July 07, 2010
Are You Not Entertained?
This past Saturday evening in Alton, Illinois, a 911 call was placed reporting a dumpster fire, and when firefighters arrived, they were attacked with bottle rockets and larger fireworks capable of serious injury or death. The attacks continued even after police arrived (to the apparent delight of the community's residents) The crowd's violent urges only seemed to fade when officers engaged the mob with pepper-balls, a form of the agent used in pepper-spray adapted for use in paintball guns.
Eventually the police ran out of ammunition and withdrew, but they and the fire department returned to engage in further combat later that night with the mob. They've returned to fight arson every day since.
To date, no one has been killed or seriously injured in this on-going crime spree in a sad little public housing complex in a town north of Saint Louis.
Nor has there been much media attention for what the Associated Press described as a mob luring police and fire units into an ambush "as entertainment for hundreds of people who gathered at the Oakwood Housing Complex to watch."
I thought we lived in a more civilized country.
Obviously, I was wrong.
You know what would be really entertaining? Watching the cops and firefighters watching the complex burn down.
Posted by: Tim at July 7, 2010 02:50 PMThis should be reported, it is shocking to me that people would do this and I say past time to cut off all welfare and force them to work .
Posted by: duncan at July 7, 2010 03:03 PMRest easy.
Illinois stopped being a real part of America in the 1960s. As with California and New York, those people have nothing to do with the rest of us.
They're nothing but a burden now, parasites who have nothing in common with real Americans.
Posted by: democratsarefascists at July 7, 2010 03:03 PMHas anyone checked to see if this estate is inhabited by the same "Youths" that set fire to cars in France?
Posted by: Davod at July 7, 2010 03:42 PMI would be much more entertained watching the entire complex burn to the ground. Or seeing members of the mob shot with something more lethal than a paint ball filled with pepper gas.
But we couldn't allow either to occur. It would be inhuman or something...
Posted by: iconoclast at July 7, 2010 04:14 PMThis doesn't just happen in Illinois. I retired on April 1, 2009 as a Lieutenant with 30 years with the Asheville, NC Police Department and this was a regular occurrence for us for at least the last 10 years on July 4th in the housing projects. It wasn't until the last 5 years that we have even been allowed to fire back with pepperball guns. I personally have been hit several times with fireworks during these occasions. Believe me, once we were allowed to, we used pepperballs, tossed teargas, and put everyone in jail that we could safely get our hands on. It has only been in the last few years that we have even been given enough manpower to handle the problem (usually we had to handle it only with the patrol officers only on duty). The biggest thing that would have helped us would have been the Housing Authority evicting the troublemakers, but we never could seem to get them interested even when we had videotape and criminal charges to back it up. Despite what liberals would have you believe, most housing projects are and will continue to be war zones.
Posted by: David R at July 7, 2010 05:38 PMThe result of decades of CLASS WARFARE!!!! Blame who you will for the start of class warfare, but the animals who do these things think they have the right to do this "To the Man."
As already stated, it would be much better entertainment to let the fires run and burn down the complex - then maby they will relocate to D.C, San Francisco, The Big Apple or L.A.
Posted by: mixitup at July 7, 2010 09:15 PMWe do! They don't. Like France and other nations, we have ceded certain parts of our nation to barbarians for political reasons and through gerrymandering. What was your question again?
Posted by: Doom at July 7, 2010 11:17 PMIt seems that it is well past the time to cut off all utilities going into the site--no more electricity, water, or sewer service. lock the scum in for a few weeks, nothing in or out.
Posted by: John Cunningham at July 7, 2010 11:37 PMYou guys have no sense of humor.
Cops come to housing project where fireworks are illegal (Illinois) although sold 500yds away Missouri. No one has been hurt...except the girl with the pepper spray ball
All of you commentators have been watching too much "Escape From New York". My wife is from Alton, it will all calm down. I am disturbed by the "real America" and the barbarians, parasites and those people.
OK which one of you is Snake Plisken. It is sad to see that you have devolved to a "Get off my lawn" guy.
BTW distrust the liberal press except when they identify public housing occupants as a mob and divine their state of mind "luring police for entertainment".
Hey Wheaton - read the post 4 up from your post - David R - a real police officer with 30 years experience - I guess he needs some of your sense of humor so he can discount all the things he SAW and EXPERIENED in those 30 years!!!! hmmmmmmm
Posted by: mixitup at July 8, 2010 06:04 PMIt wasn't just firecrackers and bottle rockets - they shot the big commercial grade mortars at us and yes we did have officers injured with burns and hearing problems, etc. Also they were pretty indiscriminate and hit some of their own children. Quite frankly, I don't believe most news reports either, but I know what I experienced and it wasn't just a one time or one location event.
Posted by: David R at July 9, 2010 10:52 AMDavid R. I apologize for my comment. All I read was that the bottle rockets and firecrackers.
The big commercial stuff is an aggravated assault. Is part of the problem that 2 other public housing projects were closed in town.
I hope someone buys you a beer at Johnson's Corner. I hope it is still there.
