Results tagged “crime”

Lately there's been a lot of brou-ha-ha over the use of the road. Spruce and Pine got some fancy new bike lanes just as reporting of bike-pedestrian accidents went to print. Now, the general hum of Philly hostility is increasing. Who gets to blow which stoplight, and which group gets to most egregiously flout the rules without consequences. Are bicyclists the worst because some idiots insist on riding with their headphones? Or are they the worst kind of scum because hipsters love their fixies? But what about cars? Aren't they the folks with the polluting and the South Philly Roll, the 2-ton death machines, cell phones, and lack of turn signals? And man, those pedestrians. They just walk out into traffic in front of everybody. Everyone hates them.

So, I'm siting in Rittenhouse Square with an out-of-town friend, and an angry middle aged dude suddenly rushes at an old homeless man. They're screaming, grabbing onto each other, shoving, and a trash can goes flying. And it seems like nobody else in the park notices.

How are you feelin' this morning, Philly? We're feeling a little banged-up, like maybe we drank a little too much and stayed up a little too late last night. Wonder how that could've happened...

This week, we have a real set of winners. You know how on the Titanic, as it was sinking to its cold, watery grave, women and children were protected first? Because that's how the disaster cookie crumbles. In times of need, society moves to protect those who are deemed the least able to provide their own rescue.

• Citizens in Philadelphia protest proposed state tax on the arts. We're sad this can't end in a teabag joke.
• Girard Ave. ramp off 95-N will be closed starting Monday. We were just lamenting that driving on 95 wasn't enough of a fustercluck already.
• Two men, with two critical injuries, drive for help. We dub thee, sirs, badass.

We know it's Labor Day weekend and all, but man, there's some bad juju going around the Philadelphia area today. Our Asshole of the Week was just the tip of the iceberg.

This week, our asshole's plans were foiled. This does not make him any less of an asshole, not even a little bit, but it does make his victim more fortunate than so many others in the city. Our TV-ready story goes like this: On Tuesday evening, around 7:30, a man with a black SUV parked at 16th and Market called to a young woman, a Temple student, passing by to help him get his baby tucked into the car-seat. She stopped to assist him, and he shoved her inside the car and locked the door. Once she's trapped inside, he threatens her with the handgun resting on the center console. The baby was just a doll. Then traffic stalled at the end of the block, and the woman forced the door open and escaped safely at 16th and JFK, to make it home unharmed.

I have a sort of Medicare attitude toward robbery. A lot of people I know have been held up for their wallets or had things lifted out of their apartments. For some, it was like an almost friendly business transaction--one fellow asked if he could get his driver's license back so he wouldn't have to stand in line at the DMV, and the thief acquiesced because nobody should have to suffer that hell. For others, it was simply terrifying.