mlh122

I thought this was a wierd event I had never really thought of. These 2 commuters were attacked and beaten by a group of teenage girls.

https://www.katu.com/news/5184291.html

Great now I'm going to be weary of anyone waiting for a bus

GaryA

I responded to this in the NW section but couldn't hurt to bring more attention to this. I was hoping someone with the knowledge could coordinate a ride and all donations for participation could go to the two ladies. I think part of the route should be going past their house as well as going past the bike stop. I think a large number of cyclists might send a much needed message to the teenagers. Not a message of violence just a there are more of us then you think kind of message.

CommuterRun

I'd find a hungry attorney and be suing the shirts off the backs of some parents.

kjmillig

Since I hold a concealed carry license, the beating wouldn't have continued for long. Since I'm former military police, I've been trained on how to fire from akward positions, like lying on the ground. Please don't preach to me, it won't change anything. Random acts of violence piss me off, and I'd react in a calculted, trained manner, period.

scottmorrison99

They could have just as easily killed those women if the bystander hadn't intervened. Force should be met with force. You have a right to defend yourself instead of hoping they will not kill you.

GaryA

I still can't believe it was teen girls. Sometimes I think its about time for Earth to catch another asteroid.

Keith99

Is now the time to point out the teens in question were black and using racial slurs durring the attack?

donnamb 

So for those of you who don't live in the Portland area, I cannot adequately express how shocking this is. It's located across from a major medical center, and is a very busy bus stop on a busy road with an equally busy bike lane. It's the northbound road of a north-south couplet that is a significant route for both cars and bikes. I pass this stop at least twice a month by bike in work-related travel.

Generally speaking, it's a safe area so long as you don't have any gang-related business. I know lots of people in the area are expressing lots of opinions about what sparked it, but I'm thinking these girls are gang-affiliated, and this is spillover violence. I could very well be wrong, but it seems to have a lot of the signs, including being in a gang hotspot. The one community policing program that they cut to the bone here was the youth gang violence program. Interestingly, we seem to now see a resurgence of youth gang violence in Portland.

kjmillig

I'm appalled but not shocked. I teach ninth graders in SW Houston and this type of violence is not unheard of. It's amazing what teens/pre-teens are capable of when they follow the examples they see in the home, from peers, or on TV. This school year three of my students have been removed from school for felony drug possession/distribution and illegal weapons charges (ninth graders). What's also sad is that many of my students perpetuate the idea that if you don't get caught it's OK. You just gotta "take care yo' bi'ness." Many simply show no fear of authority and the justice system. For them it's just part of life.
Scottmorrison99, love your comments!
Kieth99, no, there's no excuse for it regardless of skin color, ethnicity, national background, or any other mark of seperation. I remind my students almost daily that there's only one race of people on this planet, Human. The Human Genome Project and the American Anthropological Association agree on that point. Let's let the lazy, outdated excuses to seperate ourselves from others go.
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END OF RANT!

randya

Story on BikePortland.org:

https://bikeportland.org/2007/01/14/c...gacy-hospital/

banerjek

I have a very simple theory.

Some people are bored morons who do things like this so they can pretend they have a life.

HereNT

I would hope that with your training and background, you would have no reason to resort to deadly force to overcome three teenage girls...

Just saying, you know?

randya

Yeah, but your theory could apply to like 99% of all human behavior....

cydisc

Gang culture is all about respect. These girls, if they are indeed gang affiliated, probably felt direspected by the white women on their fancy bikes invading their space.

o-dog

this kind of thing is happening in DC also, so much so that there was a City Paper article about it recently. this kind of thing will keep happening and spiral out of control unless citizens start fighting back.

lyeinyoureye

Yeah... Sure...

CommuterRun

That's why self-defense is not a Right, it's a Responsibilty.

If kjmillig's example were followed these punks would never again instigate an unprovoked attack.

eubi

Thank you. Yesterday was a day when we should remember that Dr. King spoke for all people.

LittleBigMan

My sympathies...

I was attacked on my bike by a group of three young men. It doesn't take much to knock a person off their bike. Steer clear of suspicious pedestrians (although standing by a bus stop is not suspicious at all, standing in the bike lane might be a red flag.) I have permanent scars from it.

I remember telling the policewoman who took information from me while I was bleeding at the scene that if the young men that attacked me and fled had come back, I would have forgiven them. Amazed that I was not spouting vengeful epithets, she later told my wife, she held back tears. I'm glad a bad thing had some positive effect on someone.

Maybe I was in a daze, but I like to think I was being honest.

RE: Dr. Martin Luther King--the best way to continue his legacy is forgiveness.

SingleSpeeDemon

Somehow the terms cracker and ***** don't really cut it for me as racial slurs.

nelson249

Not preaching but......... I have yet to see any weapon that can be operated in the event that the owner is rendered unconscious (like if you bashed your head on a curb etc.). All the training in the world would not stop the attackers from using your own gun to do you in. Just sayin'.

That being said, at least you have some very good training under your belt....

donnamb 

This is exactly what I think was going on.

fenester

When they're being spit out of the mouth of someone who's about to beat the crap out of you, they do the job just fine.

Keith99

Excuse? Hardly. I was thinking 100% the opposite. This was an unprovoked attack, seemingly based on race. What would happen if the skin colors had been reversed? Those teens belong in jail for a long time.

GaryA

So what does qualify as a racial slur towards white people? Or can white people even be on the receiveing end.