Good samaritan in Edmonton called a "Rat" by a thug for doing the right thing: helping a woman allegedly hit by her boyfriend
Friday, August 3, 2007
This blog is in response to a thug threatening and calling me a "rat" and telling me to stay away from the Old Strathcona gazebo, even off of Whyte Ave. last Wednesday evening at about 8:00 P.M. in Old Strathcona(Edmonton's trendy shopping district), Edmonton.
I went to the gazebo to give my empties to some bottle pickers. All of a sudden this skinny white man about 19 years old with a pony tail or a tuft of hair hanging down in the middle, shaved sides, and in black jeans started yelling. "That's the guy. He's a rat! He phoned the cops. How about I come and knock off your glasses"! I said "I don't know what you are talking about" because I'm still not 100 % sure we are talking about the same incident or at least understand what happened. Then I said "The guy in that incident allegedly hit his girlfriend". A girl beside the guy then said "I thought you said you didn't know anything. You don't get involved". (I'm still shocked any woman would tell me not to intervene if another woman is being beaten by her boyfriend.) I didn't have a chance to say anymore than that because the guy stalked me away from the gazebo before saying "Are you going to tell the cops what I just said you rat". I finally just said "Hey, you don't hit your girlfriend."
I couldn't explain the incident in the park, at least not without being threatened, so here it is:
This incident happened about 3 months ago in the same location. I was coming out of the library, and 2 men walking beside me said "He just hit her.", and one of them phoned the police. I didn't see the actual hitting, but I joined the 2 in a citizen's arrest right away. The guy we arrested was resisting arrest the whole time, and wiggling so much, he broke a window in the Strathcona Farmers Market. Another woman was talking to the police on her cell phone the whole time, and the woman who was allegedly hit ran off. We were in front of the Youth Drop-In, and a bunch of youths from there walked over to us. They wanted to know what was happening. I said "He's under arrest for allegedly hitting his girlfriend. The police are coming".
I thought at that point great, they will help us. I was wrong. They told us to let him go; possibly, they knew him. One blond girl started yelling very emotionally "Just let him go". One guy with medium length black hair and dark complexion, probably native, said "If the police weren't coming, I'd punch every one of you". I said "Don't do anything stupid". One guy who I thought looked like Donnie Walberg of New Kids on the Block told me "If you don't let him go, I'm going to hit you." I recognized him from going to the Whyte Ave Warm Up Centre. I did let go, but at least I was able to face the youths making the threats. The other 2 guys kept holding on to the suspect no matter what they said.
Then the police came. The emotional blond girl told the police "They were beating him up.", which was a load of crap. I got mad and said "He was under arrest and was resisting the whole time. We did not manhandle him or hit him. A woman was on her cell phone with the police the whole time, so why not just calmly wait." The Donnie Walberg look alike came over, and I was mad at him too for telling me let the suspect go or he was going to hit me, so I told the police officer what he had said to me. The police officer asked the guy "Did you threaten anyone? Do you have any warrants?" I said to him in front of the police officer "I told you we arrested that guy for allegedly hitting his girlfriend, and you told me 'If you don't let him go, I'm going to hit you.'"
The recent news story showing a 90ish WWII veteran being punched in the head while being car-jacked showed a bunch of witnesses standing around like imbeciles, not even calling the police. I cannot live with my conscience if I do that, so I stuck my neck out and got involved, so I do not deserve to be called a rat for helping stop a woman from possibly being beaten.
This idea that we should not call the police is ridiculous. What else could we 3 do legally with the suspect? If we don't use police, then we all have to give up the rule of law and use vigilante justice, which would be far worse. I'll give these thugs their gazebo, but I am not going to be ordered by them to stay off of Whyte Ave. People cannot be expected to do a citizen's arrest with a bunch of thugs threatening them to stop. I have nothing to be ashamed of, and I am going to post this message in the Youth Drop-In in Old Strathcona, Edmonton, where most of the thugs came from.
Well good luck, and definetly spread the word. Men, stupid men, look at hitting women in a different way. In jail, you will no longer go to PC if you get brought in for woman abuse. It is considered 'normal' now. Silly eh?
Another thing that confuses me is, when I was in Ottawa, on 2 occasions, I saw street guys go after a guy for allegedly hitting a woman, so how come I'm being given a hard time?
Really it just depends on the woman abusers that you meet, and the friends that they keep and the people that surround them. Thats basically it. My boyfriend and I got into a fight and we went to jail for a couple nights coz the cops charged us. Anyways, he said that the guys in his jail cell were like, "why didn't yo beat the shit out of her??" and stuff like that. Isn't that sick and fucking twisted???
I appreciate that you did someting at all... personally I would not call the police for anything (no really, ANYTHING).
Excuse me?? THIS just shows how screwed up the thinking is on the streets-the "bum mentality" as I call it. And these idiots WONDER WHY their lives are all screwed up and they are all strung on drugs and in trouble with crime and cops/courts etc and the world is like a living nightmare horror show come true? What a JOKE this is PATHETIC! People slit their own throats and mess up their own lives (DONT Blame ANYone else) if they follow these twisted utterly sociopathic and senseless "street code" stupid rules like "you don't phone the cops?!" no matter how mistreated/hurt you are or much danger you are in or even your life could be at risk?! ya, what DO you do then?! Whats the alternative-just keep letting it happen? and get worse? who's gonna stop it?! it aint legal for me as a citizen to do anything! things would get way more outta control, bad enuff as it is if poeple took law into own hands (Love this bumper sticker THE ONLY REASON SOME POEPLE ARE STILL ALIVE IS BECAUSE IT IS ILLEGAL TO SHOOT THEM). And people wonder why society is getting more violent, bad to worse -cuz we are letting people do this to us-as if we cant help it-by controlling thru anger, intimidation, fear, pity, guilt, etc-and no one wants to stop it (doing nothing is still doing something) and it continues cuz people can see what they can get away with-so they try to get away with more and more. look wat happens when one does stand up to bullies and criminals?! like its the wrong thing to do?! Of course not! There is absolutely NO logic or sense to this. YOU DO THE RIGHT THING AND IT IS STILL CONSIDERED WRONG-WELL WHATS THE ALTERNATIVE?! You get rewarded with bad and Crapped on for doing good and the Right thing, cuz then if you do nothing, everyone else (all us SANE REASONABLE, LOGICAL people, will be wondering why and angry you didnt stand up for what is right and let this "thing" get away with hitting the chick-nevermind what he does in private where no one can see?! As if! Ya you totally did the right thing this generation is sick and twisted and crooked. If stuff like this doesnt scare you, it should! gotta DO something about it. It is when I have stood up to bullies and not let myself be intimidated/threatened and they find the fear tactics don't work is when i am left alone-and i never threatened anyone OR raised a fist-I raised my VOICE and a Pen (My Words Are Weapons). There are still good people out there-find them and band together -protection in numbers-most people still have conscience left to appeal to-and don't take crap from anyone-STAY AWAY from these psychopaths IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU SAY/DO to appeal to their conscience-they Dont have one! THEY ARE UNREASONING, LIKE ANIMALS, JUST existing TO BE TRAPPED AND KILLED-cuz they are in their way of thinking! this is why they are so dangerous...they have extremely high self esteems and opinions of themselves, thinking they are always right-so whatever is wrong they change to see them as right, or victims etc-in their minds (ya i know the irony) to compensate for their lacks they control by whatever necessary, including extreme violence fear/intimidation to force "respect" cuz their lives are so out of control and really do they way they live their lives even earn them any respect? no! (not real respect-easy to confuse true respect with fear) and demand it and if you "dis" them and hit their tiny little minds inflated by huge egos then you could have serious injury or killed-plus most are on drugs so then there are NO LIMITS to what they can do to hurt another THEY ARE CAPABLE OF ANYHTING there is no conscience/restraint holding them back. its a risk just writing this! but i will anyways.
and that brainless girl screaming "let him go!" Shes just a complete moron! is she deaf and blind?! That makes me mad cuz this sets womens rights back so far...undoing all the work other women are doing to Stop violence to them and making women look bad!
This is how a bully operates: they will try to do what they can get away with, they wont try it if they know they cant get away with it-they are all cowards, what else can i say? cant use their brains just their fists???
good for you and the other men for taking action and not being intimidated by a bunch of cowardly bullies! dont take crap and abuse from Anyone! watch your back I recommend the book "the gift of fear survival signals that protect us from violence" Gavin De Becker and "Strong on Defense"...author last name Strong-read it, it could save ur life or someone elses!!
also, speaking for myself as an abused person, I would put responsibility on the WOMAN as well that she NOT go back to this creep who hit her-it obviously his actions show louder what he is about (even the description of what he looks like-stereotypes develop for a reason-though NOT true in All cases-just MOST) and he doesnt treat her with an ounce of respect-but what do so many women do, with so little self esteem, thinking they can not do better (like me) or thinking that these go-nowhere losers will magically "change" (even though the chick, by letting him treat her like crap however he feels like and she still stays with him and THEREFORE ACCEPTS HIS HURTFUL BEHAVIOUR-BY NOT STOPPING IT, so there is no reason to change...I said sarcastically to abusers 'well you must not treat her and she must not treat you that badly cuz after all, she still Comes Back to you! and you still go back to her!')? its the pull to Keep going back - WHATEVER YOU DO, DONT! the girl is just as responsible as the guy, I d be confused as a man if the girl i was with just let me do whatever i wanted then suddenly said it wasnt ok, then did something about it, then didnt, then did, then just let it continue-sending mixed messages-its like "why could i get away with it before and not now? Whats so different? " and "well she's letting me do it and not saying/doing anything different so it must be ok" when of course its NOT-the way the woman acts makes it so easy for the man to justify his behaviour! The woman has to show the man the difference in abusive and non abusive behaviour demonstrated by way she lets him treat her-be steadfast, unmovable boundaries! i dont know, if I get the urge to hit someone, it is because I am angry for a good reason and they really hurt me and I HATE the person, NOT to show I love them!! if I really loved a girl, WHY would I hit her!?? Great way to show my love?! of course not (is it backwards day?! dont get it twisted)!
...like this...shame on you fool me once, shame on me fool me twice...responsibility for abuse lies with BOTH persons in any kind of relationship
...vote with your FEET-LEAVE!!! your Better Off Alone!
im totally in agreeance with stepping in slash getting involved if a person is getting harassed, beat up, bothered or anything there and in between. it shows good character AND courage. however, in this 'not so perfect' world that we live in, abuse happens. and, it happens a lot. to men and women alike. i cant count the times that ive been attacked and no one, out of hundreds of passer bys, stepped in and made themselves an interferance. unfortunatly, many men and women that are abused will stick up for their abuser at all costs, whether the reason is fear of another attack, fear of a backlash from the police, or simply because they cant stand to think that they'd be alone if they did do something. again, i totally agree with you stepping in and helping out, but sometimes theres only so much we can do, unless the abused person wants to help themselves as well.
KUDOS TO YOU!!!
-robyn
its all up to whom the abuser hangs out with.
a little story...
a friend and myself were walking down gottingen st. in halifax when we saw this guy totally kicking the crap outta this girl, that we assumed was his girlfriend. we intervened right away, my friend holding the guy back and myself, calling the police. the police arrived in record time (because halifax is an amazing city, aha) and restrained all of the parties, including my friend. we began to explain the situation, when the girl that was getting beat jumped in and told the police that we attacked her and her boyfriend from behind and tried to rob them!!!!! low and behold, the girl charged us with assault and she, undoubtedly, went home with her boyfriend, who prolly beat her again that night.
some people have a conscience, and some people don't.
-robyn
A rat is someone who goes to the cops for every little crime taking place, even it is a petty thing like two guys smoking dope on a park bench....what this man did, was try to save a woman's life!! A rat gets paid by the cops on a regular basis and does the ratting without any conscience, he or she would rat out their best friend for something so small and insignifigant, it is kind of wasting the cops time really. But stopping abuse isnt ratting, the police are SUPPOSED to help when someone is in danger or threatened, not be used to make a living off. So kudos to you for trying to help that woman, calling the police was the right thing to do, that is what the police are FOR. to save lives, and help the victims!! NOW as for the woman turning around and telling you all to let her boyfriend 'go', I am so glad you didnt and stuck it out with the citizens arrest, that asshole belongs in a jail cell where perhaps he can learn about abuse, the HARD WAY cuz thats the only way a guy like that can learn anything. It is a shame that so many women opt into going back with the abusers, because the truth of it is, the cops cannot really do much except hold the abuser for 24 hours without the woman pressing charges. so yes you did the right thing, but the cops are kind of, powerless to hold him. But in essense, the police's job is to help the victim, and the victim also has the responsibility to persue the charges and put the scums of the earth where they belong. that's what jail is for, for abusive woman beating losers. NO this isnt a case of ratting at all. If anyone were a rat, they wouldnt care about the feelings of victims or women, because real rats phone the cops about anyone they dont like, and dont care what it will do to otherwise innocent people. Rats are causing the over filling of jails, so the REAL abusers get turned back onto the streets so soon, because there's no room for them behind all the petty criminals locked up in there due to the rat's ratting.
SO IN CONCLUSION: good job. Society doesnt have many good samaritans left, if it were me being beaten up by someone i would THANK the person who phoned the police, and I WOULD PRESS CHARGES TOO.