Brian D'Amico and WTBU report somebody was punched and stabbed on Pleasant Street at Browne tonight. Police are looking for two men, both about 6' tall, wearing knit caps over their faces and fleece pullovers.
BU Today reports the victim, 30, is a postdoctoral fellow at BU Medical School and that his two stab wounds were both superficial.
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I will never understand the reasoning behind
By Brian Riccio
Tue, 01/29/2013 - 9:31pm
anyone not giving up an iPad to someone who will obviously kill you for it.
An iPad of all fucking things.
It may seem silly.
By Boston_res
Tue, 01/29/2013 - 9:57pm
Who really knows the whole story though? That person could have had their thesis on that thing, photos of a relative who recently died, a link to banking information, and who knows whatever else.
Also silly....
By merlinmurph
Wed, 01/30/2013 - 7:48am
If the loss of your iPad means you will lose any of those things you mention as well as other valuable material, you're being the silly one.
Anyways, who knows what really happened. Thieves generally are not in a negotiating mood when in the act, and tend to overreact with just the slightest bit of resistance. I'm not sure what I'd do.
Maybe didn't get the chance to hand it over?
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 01/29/2013 - 10:13pm
Sometimes people punch and stab first, then grab whatever they can. It may have been in a bag or pack that they grabbed while punching and stabbing the guy.
Not all muggers give warning and a chance to hand something over.
Two simple words
By Will LaTulippe
Tue, 01/29/2013 - 11:41pm
Sting. Op. Find a young looking cop, have him pace around with an iPad, hide another cop in the bushes ready to pounce.
This area is clearly becoming a hot spot for crime.
Please. I lived a block away
By riggs not logged in
Wed, 01/30/2013 - 8:45am
Please. I lived a block away for five years. This is one of the better patrolled areas of Brookline.
Agreed but...
By Sally
Wed, 01/30/2013 - 9:23am
Read the news. There have been a ton of muggings, robberies right in this spot which yes--seems insane--but the very peaceful nature of it may be the exact reason that people feel safe strolling here at night with their valuables. Some folks seems ready to take advantage of that.
St. Paul Street?
By erik g
Wed, 01/30/2013 - 9:02am
ST. PAUL STREET IN BROOKLINE is a hot spot for crime? You, uh, may want to steer clear of anyplace south of Route 9 for a while.
This place should be called "Illiteracy Hub"
By Will LaTulippe
Wed, 01/30/2013 - 1:50pm
There was a trio of black kids going after people in the area in the fall, and just last week, Adam reported on a trio of crimes in the same area, IIRC.
Arrests made n all of those right?
By Pete Nice
Wed, 01/30/2013 - 7:00pm
And one Quincy junkie still on the large?
"The BUPD is urging people to avoid the area"
By Matthew
Wed, 01/30/2013 - 10:42am
That's just brilliant. So the people who live there and cannot "avoid the area" will be even more isolated the next time the muggers show up. The thugs couldn't have planned it better themselves!
BUPD
By anon
Wed, 01/30/2013 - 11:25am
sends out an emergency alert telling people to avoid the area for awhile after every tiny crime.
They seem to not understand that crime isn't a broken water main or a traffic jam, which you can avoid until the police correct the situation. Crimes are committed and criminals flee- avoiding the area for a few hours does nothing except mollify parents.
Its time for BU to front the
By anon
Wed, 01/30/2013 - 12:42pm
Its time for BU to front the cost of making the campus safer. I think they should install the Blue Light system in the area surrounding the campus.
blue light emergency boxes
By anon
Wed, 01/30/2013 - 1:47pm
As a resident of this neighborhood, I can attest that there ARE two blue light boxes on Browne Street. Unfortunately, neither were close to this incident. Additionally, a mugging occurred right next to a blue light last year... not much help.
It's not the campus
By anon
Wed, 01/30/2013 - 2:25pm
That area is half a mile off campus.
It's agreed; suggesting that people avoid the area doesn't work
By anon
Thu, 01/31/2013 - 5:03am
It is okay, however, for the BUPD to advise people to be a bit more cautious when walking around at night.
This is getting ridiculous
By anon
Wed, 01/30/2013 - 1:06pm
Brookline and the area around BU IS NOT a high violent crime area. Boston area is SAFER than places like Philly, Baltimore, D.C., parts of NYC, yes, even neighborhoods south of 110th st in Manhattan, and don't even start some of the smaller more decrepit cities like Yale's hometown. This is a big city so yes, surprise, there's all kinds here including thugs, druggies, hustlers and petty criminals. And there are FAR MORE dangerous and violent areas in Boston and the metro area, but 99% of BU students and tourist are highly unlikely to visit them. And just because your street/neighborhood looks like a cute version of Sesame St or Mr. Roger's neighborhood it's still not a theme park or movie set. These folks are being targeted because they're known to carry desirable sh*t. And many are known to act oblivious to their surrounding, have their head buried up their smart phone, and are not likely to put up a fight. It's like a bank robber robs banks because that's where the money is.
I perused the WTBU forum posts and what struck me the most is the sense of entitlement and naivete... not including any troll posts. Especially coming from those who claimed to have lived in London, NY, etc., and to have felt perfectly safe at all hours without a care in the world while they think Boston is dangerous and has serious 'social problems' by comparison...LOL
Who gives a (expletive) that it's safer than other places?
By Will LaTulippe
Wed, 01/30/2013 - 1:51pm
It's not a competition. It has crime that needs to be stopped.
What's your point?
By Sally
Wed, 01/30/2013 - 2:56pm
I think most of us here are aware that there are more dangerous places in Boston. But if there's as all area that's being heavily targeted by what's surely a small but focused group of criminals, doesn't it make sense to go after them?
I think there are three separate arguments going on here, though
By anon
Wed, 01/30/2013 - 4:03pm
Argument 1 is: This is a bad crime and the police need to get on it.
Argument 2: Boston University is responsible for what happens to its students and staff, no matter where they may be.
Argument 3: It's a city, NBD, you should expect people to stab you and take your things.
I'm glad BU has announced they'll be contributing to more patrols, because I do spend a lot of time in the BU-ish area, and I like not being mugged. But ultimately, there's some sort of crime bubbling up from an apartment complex/gang/whatever that's based in this area, and it's going to take more than police patrols and escort services to get it to stop.
Sally, check official crime statistics
By anon
Wed, 01/30/2013 - 4:14pm
and see if this is actually the case or more a case of perception. These types of crimes are not that unusual in many neighborhoods, but they also rarely receive attention like this.
I think the best that can be done is for potential victims to simply be more aware of their surrounding, of things like the time of day, who is else is near you. And yes, BU police and Brookline should step up patrols, but you know their resources especially Brooline PD aren't infinite. Police generally don't prevent a crime from happening, they should up to clean up the mess after the fact, file reports, attempt to catch the perp[s]. The real truth is a lot of the onus for individual safety relies on the individual him or herself. People must get in the habit of thinking and acting more pro-actively.
Agreed but...
By Sally
Wed, 01/30/2013 - 11:17pm
Old-fashioned muggings like this seem to be on the rise. I live in JP--plenty of crime here, but street robberies usually get a fair bit of coverage when there's an uptick because that's what scares a lot of us or makes us antsy walking home at night. I'd agree that of course people have to be vigilant wherever they are but statistics and common sense would dictate that this is generally a pretty low-crime area and that most people are going to feel comfortable walking home at night--maybe too comfortable, just FYI, I used to work on Pleasant and used to see plenty of cops around but almost exclusively BU cops.
Any Tolerance is Too Much Tolerance
By BlackKat
Thu, 01/31/2013 - 3:44am
Boston [and Brookline] does have a particularly high amount of residential only blocks compared to more mixed use blocks like NY or London have.
This leads to less foot traffic in those blocks and less open businesses late at night. This leads to more of a feeling that one is vulnerable to muggings due to less witnesses or places of refuge. While it may be perceptual only - I don't know if statistics reflect the effect of such - it makes a difference to how safe one feels.
And the claim that somehow people should just accept that there is going to be crime is essentially giving up on trying to fight crime. Yes, crimes in certain neighborhoods will receive more coverage. Yes, there are bigger problems out there. But you need to tackle what you can. A few more beat cops hired could provide nigh blanket coverage to any one of Boston's small neighborhoods. That isn't enough to stop a gang or organized crime in an area. But that is enough to stop most street crime in an area.
Stop and frisk laws are also an issue. Sometimes police may see a suspicious group of people - yes, unfortunately sometimes their suspicions are borne of racism - but can't do much more than follow or observe them at a distance. Then another call comes in and off they go to something else. CC cameras with facial recognition software also help (see Britain's use of them to track known football hooligans). I am primarily a liberal, but one who does think that privacy concerns are mostly moot.
Some would like to see some of those drones at use in Afghanistan put to use in our cities after we pull out of there. Nothing says due process like a Hellfire missile. But perhaps the simple use of using them to spy on and track fleeing criminals so they are caught would have a positive effect in and of itself.
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