any perceived slight.
They have ABSOLUTELY NO respect for you or for human life and will not think twice of cutting you open right where you stand.
Be careful out there folks…
Less money for fake waterfalls on the water and more money for police in Brooklyn and more prisons for teenagers. Lock them up! Unlike fishing it shouldn’t be catch and release, more like catch and imprison!
the one-armed boy was actually the owner of a laptop that one of the kids had just stolen!
the one-armed dude was working on his laptop at bittersweet (coffee shop on dekalb between cumberland and carlton) and this young kid, 13 or so, came in and asked what time it was and then asked about using wireless internet in the coffee shop, and one-arm was nice and pleasant and telling him, and then bam! kid grabs the laptop and takes off through the park. the one-armed dude ran out after him (lost his flip flops in the process) and must have run into the group of kids in the park…
as soon as the kid grabbed the computer several people called the cops, so the fast response was probably do to that. from my vantage, in bittersweet, it seemed to take longer than five min.
we were speculating that it must have been a dare because there’s gotta be a better way to steal a computer. everyone in the coffee shop saw the kid do it, as did several neighbors and people walking on the street and in the park.
I just witnessed a group of about 10 teens in Ft Greene Park mug a one armed teen at about 1:30pm on Friday, June 27th. The police response was pretty impressive – less than 5 minutes after the one armed boy called 911 2 police cars showed up in the park. The cars patrolled the park and the surrounding area for some time. Not sure if they ever caught the kids.
All I can say is that this subculture of low income black americans is completely screwed up in ways beyond comprehension to any other group of Americans.
I do not believe it is racist to point out this problem – To do nothing about it is worse.
Posted by: guest at June 26, 2008 11:52 AM
Well said