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.
Do what you gotta do. There is no excuse for this behavior. Race, class, whatever…these are a bunch of dumb kids.
A community that tolerates this by not speaking to the police as witnesses, not reporting incidents, and not pressing charges will reap the consequences. These kids (as a group) are bullies, and they need to be stood up to.
Hey Brownie-
The problem is you look like a victim. I agree with the above, put down the cell phone and learn how to throw a jab to the nose. One good jab and that mofo will be crying for his babby mama.
– The What
Some day this war will end …
Perhaps a group of thoe who have been mugged can get the police to visit the schools in the neighborhood and speak to students about the attacks. It seems that if these attacks are happening during the housrs you referenced, they are likely being committed by students in the area. Most of these kids no longer actually live in the area as prices have risen.
9:38-
You so tough! It’s not the movies, you’re not Kimbo Slice. You can take one or two punks but if there’s a group of them you’re gonna get knocked down and have your teeth kicked in — no matter how fuerte you think you are when you play Halo 3.
i agree – if any marauding teen confronts me, they are going down. i will not be held accountable for how many blows they receive, how many bruises they receive, how many teeth are knocked out – i for one give myself full liberty to wail if any of these hoodlums get’s in my face!
Get yourself a can of mace and when you turn around confront the bastard and mace his/her ass. They will be screaming and crying like little punks that they can not see and in pain.
no, no, you shouldn’t have walked across the street. You are meant to take a self-defense class and fight all of them, failing that you get down on the ground. Didn’t you see all that great advice on the clinton hill marauding gang thread?
I seem to remember Bernard Getz had a pretty good solution.