Jennifer Porter vindicated

[Novaheart]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/motorist-beaten-mob-critical-condition-23200319

Two Detroit teenagers were arrested Saturday in an attack on a suburban man who was brutally beaten by a mob after accidentally striking a boy with his pickup truck.

Investigators believe the 17-year-old and 16-year-old males had a direct role in the beating of Steve Utash, said Sgt. Mike Woody, a Detroit police spokesman.

Utash remained in critical condition Saturday, three days after the attack on the city's east side.

Woody said no charges would be immediately filed against the teens while investigators continue their work. Police believe at least six people may have been involved.

"We still have a long way to go. I've been reminding people we're still at the very beginning stage of this investigation," the sergeant said.

[Adam]

I had to go look up Jennifer Porter. I'm not sure that this is necessarily a "vindication," only because she claimed that she was on "autopilot," rather than fearing having the shit beat out of her by a bystanding mob.

Still, I read this story today and was just horrified. The poor man apparently (at least according to the cops and, as far as I can tell, everyone else involved) struck the child completely by accident and indeed the situation was un-avoidable. And yet this mob of out-of-control hooligans just beat him to a pulp while he was trying to render aid to a child. Utterly unspeakable.

This is why Detroit is a gigantic cesspool. Thank God they at least have a chief of police who is wisely telling people to arm themselves. That's the only defense against mobs like this.

[Gingersnap]

This has become a recurring theme: kid causes an accident and the driver is beaten by a local mob. It's horrifying.

When did we decide as a culture that rule of law is old fashioned? This is what uneducated and emotion-fueled mobs in third world countries do when they have no hope of justice. In this country, a guy hits a pedestrian and someone snaps a pic of his license plate, the police investigate, and the guy is either charged or not. If he isn't charged it's because it was an accident.

Not because he was a white-looking "something". Not because of endemic racism among police. Not because the social "we" doesn't care about kids.

Sometimes an accident is just an accident.

[Novaheart]

I had to go look up Jennifer Porter. I'm not sure that this is necessarily a "vindication," only because she claimed that she was on "autopilot," rather than fearing having the shit beat out of her by a bystanding mob.

Still, I read this story today and was just horrified. The poor man apparently (at least according to the cops and, as far as I can tell, everyone else involved) struck the child completely by accident and indeed the situation was un-avoidable. And yet this mob of out-of-control hooligans just beat him to a pulp while he was trying to render aid to a child. Utterly unspeakable.

This is why Detroit is a gigantic cesspool. Thank God they at least have a chief of police who is wisely telling people to arm themselves. That's the only defense against mobs like this.

Jennifer Porter maintained that she didn't stop because it was dangerous to do so.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hit-and-run-teacher-charged/

The hit and run law was crafted with a highway or country road in mind. It was supposed to punish a driver who didn't stop and render assistance in a time and place where he might be the only person to know that someone is injured.

Unfortunately, there is now a bill in the Florida legislature to punish a person who leaves the scene to the same degree that would be the case if he hit someone while driving drunk. The objective is to prevent people who are drunk from hiding out for a day or two before confessing to the accident.

There needs to be a "closest safe place" provision so that a person can avoid being attacked by a mob while still making himself available to police.

[gary m]

This is a big story around here.
They have surveillance camera video that shows the kid http://www.freep.com/article/2014040...kup-in-Detroit clearly jumping in front of the truck.
Almost looks like he was daring the truck to hit him.

What you will not find in almost any national coverage of this incident is that people that beat this driver nearly (and still possibly) to death is that they also robbed him after beating him. They also beat on him for a while, stopped, and then went back at least once and started in again. You will also not find the ethnicity of the attackers.

The fact that the usual ordained race baiters are not on every national news outlet decrying this attack, or even acknowledging it happened should give us a clue.

[phillygirl]

Jennifer Porter maintained that she didn't stop because it was dangerous to do so.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hit-and-run-teacher-charged/

The hit and run law was crafted with a highway or country road in mind. It was supposed to punish a driver who didn't stop and render assistance in a time and place where he might be the only person to know that someone is injured.

Unfortunately, there is now a bill in the Florida legislature to punish a person who leaves the scene to the same degree that would be the case if he hit someone while driving drunk. The objective is to prevent people who are drunk from hiding out for a day or two before confessing to the accident.

There needs to be a "closest safe place" provision so that a person can avoid being attacked by a mob while still making himself available to police.

I'm only going by memory, but I'm pretty certain there is that provision, either as a defense or written into some statutes. It makes sense.

[Adam]

Apparently, this is how you placate people while avoiding the truth.

The sixteen-year-old, charged as a juvenile, will get charged with a hate crime. That, of course, is completely meaningless because in two years, it all gets expunged anyway and he is released on his eighteenth birthday, so the "enhancement" is utterly meaningless.

The three others, aged 17, 24, and 30, will not get charged with a hate crime, even though they were all engaging in the same crime at the same time.



Well, that will keep Rev. Rat Squad from coming and setting up shop, I guess.

[Novaheart]

Apparently, this is how you placate people while avoiding the truth.

The sixteen-year-old, charged as a juvenile, will get charged with a hate crime. That, of course, is completely meaningless because in two years, it all gets expunged anyway and he is released on his eighteenth birthday, so the "enhancement" is utterly meaningless.

The three others, aged 17, 24, and 30, will not get charged with a hate crime, even though they were all engaging in the same crime at the same time.



Well, that will keep Rev. Rat Squad from coming and setting up shop, I guess.

James D. Davis, 24; Wonzey Saffold, 30, and Bruce Wimbush Jr., 17, were also charged in the attack with assault with intent to murder and assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder. All three are due back in court April 21.

Those are pretty serious charges. I don't know what will come of it once no one is paying attention. These things often don't get the level of punishment you would expect. In DC, Robert Hannah attacked a man outside a gay bar and in true DC fashion was charged with "assault" and got six whole months in jail… even though the man died from his head hitting the pavement as the direct result of being sucker punched.

Maybe the good people of suburban Detroit need to pay a visit to that neighborhood, with bulldozers.

[Adam]

James D. Davis, 24; Wonzey Saffold, 30, and Bruce Wimbush Jr., 17, were also charged in the attack with assault with intent to murder and assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder. All three are due back in court April 21.

Those are pretty serious charges. I don't know what will come of it once no one is paying attention. These things often don't get the level of punishment you would expect. In DC, Robert Hannah attacked a man outside a gay bar and in true DC fashion was charged with "assault" and got six whole months in jail… even though the man died from his head hitting the pavement as the direct result of being sucker punched.

Maybe the good people of suburban Detroit need to pay a visit to that neighborhood, with bulldozers.

I don't disagree that they're serious charges, but it's all the same crime. Either it's a hate crime or it isn't.

What the Warren County prosecutor is doing here is triangulating. He gets to say that he did charge someone with a hate crime, but he also gets to dodge the wrath of the professionally-offended by not charging the adults with hate crimes, thus rendering the hate crime charge against the juvenile meaningless. If he were actually honest, he would either charge everyone involved with a hate crime (much more honest), or at least charge the 16-year-old as an adult if he somehow believes that he's the only one who committed a hate crime.

[Adam]

Utash is out of his medically-induced coma.

“Today when I asked him how old he is he said ‘I’m two years old’ but he did know his name,” the 26-year-old Warren resident says in the post. “He does keep saying, ‘I don’t want to die, I’m sorry’ and ‘please don’t let me forget you’ He also keeps flashing back to the assault screaming for ‘HELP’ and ‘PLEASE GET THEM OFF ME’

Christ, that must be incredibly scary for him.

[Gingersnap]

When a culture supports rule of law, all people can be equally assured of justice and mercy. What we have now is a 1950s style racial crazy except it's white people who advocate for equality and black or Hispanic people who go with their "gut" when meting out justice.

If it wasn't fair, right, or morally justifiable in 1951 to beat down some black guy who hit a white kid in the street, it's not any of that today.

Everybody needs to abide by rule of law. Not just white suburbanites or Brooklyn hipsters. It needs to be applicable to everyone regardless of skin tone or religion or sex or whatever.