Comments on: Kensington Street Justice Is Oh So Real

By: panjo

panjo — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 00:11:10 +0000

poverty is not excuse an to be an animal. I commend the people the who beat this scumbag to an inch of his life. I hope it sends a message that the poor do not have to accept rape, murder, drugs and prostitution in their neighborhoods. Get behind me devil. and all you square rimmed four eyed train riding prius drivers can go fuck yourselves.

By: dx

dx — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:54:43 +0000

this just in via philly.com:

The Fraternal Order of Police offered $10,000 to anyone who could help get Carrasquillo into custody by 5 p.m. yesterday. Carrasquillo was apprehended about an hour earlier.
Last night, FOP president John McNesby said two Kensington residents who helped apprehend Carrasquillo were going to receive the reward. “They stepped up big time,” he said.

once again, the FOP does the “rule of law” proud.

By: dx

dx — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:01:21 +0000

“I was saying, ‘He wants to rape babies? Kill him!’” said Linda Steeves who watched the mob scene from her front porch. “Everybody was applauding.”

dude was put in critical condition, on a breathing machine. had the cops not arrived when they did, he would probably be dead. and these people would have been proud of themselves. but ya know what? the victim in the attack couldn’t even ID him. she told the police a description of him that didn’t match the post-rape video footage they had of him. so we don’t even need to go far out on a limb here to assume it’s possible they got the wrong guy.

and even if not, at the end of the day, thou shalt not kill applies to us all.

the people who attacked this man are guilty of assault and attempted murder. i don’t see how that makes any of them any better than the man they attacked, even if he ends up being guilty.

By: annie

annie — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:57:03 +0000

I was taught that 2 wrongs don’t make a right. Yes the crime was heinous. Yes, I’m proud the community captured the alleged suspect. But beating the man within an inch of his life? It doesn’t change what happened to that little girl and it’s just not right.

By: jrpettit

jrpettit — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:27:50 +0000

I can’t say what exactly it is statistically, but over and over again you hear that a HUGE amount of gun violence and homicide in the city is retaliatory in nature. It’s just another form of vigilante justice. If Nutter and company are ok with that assault, they might as well be cool with the 300+ homicides every year.

That said, the philly.com commenters set finally got a heartwarmer.

By: sunnyonesotrue

sunnyonesotrue — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:10:17 +0000

They should be charged either way. Just because someone deserves a beat down doesn’t make it OK for citizens(or police for that matter) to deliver one with impunity. What if they’d wound up killing the guy? What if the cops had been caught doing the exact same thing? Ramsey and Nutter are putting politics before professionalism and should be ashamed of themselves.

By: conorcorcoran

conorcorcoran — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:04:35 +0000

Pardon me, people -

If you believe in justice and the concept of innocent until proven guilty, then street justice is its counterpoint, an abhorrent characteristic of a degradated society. There’s nothing semi-good about it.

If you feel some kind of relief or project some sort of joy or positivity regarding this suspect’s beating by these people, then you, too, are part of the problem.

The legal system and due process are the very hallmarks of civilization. Shame on Nutter, Ramsey, and anyone else who lauds otherwise, in any fashion.

By: Larry

Larry — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:54:00 +0000

Woah. Didn’t know it was that bad.

Well… if they aren’t charged, look for a lawsuit.

By: ride1076

ride1076 — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:42:29 +0000

Larry, they put him in critical condition. As one of the guys put it “he had a hole in his head”.

By: Larry

Larry — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:15:57 +0000

philthydan: Kensington, by most accounts, is already a war zone, largely because people don’t call the police when something happens due to a feeling that the police don’t care there. So by them retaliating… well, its actually a semi-good thing.

I don’t fully enjoy the message Ramsey and Nutter are sending by not charging them, but… well, how badly was he hurt? How long did the beating go on? If it was more-or-less to detain him until the police arrived, I think its one of those “better safe than sorry” things.

If anything, I wouldn’t be shocked if he tries to sue the “attackers” down the line.