Last Thursday, a homeless man told police that his friend demanded that he buy them some crack. When the man told his pal that he didn't want to, the "friend" beat the man with a pipe. The Star reports that after beating the man to the ground, the assailant tried to steal the wounded man's wallet and backpack. But the man refused to yield his stuff. That's pretty impressive because police found the victim with four gashes on his head. The paper notes that at the hospital, doctors had to shave the man's head to look for additional injuries. The so-called friend — can friendships survive pipe beatings? — fled the scene.
In another case, Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced Sunday that she had charged Paul Rockey with assault for allegedly stabbing a man over a loaf of bread Saturday night. According to charging documents, the victim and Rockey were arguing inside a house at 637 Brighton Avenue late Saturday night, when Rockey is said to have shoved the victim against the wall, pulled a knife out of his waistband and stabbed the victim twice in the chest.
The Star reports that the man who owns the house allows homeless people to crash there and that the victim and Rockey are homeless. Police told the paper that the fight was over bread that the victim thought "was contaminated by cockroaches." This led Rockey to suspect that the victim had "tampered with his food, so he allegedly stabbed him." Surprising nobody, the police think Rockey was drunk at the time of the stabbing. He was arrested at the scene. The victim is recovering.
Showing 1-1 of 1
This is sad, but in a way the biggest laugh of the year! Do people believe that these are the only instances? The homeless do not call the police usually. I can recount many instances of this over the last 10 years that I have lived in Mid-Town. Beatings, stabbings, theft and property damage are common and not even remarkable here. This would include the "marginally homeless", where the violence happens during a short period that the person has housing *at that time*, but is chronically homeless. If the police tracked each time that they found one of the homeless with bruises, cuts and abrasions, this item would not be news at all. It is another case of the poor having no voice and nobody to stand up for them.
like
dislike
