Would You Belt Him?!

dahooligan · 04-11-2005 04:56PM #1

Yesterday I was waiting at the 16 bus stop on O'Connell st and this scumbag (maybe 14 or 15 with burberry cap et all) ran up, lit a blackcat banger and threw it across the road - it fell directly in the middle of O'connel st where a temporary pedestrian crossing was set up. So there was about 20 people in the near vicinty of the banger going off and someone could have seriously been hurt.

So, I'm there two mouthfuls into me newly purchased sandwich, looking around to see if anyone's gonna do anything - like try to catch the scumbag and march him down to the police st which was all of 20 yeards away. Noone moved, and I'd say there must've been a good 200 - 250 people milling about. So I grabbed him by the back of the neck and tried to move him down towrds the copper shop but one swift kick to my leg and he was gone runnin. Still no one moved to help or anything, and I was left standing feeling like a tool for even caring.

Other situations have happened like where I've gone over to help a woman who I thought was gettin battered but it turned out that it was her boyfriend and she took offense that I thought she was in trouble.

I'm just wondering if things like this are just going to be continued to be ignored? Someone could've been seriously hurt and the scummer thought he was deadly..

whacker4fun · 04-11-2005 04:59PM

its todays society,u cant take that risk of intervening,ive had the same thing happen to me in rows between couples.ur bestv 2 just stay outa it.

ratboy · 04-11-2005 05:03PM

the old vigilante spirit has dissapeared unfortunately, we are now an apathetic society.

Nimrod's Son · 04-11-2005 05:03PM

If it's over something realtively trivial, then best not to get involved. It'll only end in tears (your own most likely).

Firewalkwithme · 04-11-2005 05:05PM

I note that you say 'somebody could have been hurt' - well nobody was hurt except you for sticking you nose in! What did you think the guards were going to do? They would have laughed at you most likely. That swift kick probably saved you from that embaressment if it's any consolation.

juststoptalking · 04-11-2005 05:05PM

"belting" him would be assault so no.

Ruaidhri · 04-11-2005 05:07PM

Welcome to civilization!
Yeah, no matter how bad you think something is, you can’t afford to get involved, unless you know what the story is. Honestly, it's even dangerous to try help someone on the street if they are hurt. You leave yourself wide open to lawsuits, or other forms of backlash. It may not be fair, but what can you do?
I know of someone who used to do first aid / civil defence. They helped someone who fell down some stairs, waited with them for an ambulance etc. had a lawsuit against them claiming they damaged this person more by intervening.
As already pointed out numerous times, it's just not worth trying to help strangers, it'll just bite you in the ass.

ratboy · 04-11-2005 05:08PM

Despatch wrote:

I note that you say 'somebody could have been hurt' - well nobody was hurt except you for sticking you nose in! What did you think the guards were going to do? They would have laughed at you most likely. That swift kick probably saved you from that embaressment if it's any consolation.

Is that not a bad reflction on the guards rather than the lad who brought him down. Is anybody else fed up of little ****s who are running around without control. Someone could have been hurt, banger can blow off fingers.

Rb · 04-11-2005 05:09PM

whacker4fun wrote:

ur bestv 2 just stay outa it.

And you're best off learning to use proper English and not txtspk.

robinph · 04-11-2005 05:09PM

Despatch wrote:

What did you think the guards were going to do?

Hopefully charge him with discharging explosives in a public area. But I'd doubt it really.

Firewalkwithme · 04-11-2005 05:11PM

ratboy wrote:

Is that not a bad reflction on the guards rather than the lad who brought him down. Is anybody else fed up of little ****s who are running around without control. Someone could have been hurt, banger can blow off fingers.

Yes but nobody was hurt so what were the guards supposed to do about it? It would be a different story if there was an injury caused but there wasn't so in this case I'd say let it go and finish your sandwich.

whacker4fun · 04-11-2005 05:11PM

a bleedin loaf cud break ur nossseeeeeee rb ie.like wats d story wiv dat name????

dahooligan · 04-11-2005 05:13PM

Despatch wrote:

I note that you say 'somebody could have been hurt' - well nobody was hurt except you for sticking you nose in! What did you think the guards were going to do? They would have laughed at you most likely. That swift kick probably saved you from that embaressment if it's any consolation.

Ah here! So the banger could've gone off in someone's face, and because no one actually did get hurt then sure leave him on?! And if someone DID get hurt, what would you have suggested I do? Go over and sympathise with the person with no eyes and call the scumbag names?! Come on people! God knows how many times he did that all day like!

ratboy · 04-11-2005 05:13PM

Despatch wrote:

Yes but nobody was hurt so what were the guards supposed to do about it? It would be a different story if there was an injury caused but there wasn't so in this case I'd say let it go and finish your sandwich.

How are you suppose to stop a problem unless you halt it at root.

hullaballoo · 04-11-2005 05:13PM

Yes, the mass apathy bug strikes again.

It p!sses me off because people are entitled to intervene without being afraid of assault charges. It doesn't make too much sense to me that people don't band together when stuff like that's going on. I mean if 30 people grabbed yer man who threw the banger, he wouldn't have gotten away with it.

I just don't see why people are so averse to getting involved in stopping eejits like the banger boy. If he's only 15 or whatever, he couldn't put up too good a fight, and it might serve to nip that sort of "anti-social" behaviour in the bud, if only people took an interest.

jptk · 04-11-2005 05:15PM

I say fair play to you for trying to sort him out. If more people were like that there might be less random scumbag attacks

Firewalkwithme · 04-11-2005 05:17PM

These little scumbags know the law - you lay a finger for them and it's you who will be in the dock - not them.

At the end of the day there was no harm done except to the OP getting a kick which you could argue was in self defence.

Gaz25 · 04-11-2005 05:18PM

First of all fairplay to you for trying to march him to the cops very brave of you. I think the reason no one would help was for 2 reasons..the first being no one was hurt and i know someone could have being...The second is he is a little scumbag and not worth the hassle. I mean what would the cops do, tell him off? They dont do much as it is and are wase of are tax money.

I know from experience not to get involved in stuff like that anymore. I was walking back with a girl i was with from a nightclub once a saw some bloke bashing his dirlfriend, at the time i said it was none of mu business, but the girlfriend started to shout at me to go over. I ended up thumping the bloke in the face and broke his noise, but his girlfriend through a Hissey fit at me and called the cops, lucky i didn't get charged and was let of with a warning, but i have learnt my lesson and keep my distance from now.

The moral of this story is if no one else care's why should you?

ratboy · 04-11-2005 05:19PM

the problem is the public, the guards, the politicians ignore these scumbags to focus on the larger issue, the drug dealers and the gangs. Unfortunately, it's these little scumbags who grow into the bastards who run our 'pharmaceutical' business's so my policy would be to stop them early and stop them hard.

Royale with Cheese · 04-11-2005 05:22PM

You did the right thing by trying to bring him to the cops. Belting him yourself might have ended with you in a messy legal position. Let the cops do it for you, they probably knew the scumbag.

whacker4fun · 04-11-2005 05:22PM

cant we ALL just be friends.......???

lostexpectation · 04-11-2005 05:23PM

i reckon we should give the guards guns and let them shoot all scumbags on sight yeehawwww

Firewalkwithme · 04-11-2005 05:24PM

ratboy wrote:

the problem is the public, the guards, the politicians ignore these scumbags to focus on the larger issue, the drug dealers and the gangs. Unfortunately, it's these little scumbags who grow into the bastards who run our 'pharmaceutical' business's so my policy would be to stop them early and stop them hard.

I wish you ran the country ratboy, it would be some kind of Utopian police state.

hullaballoo · 04-11-2005 05:24PM

Despatch wrote:

These little scumbags know the law

Yet you, my friend, do not.

If someone is being attacked, you can defend them under self-defence.

If someone is committing a crime, you are entitled to stop them, or arrest them under self-defence. Here, the crime is, at a minimum, a breach of the peace--anyone would have been entitled to apprehend him.

joejoem · 04-11-2005 05:24PM

Best thing you could do if you really want to get involved is trip him. As he runs away stick your leg out. He snotts himself, a few people get a chuckle and youve done your bit.

Im proud of what you did though, well done. Good intentions and all.

Firewalkwithme · 04-11-2005 05:27PM

hullaballoo wrote:

Yet you, my friend, do not.

If someone is being attacked, you can defend them under self-defence.

If someone is committing a crime, you are entitled to stop them, or arrest them under self-defence. Here, the crime is, at a minimum, a breach of the peace--anyone would have been entitled to apprehend him.

Sorry but the OP suggested giving the lad a belt for what he did - that was not apprehending someone, or self defence since nobody was actually attacked.

ratboy · 04-11-2005 05:28PM

hullaballoo wrote:

Yet you, my friend, do not.

If someone is being attacked, you can defend them under self-defence.

If someone is committing a crime, you are entitled to stop them, or arrest them under self-defence. Here, the crime is, at a minimum, a breach of the peace--anyone would have been entitled to apprehend him.

I'm pretty sure if you hit a kid a belt, no matter what the circumstances, the police will come down pretty hard on you, if not, his da will get the lads in to teach you a lesson you won't forget in a hurry.

whacker4fun · 04-11-2005 05:30PM

trip him is a good idea,bring him down to the leveol he should be at.

whacker4fun · 04-11-2005 05:30PM

then stand on his head.

whacker4fun · 04-11-2005 05:31PM

no neck actually.

dahooligan · 04-11-2005 05:32PM

Gaz25 wrote:

I mean what would the cops do, tell him off? They dont do much as it is and are wase of are tax money.

I know the Raz probably would've waited till I turned the corner and then sent scummer on his merry way, but still..! Ah and I know this issue has probably been kicked to death and brought with it the whole vigilante movement etc. But it would make ya wanna hire a transit for a weekend and go round with golf clubs but sure where'l that get us?!

Frustration!:mad:

And I only did the headline as a means of getting peeps to read the thread. Nothing like a sensational headline..

Would You Belt Him?!

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