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Guy sought for attacking man who asked him to move on an escalator at Government Center T stop
By adamg on Thu, 08/05/2021 - 1:12pm
Transit Police are asking for help to ID this guy for an incident at the Government Center T stop around 9:50 p.m. on July 29.
A male over the age of 60 was ascending up the escalator when he encountered the depicted individual. The individual was blocking his path. The victim asked if he could pass by and this seemed to anger the suspect who assaulted the victim and threw his belongings onto the tracks.
If Puma Guy looks familiar, contact detectives at 617-222-1050 or send an anonymous tip to 873873.
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Comments
The bizarre T world
Why is the T the one place where criminals don't wear masks?
I was just about to say "and
I was just about to say "and the police will also add a fine for not wearing a mask--as required--on MBTA property"?
Not that we needed more proof
Not that we needed more proof that people who stand in the middle of the escalator are lazy sacks of garbage.
[citation needed]
That's some abelist bullshit right there, Kinopio.
Yep
I've bike commuted for years, but I need to ride escalators down rather than descend stairs or escalators due to advancing arthritis. I am fortunate that an active lifestyle and not having worked the fields as a child (and only occasionally as a teen) means that I got ten to fifteen extra years of free mobility compared to my parents.
Kinopio will be the first to whine about being harassed by people or encountering needless obstacles when it is their turn to enjoy the processes of aging that nobody escapes.
i thought he was talking about the act of standing in the middle
...of the escalator, as opposed to the more polite practice of standing on the right and climbing on the left
Doesn't matter
This "rule" is a regional anomaly. I've found that people outside of Boston or NYC (maybe DC) don't even seem to have ever heard of such. Besides, not everyone CAN stand aside to let people by - some need to use both hands on the rails. There is no requirement to step aside so people in a hurry can abuse the escalator.
In fact, if you are going to climb, you would be best to take the stairs anyway because the pounding actually causes wear and tear on the escalator that leads to frequent outages.
It was a completely dickheaded and ableist comment from an intellectually lazy troll.
right or left
Oh it's a whole thing......globally.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalator_etiquette
Swirly is 100% wrong but I’m
Swirly is 100% wrong but I’m not expecting she’ll admit it.
Pot, kettle, black
And when have you ever admitted that you were in any degree wrong about any of your hate-filled broad-brush comments, including this one?
okay, that's fair
to be clear, the elderly man was the one climbing the escalator and he is who asked the younger man to step aside. i do understand the principle you've laid out though.
You can't tell someone's access needs just by looking
Someone young can have balance issues or peripheral vision limitations, etc.
understood
and agreed.
Consider this
How about those escalators, seen in many places, that are wide and that have prominent signs reminding people to stand on the right and walk on the left? Do you think that, in such a place, someone who complains about a person standing right in the middle blocking both sides, is some kind of ableist asshole? Or that someone who walks on the left side of the escalator as directed by the signs is somehow abusing the machinery?
Stay on topic
This isn't one of those escalators. The escalator in question, the type Kinopio waxed sanctimonious about, is not one of your theoretical "wide" escalators. And Kinopio did not let fly about "a person standing in the middle blocking both sides", he blew his judgmental hot air about "people" who stand on the escalator. All of them. No matter why they're standing there. It was judgmental and it was ableist and I'm damned if I can see why you're caping for him. It' snot a good look
I just read his post again
I just read his post again, and the text is pretty clear: Kinopio complained about "people who stand in the middle on escalators" not, as you assert, people who stand on escalators.
Shhh
Don't interfere with people's effort to make up offenses to show how sensitive they are.
oh stop it
people will comment on the things they care about, end of story. your angle here is showing us all just how incredibly reasonable and fair-minded you are.
you aren’t better than anyone – after all, you post here as well, don’t you?
I try to be
I try to be the best I can. You should too.
We can all start by reading what others have written and responding to that, instead of making up offenses and responding to those strawmen.
Not all escalator standers
I'm not saying that everyone who stands in the middle needs that accommodation. I would guess the majority of people who do so (when there's truly enough room to pass) are selfish and/or oblivious. I object to assuming that no one who does so really needs to.
Not all disabilities are visible to the casual observer.
Because I know there are indeed some people who need to stand smack dab in the middle, I assume the best intentions of those who do so, even when it's personally inconvenient to me.
two things
1. the penalty for being oblivious isn 't assault
2. Moving on the escalator takes up more room then standing still. And so the escalator moves more people faster if they stand still. It doesn't feel intuitive but the math works.
Not Quite
In Europe, on wider escalators, there is a standard. The escalators on the Munich U-Bahn are signed for stand-to-the-right, climb-to-the-left. I understand the Paris Metro is similar. Most of the London Tube are narrow escalators, but I sure as hell climbed at King's Cross (think, Porter).
If the T's escalators are really that fragile (and given the T, it's more likely old metal and hence metal fatigue rather than simple fragility), that's a shovel-ready infrastructure problem and we should be hitting up the Feds for money.
Wear and tear
It's not the pounding, but the constant weight of people standing on one side that causes the wear:
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2058870/chinese-metro-sy...
Escalators don't exist merely
Escalators don't exist merely for the disabled. They're not handicapped parking spaces - they're for everyone. And the etiquette is to not block them unless you've got a good reason to. This guy they're looking for obviously didn't.
“Abuse the escalator”. Oh man
“Abuse the escalator”. Oh man that’s a good one. You must get invited to tons of parties. Your imaginary person who needs to clog up the whole escalator by spreading out their limbs can take the elevator, genius. This actual old person in the article was happy and able to walk up the escalator, but go on.
Well
The dude was hale and hearty enough to assault someone
He said...
the MIDDLE of the escalator. Those standing to the right are fine, as the rule is "Keep right or keep moving".
Cry me a river
Stairs are right fucking there, pal. The escalator is there so people have the option of *not* climbing stairs.
That...
I'd love to say that to everyone who pushes past me on an escalator but my self-preservation instinct inhibits me. Better safe than sorry.
Try manners instead
Maybe if you stayed as far to the right as reasonably feasible, as we were all taught to do in the corridors and stairways of our elementary schools, on sidewalks, and on the roads in drivers' ed, then people would simply walk past you rather than needing to push past you? (But I agree that if the escalator isn't wide enough to pass, that shoving past the person in front of you is jackassery.)
Power-assisted staircase
The escalator also serves the purpose of making the staircase shorter; if you limb the escalator the way you'd climb a staircase, you'll get there in less time, with less effort. In fact if it's time you're concerned about, climbing the escalator is the fastest route. Certainly people who would prefer not to climb shouldn't be shoved aside or treated rudely, but why shouldn't they make space for climbers, if there is room?
The problem
1. this is not officially the purpose of an escalator
2. not everyone can ride it one-handed
3. people climbing it have no right to demand that anyone get out of their way
4. when people use it in this way, they actually damage the escalator
And ... less efficient, too! https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/us/escalators-standing-or-walking.html
Expected better from your Swirls
What happened to common decency? It’s ok to be lazy enough to take an escalator but not ok to be lazy and choose to climb up one?
Stand to one side people if you take the escalator, be polite. We don’t have to be massholes all the time.
????
Really? That's all ya got honey?
Escalators are not built for climbers. Not everyone who takes one is lazy - some of us can't do stairs in one direction or other. Want a workout? Climb the stairs, dear.
I do
I mean personally I think escalators are just plain lazy however they’re used, except that one at Porter. I almost always take the stairs. But if I happened to be using one and someone wanted to get by I’d let them pass. Literally has no bearing on my day or life.
Can't wait...
Can't wait until you're no longer able-bodied. When that day comes, you'll be living in a world created by attitudes like yours, and you will deserve it.
I've had periods of disability
I've had (brief, fortunately) periods of disability, and one of my primary rules was, wherever possible, not to turn it into someone else's problem. I did my best to stay out of the way. Almost any place there is an escalator, there is also an elevator, specifically put there to help people who are unable to ride the escalator.
Oh...
Oh you sweet summer child. I can see you don't ride the MBTA.
Wow
I don't know, but when you say things like:
...i'm not sure why you're asking, because your statement of "lazy enough to take an escalator" pretty much says that decency is not a priority for you.
Those experts sound
Just like the ones who says all kids should get a participation trophy instead of learning how to lose.
Please cite your sources
Present some child psychology studies that support your assertion and urban studies papers that rebut the citation on the table.
C'mon dear - you can do it.
p.s. I have a pain cave full of my "participation trophies" for my completion of rides and kayak events. My friends who run have pretty solid collections of completion medals, too. They are very common for adults!
duplicator gnomes!
.
The official purpose of an escalator?
Does an escalator come with a mission statement? I thought the official purpose of an escalator was to frighten children.
Point 2 is perfectly valid, and I don’t think that people who would prefer to climb have an absolute right of way, only that it is courteous to let them pass, if convenient, and that it is not uncourteous of them to do so. It is of course uncourteous of anyone to demand that anyone get out of their way, anywhere, at any time, not just on an escalator. It is not impolite to ask.
As for your last point, in the very article you link, Otis Elevator denies the somewhat preposterous rumor that the escalator can be damaged by the practice. The single study that was cited for the efficiency claim was extremely artificial, and not based on relevant data or a well-controlled experiment. The researchers timed themselves, and plugged the results into a computer model. They clearly have great faith in their computer model, but they would, wouldn’t they. They wrote it.
...that only applies...
...if the escalator is actually working, which is another thing the T is not exactly good at maintaining.
Congratulations
You have successfully trolled a story about an assault on an elderly man.
I bet you are proud of yourself.
Did you read the article? I’m
Did you read the article? I’m defending the elderly man who wanted to walk past the thug on the escalator. Are you proud of yourself for being illiterate?
I read the article
And I would imagine the assailant probably has the temperament the causes him to fly off the handle at the slightest of challenges. Being on the escalator just happens to be where this happened. You'd be surprised at the level of people being assholes in the world. Like, once there was this guy who decided that one of the main problems in the world is people who stand in the middle of escalators, and he made people irate in the comments section of a news website by saying as much. Less concern with the man who was assaulted by the guy standing in the middle of an escalator and more concern with the practice of standing in the middle of an escalator.
But sure, since you are so sanctimonious about it, people who stand in the middle of escalators should be summarily executed so we don't have to deal with any of them, even if there may be good reasons for them doing such.
Does that make you feel better?
Welcome to the big city.
As annoying as people who stand to the left on escalators are you need to take a breath. Just wait the 7 seconds until the ride is over. Not everyone is as frantic as you.
The "I've been in the joint walk".
Send him back for a while.
What a gentleman
I am afraid of escalators ever since the time I got stuck halfway up one when the power went out. When the fireman came and explained how I could just walk down, it was a relief.
Live and learn.
This thread is proof…
that people need a Uhub break. Let’s leave the internet alone for a while folks and go outside or something.
I agree
I agree. Thanks, Mr. Nice, guy.
These escalator walkers are
These escalator walkers are the same assholes that push past me to get into the train when I stand at the door.