Crimes using knives

[Russ Iger]

Subway Train Murder, Killer Sought

Sep 27, 2004 6:40 am US/Eastern
(1010 WINS) (NEW YORK)

A 45-year-old man stepped off a subway train in lower Manhattan early Sunday with seven stab wounds to his chest and back, and died shortly after collapsing on the platform, police said.

The man, whose name was not released, had been riding a northbound N train when he stumbled onto the platform at the Rector Street station at about 4:40 a.m., police said. He was taken to New York University Downtown Hospital and pronounced dead at 5 a.m.

No weapon was recovered and no arrests were made as of early Sunday.

The train was taken to Ditmar Yards in Queens for further investigation, said Officer Jennara Everleth, a police spokeswoman.

[Guard Dog]

Wow,
  That really makes me think about how much things are different where I live.  You would never read anything like that.  It's a shame, but the first thing I thought was what I am going to carry next time I go to NYC.


Gruhn

[K Williams]

I think the trains are a lot better than they were in the 1980s and early 1990s. People got jumped/robbed a lot more back then.

[Crafty_Dog]

Indiana high school students injured in knife attack


VALPARAISO, Indiana (AP) -- A student carrying two hidden knives slashed five classmates Wednesday morning as they watched a Spanish class video, authorities said.

Eight Valparaiso High School students were taken to the hospital, including the accused attacker, a 15-year-old freshman, Police Chief Michael Brickner said. All but one of those injured were released by Wednesday afternoon, he said. Five suffered cuts and the others complained of pain from other injuries, authorities said.

Authorities did not release any information about a possible motive for the attack, which happened as classes were starting about 8 a.m. at the school some 20 miles southeast of Gary.

Students described a struggle in a hallway and said they saw blood on the floor.

"The kid, after he stabbed them, he ran out of the room and a bunch of
teachers tackled him," sophomore Clark Hogan said. "I saw the lady kick the knife down the hallway. She kicked it against the wall."

Brickner said one of the knives was a machete and the other was a serrated knife. The youth accused in the attack remained in custody.
School Superintendent Michael Benway said the school does not have metal detectors but that school staffers and volunteers monitor the two doors through which the school's 2,000 students enter the building.

Brickner said that when police officers arrived, school administrators were holding the student who was accused.  The boy is an A-B student who started in the Valparaiso school system this year, Brickner said.

The uninjured students were allowed to leave school about 31/2 hours after the attack. Until then, they said, they were kept locked in their
classrooms.

"The teachers wouldn't tell us what was going on," said Danielle Boer. "We were scared."

Jeni Bell, a spokeswoman for Porter hospital, said some students suffered severe cuts and one suffered a hip injury. But she said the injuries were not life-threatening.

[Crafty_Dog]

From yesterday's Left Angeles Times:
=========================


Parent's Worst Nightmare in China
 Wave of knife assaults on children can be seen as cries for help in a society where economic growth has created rising social tensions, analysts say.

   
By Ching-Ching Ni, Times Staff Writer


BEIJING ? When Ding Xiuzhen heard about the stabbings at the neighborhood high school, her legs went limp.

As many as nine people were killed and four were wounded Thursday when an intruder broke into the dormitory and attacked sleeping students, according to Chinese media reports.
 
"I was so scared I could barely make it down the stairs," said Ding, who lives near the No. 2 High School in Ruzhou in central China's Henan province. "I have a 14-year-old daughter. She is supposed to go there next year. Now there's no way I would let her go to that school. All the parents I know are terrified."

The attack was the latest in a wave of assaults on students this summer by knife-wielding assailants. The violence has prompted officials to call for the hiring of guards and tightening of campus security across China.

Analysts say the attacks demonstrate how crime has escalated in a country once viewed as virtually crime-free. More than two decades of economic growth have created rising social tensions but few institutions to address them.

The attacks on children, analysts say, can also be seen as cries for help.

"It's no longer just about personal revenge," said Zhao Xiao, a Beijing-based scholar who studies transitional economies. "They also want ? impact. That's why they are seeking out little children to make their point by attacking someone even weaker. This is potentially a very scary development."

In September, farmer Yang Guozhu woke up, shaved his head, bought some sunglasses and marched into a day-care center in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou. He used a fruit knife to attack children. Twenty-eight were wounded; the oldest was 6 and the youngest 2.

According to Yang's account in Chinese media reports, he was forced to take drastic action because no one would pay attention to his family tragedy. Back in his village, Yang's younger brother and the brother's girlfriend had been charged with living together illegally. The village's family planning committee levied a fine on Yang's parents and confiscated their meager possessions: 17 sacks of grain and three bags of fertilizer.

A year later, the committee imposed a new fine, this time $1,200, an unobtainable sum for the peasants. Feeling helpless and humiliated, his parents committed suicide by drinking pesticide.

Yang and his siblings preserved their parents' bodies so they could seek justice. But local officials forcefully removed the corpses for cremation and beat relatives who tried to stop them.

After failed attempts to seek redress, Yang told a friend he would do something that everyone would hear about. For maximum impact, he picked Sept. 11, the three-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks in the United States. A week earlier, Yang watched militants shock the world by killing more than 300 people ? mostly young children ? at a school in Beslan, Russia.

Yang's target was a local elementary school. He apparently went prepared with gasoline and homemade explosives. But this year, Sept. 11 fell on a Saturday and the campus was empty. So he made his target the day-care center.

About a week later, another man, from eastern China's Shandong province, also took out his frustrations on schoolchildren.

Chinese media reported that bus driver Jia Qingyou tried to borrow some music recordings from a co-worker. When she refused and an argument ensued, the woman's boss sent someone to beat up Jia, who suffered injuries that required him to spend a week in the hospital.

According to one Chinese newspaper, Jia called the police but got no action. He too decided to do something no one would ignore. He slashed 25 primary school students with a kitchen knife.

On Wednesday, Jia was executed for his crime.

Little is known about the 52-year-old doorman who in August used a kitchen knife to kill one child and wound 18 people at a Beijing kindergarten. The man was reported to have a history of mental illness.

The motive behind Thursday's attack is under investigation. On Friday, police arrested a 21-year-old suspect after his mother reported that he had tried to commit suicide after the killings.

The New China News Agency reported that police said the suspect held grudges against the students at the school and during the attack allegedly kept saying, "Don't blame me."

[Crafty_Dog]

Woof All:

Anybody seen this yet?

The reviews seem to be pretty negative (except for the fight scenes) but then the reviews did not like "Troy" and my wife and I did.

Following is Joe Morgenstern's (who normally calls them as I see 'em) review from the WSJ:

Woof,
Crafty Dog
=============================

'Alexander' Grates: Stone
Delivers a Grecian Formula
That Can't Conquer Boredom

Epic Digital Battles Are Gripping,
But History Lesson Drags On;
An Inviting 'Long Engagement'
November 26, 2004; Page W1
Oliver Stone's "Alexander" is a tale of two battles -- one of them fought by Alexander the Great against the rest of the world, the other by the filmmaker against himself in an elephantine production that's constantly torn between extravagant action (elephants figure heavily in the climax) and extended history lessons. History defeats Mr. Stone. His instinct for showmanship has been throttled by his penchant for pedantry, and that comes as a real surprise. For almost two decades Mr. Stone's films have been many things, sometimes simultaneously -- smart, sharp, crazed, bizarre, ludicrous, pretentious, insightful, irresponsible, powerful, over the top, around the bend. Never, until now, have they been emotionally inert or quite so flat of foot.

 
Colin Farrell plays Alexander (who died at the age of 32) as the world's most powerful brat. Blond-wigged, Irish-brogued and a chronic brooder, this Oedipally unsettled victim of bad parenting loves a man (his boyhood friend Hephaistion, played as an adult with eyeliner by Jared Leto), though eventually he takes a beautiful Asian woman, Roxane (Rosario Dawson), for his queen. (And really takes her, in a shockingly graphic replay of the rape that he witnessed, as a little boy, when Angelina Jolie's mommy dearest was taken by Val Kilmer's drunken dad.)

Then Alexander becomes the world's most powerful bore, thus betraying the promise of the movie's preface. In that long, turgid, pseudo-scholarly equivalent of an infomercial, the narrator, an aged Ptolemy, played by Anthony Hopkins in a flowing robe, recalls the Macedonian king, 40 years after his death, as a colossus, a force of nature, a man who built an empire of the mind, and a leader in whose presence, "by the light of Apollo, we were better than ourselves." Well, by the sweet breath of Dionysus, we are worse than ourselves after suffering through the silly speechifying that defeats drama in this colossal mess.

Several outsize battle sequences provide sporadic relief from the prevailing torpor, even if the hackings and whackings are staged no more imaginatively than those in the sword-and-sandal epics of the 1960s. (These days, the standard battle formation consists of live extras to the front, digital replicants to the rear.) And Ms. Jolie's Olympias is a hoot with her Transylvanian accent and an incandescent loathing of her husband, who is finally murdered, evidently at her behest. At one point Olympias, who has always wanted her son's hot body but settles for his tortured soul, asks Alexander: "What have I done to make you hate me so?"


Elliot Cowan and Colin Farrell in "Alexander."

 
Yet there's no zest to the general depravity, no coherence to the script or the spectacle -- clarity is missing in some of the camera work -- and, most important, no character to give a Greek fig about. With writing as shallow as this, everyone is an extra. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but you won't find a single moment in the movie to match the simple humanity -- or even the suspense -- of that scene near the beginning of "The Black Stallion" when the father tells his son the classic story, with charming embellishments, of young Alexander taming the wild horse Bucephalus. (Child and horse are also trotted in by Oliver Stone, but for a retelling distinguished only by lack of surprise.)

"Alexander" cost at least $160 million, a figure that will grow by many more tens of millions for global marketing. After I cited the staggering budgets of other recent follies, including the risibly ramshackle "Troy," several readers sent e-mails to say that since it wasn't my money, it was none of my business how studios or producers chose to spend it. I take the point. More than that, I put it in the context of a Weekend Journal piece last week in which my colleague John Lippman reported that "Troy," for all its failure to connect with a domestic audience, will turn a significant profit in the global market. But the movie medium is mine -- is ours -- to care about, and to worry about. With each new heedless squandering of our interest and trust, with each monster domestic dud that justifies its shoddiness through overseas success, the movies as we've known and loved them are closer to becoming ancient history.

[Crafty_Dog]

More from Scotland-- BTW is there anyone who can compare the murder rate data in this article with sundry US data? TIA- Crafty
===========================================


http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1345182004

McConnell cracks down on knife crime

HAMISH MACDONELL
SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR


JACK McConnell went on the offensive against Scotland?s growing knife culture yesterday, announcing a series of tough measures he hopes will stem the "scandalously high" human toll from knife crime, particularly in Glasgow.

The First Minister said he would introduce sweeping new powers, allowing the police to arrest anyone found carrying a knife. He announced longer sentences for knife-related offences and said he would introduce major restrictions on the sale and possession of knives and blades.

The sale of all swords will be outlawed in Scotland, nobody under the age of 18 will be allowed to buy a knife of any sort, and retailers who want to sell non-domestic knives will have to be licensed and monitored.

The First Minister said Scotland had a responsibility to tackle the "scandalously high" level of knife crime in "our own time and our own way" and as soon as possible.

His changes go far beyond anything previously proposed in Britain and signal the Scottish Executive?s determination to take action on a problem that is escalating out of control in some parts of urban Scotland.

Knife crime is a particular problem in Glasgow, which has the worst murder rate in Britain, at 58.7 murders per million people - twice as high as London, where the rate stands at 26 per million.

Half of all homicides in Scotland as a whole and in Glasgow are caused by knives or other sharp instruments, according to the latest figures, and ministers believe they have to do something to stop the trend.

Mr McConnell announced his plans at a press conference in Edinburgh almost three years to the day after he succeeded Henry McLeish as First Minister.

Mr McConnell said: "It is my very strong view, and it is a view shared by the Cabinet, that far too many young men, particularly in Scotland, view the carrying or using of knives or offensive weapons as an acceptable practice. It is not acceptable. The law in Scotland must be clear, the system must protect innocent victims and the culture of Scotland, particularly in our cities, in relation to knives and violent crime, must change."

He added: "The sale of swords in Scotland today is fundamentally wrong. There can be no reason for people buying swords off the street for use or to have in their homes."

The Executive?s proposals are:

? A licensing scheme for the sale of non-domestic knives and similar objects. This would require all shops selling non-domestic knives to be registered and licensed. Any retailer caught breaking the law would have its licence revoked.

? Increasing the minimum purchasing age for knives from 16 to 18.

? Banning the sale of swords. While the sale of swords would be outlawed under the proposals, the Executive has no plans to ban swords being kept in private homes. There would, however, be a ban on the possession of a sword in a public place.

? Giving the police the ability to arrest anyone found carrying a knife. At the moment police can only arrest people if they prove they are carrying a knife, have grounds for believing a crime is going to be committed and a third reason such as breach of the peace. The Executive intends to sweep away all these conditions, allowing unconditional arrests to be made.

? Doubling the sentence for possessing a knife or offensive weapon from two years to four.

Officials were quick to point out that Mr McConnell?s proposals wouldl not affect anybody wearing a sgian dubh, which is already exempt from anti-knife legislation because it is part of Scotland?s national dress.

The First Minister conceded that all the new measures might not be in force for a couple of years because of the need to have a public consultation, then put the policies through parliament.

Mr McConnell said police would use existing powers such as stop-and-search to tackle knife crime.

He added: "We believe the police should have the power of arrest on suspicion of carrying a knife or offensive weapon.

"We need to shift the balance of power here in the law in favour of those victims who far too often - particularly in Glasgow city centre but in a number of other parts of Scotland too - find themselves in hospital on Friday or Saturday night as a result of what appears to be the casual incident of a passer-by."  
 
 Report

[Crafty_Dog]

Is the 21-foot rule still valid?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I received this via email from the Force Science Research Center, written by Dr. Bill Lewinski. It is an article about new research about the validity of the Tueller drill in dealing with knife wielding suspects.

II. EDGED WEAPON DEFENSE: IS THE 21-FOOT RULE STILL VALID? WAS IT EVER?
Part 1 of a 2-Part Series

For more than 20 years now, a concept called the 21-Foot Rule has been a
core component in training officers to defend themselves against edged
weapons.

Originating from research by Salt Lake City trainer Dennis Tueller and
popularized by the Street Survival Seminar and the seminal instructional
video "Surviving Edged Weapons," the "rule" states that in the time it
takes the average officer to recognize a threat, draw his sidearm and fire
2 rounds at center mass, an average subject charging at the officer with a
knife or other cutting or stabbing weapon can cover a distance of 21 feet.

The implication, therefore, is that when dealing with an edged-weapon
wielder at anything less than 21 feet an officer had better have his gun
out and ready to shoot before the offender starts rushing him or else he
risks being set upon and injured or killed before he can draw his sidearm
and effectively defeat the attack.

Recently a Force Science News member, a deputy sheriff from Texas,
suggested that "it's time for a fresh look" at the underlying principles of
edged-weapon defense, to see if they are "upheld by fresh research." He
observed that "the knife culture is growing, not shrinking," with many
people, including the homeless, "carrying significant blades on the
street." He noted that compared to scientific findings, "anecdotal evidence
is not good enough when an officer is in court defending against a wrongful
death claim because he felt he had to shoot some[body] with a knife at
0-dark:30 a.m."

As a prelude to more extensive studies of edged-weapon-related issues, the Force Science Research Center at Minnesota State University-Mankato has responded by reexamining the 21-Foot Rule, arguably the most widely taught and commonly remembered element of edged-weapon defense.

After testing the Rule against FSRC's landmark findings on action-reaction
times and conferring with selected members of its National and Technical
Advisory Boards, the Center has reached these conclusions, according to
Executive Director Dr. Bill Lewinski:

1. Because of a prevalent misinterpretation, the 21-Foot Rule has been
dangerously corrupted.

2. When properly understood, the 21-Foot Rule is still valid in certain
limited circumstances.

3. For many officers and situations, a 21-foot reactionary gap is not
sufficient.

4. The weapon that officers often think they can depend on to defeat knife
attacks can't be relied upon to protect them in many cases.

5. Training in edged-weapon defense should by no means be abandoned.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In this installment of our 2-part series, we'll examine the first two
points. The others will be explained in Part 2.

1. MISINTERPRETATION. "Unfortunately, some officers and apparently some trainers as well have 'streamlined' the 21-Foot Rule in a way that gravely distorts its meaning and exposes them to highly undesirable legal
consequences," Lewinski says. Namely, they have come to believe that the
Rule means that a subject brandishing an edged weapon when positioned at any distance less than 21 feet from an officer can justifiably be shot.

For example, an article on the 21-Foot Rule in a highly respected LE
magazine states in its opening sentence that "a suspect armed with an edged weapon and within twenty-one feet of a police officer presents a deadly threat." The "common knowledge" that "deadly force against him is
justified" has long been "accepted in police and court circles," the
article continues.

Statements like that, Lewinski says, "have led officers to believe that no
matter what position they're in, even with their gun on target and their
finger on the trigger, they are in extreme danger at 21 feet. They believe
they don't have a chance of surviving unless they preempt the suspect by
shooting.

"However widespread that contaminated interpretation may be, it is NOT
accurate. A suspect with a knife within 21 feet of an officer is
POTENTIALLY a deadly threat. He does warrant getting your gun out and
ready. But he cannot be considered an actual threat justifying deadly force
until he takes the first overt action in furtherance of intention--like
starting to rush or lunge toward the officer with intent to do harm. Even
then there may be factors besides distance that influence a force decision.

"So long as a subject is stationary or moving around but not advancing or
giving any indication he's about to charge, it clearly is not legally
justified to use lethal force against him. Officers who do shoot in those
circumstances may find themselves subject to disciplinary action, civil
suits or even criminal charges."

Lewinski believes the misconception of the 21-Foot Rule has become so
common that some academies and in-service training programs now are
reluctant to include the Rule as part of their edged-weapon defense
instruction for fear of non-righteous shootings resulting.

"When you talk about the 21-Foot Rule, you have to understand what it
really means when fully articulated correctly in order to judge its value
as a law enforcement concept," Lewinski says. "And it does not mean 'less
than 21 feet automatically equals shoot.'"

2. VALIDITY. In real-world encounters, many variables affect time, which is
the key component of the 21-Foot Rule. What is the training skill and
stress level of the officer? How fast and agile is he? How alert is he to
preliminary cues to aggressive movement? How agile and fast is the suspect?  Is he drunk and stumbling, or a young guy in a ninja outfit ready to rock and roll? How adept is the officer at drawing his holstered weapon? What kind of holster does he have? What's the terrain? If it's outdoors, is the ground bumpy or pocked with holes? Is the suspect running on concrete, or on grass, or through snow and across ice? Is the officer uphill and the suspect downhill, or vice versa? If it's indoors, is the officer at the foot of stairs and the suspect above him, or vice versa? Are there obstacles between them? And so on.

These factors and others can impact the validity of the 21-Foot Rule
because they affect an attacking suspect's speed in reaching the officer,
and the officer's speed in reacting to the threatening charge.

The 21-Foot Rule was formulated by timing subjects beginning their headlong run from a dead stop on a flat surface offering good traction and officers standing stationary on the same plane, sidearm holstered and snapped in. The FSRC has extensively measured action and reaction times under these same conditions. Among other things, the Center has documented the time it takes officers to make 20 different actions that are common in deadly force encounters. Here are some of the relevant findings that the FSRC applied in reevaluating the 21-Foot Rule:

--Once he perceives a signal to do so, the AVERAGE officer requires 1.5
seconds to draw from a snapped Level II holster and fire one unsighted
round at center mass. Add 1/4 of a second for firing a second round, and
another 1/10 of a second for obtaining a flash sight picture for the
average officer.

--The fastest officer tested required 1.31 seconds to draw from a Level II
holster and get off his first unsighted round.

--The slowest officer tested required 2.25 seconds.

--For the average officer to draw and fire an unsighted round from a
snapped Level III holster, which is becoming increasingly popular in LE
because of its extra security features, takes 1.7 seconds.

Meanwhile, the AVERAGE suspect with an edged weapon raised in the
traditional "ice-pick" position can go from a dead stop to 21 feet on a
level, unobstructed surface offering good traction in 1.5-1.7 seconds.

The "fastest, most skillful, most powerful" subject FSRC tested "easily"
covered that distance in 1.27 seconds. Intense rage, high agitation and/or
the influence of stimulants may even shorten that time, Lewinski observes.

Even the slowest subject "lumbered" through this distance in just 2.5
seconds.

Bottom line: Within a 21-foot perimeter, most officers dealing with most
edged-weapon suspects are at a decided--perhaps fatal--disadvantage if the suspect launches a sudden charge intent on harming them. "Certainly it is not safe to have your gun in your holster at this distance," Lewinski says, and firing in hopes of stopping an activated attack within this range may well be justified.

But many unpredictable variables that are inevitable in the field prevent a
precise, all-encompassing truism from being fashioned from controlled
"laboratory" research.

"If you shoot an edged-weapon offender before he is actually on you or at
least within reaching distance, you need to anticipate being challenged on
your decision by people both in and out of law enforcement who do not
understand the sobering facts of action and reaction times," says FSRC
National Advisory Board member Bill Everett, an attorney, use-of-force
trainer and former cop. "Someone is bound to say, 'Hey, this guy was 10
feet away when he dropped and died. Why'd you have to shoot him when he was so far away from you?'"

Be able to articulate why you felt yourself or other innocent party to be
in "imminent or immediate life-threatening jeopardy and why the threat
would have been substantially accentuated if you had delayed," Everett
advises. You need specifically to mention the first articulable motion that
indicated the subject was about to attack and was beyond your ability to
influence verbally."

And remember: No single 'rule' can arbitrarily be used to determine when a particular level of force is lawful. The 21-Foot Rule has value as a rough
guideline, illustrating the reactionary curve, but it is by no means an
absolute.

"The Supreme Court's landmark use-of-force decision, in Graham v. Connor, established a 'reasonableness' standard," Everett reminds. "You'll be judged ultimately according to what a 'reasonable' officer would have done. All of the facts and circumstances that make up the dynamics between you and the subject will be evaluated."

Of course, some important facts may be subtle and now widely known or
understood. That's where FSRC's unique findings on lethal-force dynamics
fit in. Explains Lewinski: "The FSRC's research will add to your ability to
articulate and explain the facts and circumstances and how they influenced
your decision to use force."

[buzwardo]

Mon May 16,10:43 AM ET

A cook at a Paris children's hospital was killed in a sword attack Saturday evening by a man he met on the Internet, police sources said Sunday.

The fatal attack took place inside the Necker hospital, after a disagreement between the 34 year-old victim, who has not yet been named, and his attacker.

"He stabbed him. The security team and one of his colleagues tried to intervene, but were unable to do anything," Isabelle Lesage, director of the hospital, told Reuters.

The attack was carried out with a short Japanese sword, known as a "katana," a police source said.

"The cook suffered one or more sword blows, particularly in the area of the carotid (artery), which caused a quick death," a police spokesman said.

A police source said the attacker, a male in his 50s, then went to a police station with the weapon, and told police he had just killed someone.

Police said he had been examined by psychiatrists but appeared to be of sound mind.

[thai70]

Honolulu Advertiser 5/17/2005
This was really depressing to read.  A man comes to the aid of others and gets killed for it.  He apparently had a teenage daughter who went to a prominent local private school.  Well liked man.  Tragic.  


Waikiki harbor brawl leaves 2 dead, 2 injured

By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

A simple request to turn down a blaring car stereo deteriorated into a melee in which two men died and two people were injured at the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor parking lot early yesterday morning, witnesses said.

One man was critically wounded and a woman was left in serious condition with stab wounds to her arms and chest.

Police arrested three men and a boy for questioning in a homicide investigation stemming from the 2 a.m. brawl behind the Hilton Hawaiian Village lagoon in Waikiki. Possibly five others are being sought as well. The men are 18, 20 and 22, police said. Police released the 18- and 22-year-old and the juvenile pending further investigation.

 
Kirk Hodges
Friends identified one of the dead men as Kirk Hodges, 50, a former professional surfer from Kailua. He had been stabbed multiple times, friends said. Police said the other dead man apparently drowned after diving into the boat harbor while fleeing from friends of one of the stabbing victims.

Police homicide Lt. Bill Kato said the confrontation involved seven to 10 males who arrived at the parking lot in three cars and a group of "surfers who sleep in their vans."

The late-arriving group was initially cooperative after a request to turn down their music, but quickly grew belligerent, witnesses said. Just as quickly, the cry "Look out, he's got a knife" gave way to violence.

 
Aliot Moepono, right, uses the back of a friend, Gordon Mann, left, to describe where their friend, Kirk Hodges, suffered fatal knife wounds during an altercation in a parking lot at the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor. A number of surfers sleep overnight in the parking lot in their vans.
Richard Ambo ? The Honolulu Advertiser
 
Hodges' girlfriend of the past 2 1/2 years, who asked that she be identified only as Val because she fears retaliation, said she was sleeping in an older Chevrolet van with Hodges when she was awakened by a woman calling for help.

"All these guys, maybe eight or nine of them, pulled up in two cars and a truck, and were playing loud music when (the woman) asked them to turn it down because people in the vans were trying to sleep," Val said.

Members of the group of young men said they had come to the public parking lot to "hang out and drink" but complied with the request to turn the music down, Val said.

"Then (the woman) noticed one of the cars was parked all kapakahi (askew) and she told them they should straighten it out so they wouldn't attract a lot attention from the cops and get a ticket or get arrested."

Then they started yelling obscenities at the woman and told her to mind her own business, Val said.

 
Meanwhile, the commotion had drawn the attention of another parking lot regular, a man. He was walking toward the woman when the two were encircled by the group of young men, most of whom appeared to be in their early 20s, Val said.

"By now, Kirk was awake, and he got out of our van and was walking to the group of guys mostly to be another presence with (the man and the woman)," she said.

"I heard somebody yell, 'Look out, he's got a knife,' and I went back behind my van and was dialing 911 on my cell phone when Kirk came over and said, 'I've been stabbed.' "

Val said she handed her cell phone to someone else and began to apply direct pressure to the multiple wounds in Hodges' back.

"The blood was just gushing out; he coughed several times and it just sprayed out of him," she said.

 
Slain surfer Kirk Hodges told friends he slept in a van in the parking lot because he wanted to be close to the sound of the waves.
Photo courtesy hawaiianwatershots.com
 
She said Hodges slumped down next to the wheel of the van and waited for a city ambulance to arrive. Paramedics stopped first to check on the other two stabbing victims about 30 feet away as she frantically motioned them to continue on to where Hodges sat.

"They were using a squeeze bag to help him breathe, and they put a tube down his throat but then they took it back out again," she said. "They wouldn't let me go in the ambulance with him."

Val said she made her own way to The Queen's Medical Center, where she learned Hodges had been declared dead on arrival.

One man was listed in critical condition upon his arrival, police said. The woman was reported to be in serious but stable condition after surgery for her stab wounds, shaken friends and a brother said yesterday morning at the boat harbor.

Gordon Mann, 53, said as many as seven vans park overnight in the lot.

"The police don't hassle us because they know we respect them and they respect us ? they know we take care of the place and don't make trouble," Mann said.

He said he recognized the man who stabbed Hodges as the brother of a man with whom Mann had gotten into a fistfight about a year ago.

Aliot Moepono, 41, sat in the shade of a palm tree at an aluminum picnic table set up on the ribbon of sand between the parking lot and the lagoon, mourning the loss of a friend of more than 20 years.

"I brought this table from home," Moepono said, pushing away tears from behind his wrap-around sunglasses. "Kirk was eating dinner with us last night, potluck. We were all talking story and later on, he move his van across to the other side of the parking lot.

"He said he wanted to be closer to the sound of the waves ? that he wanted to go to sleep listening to the waves and wanted the waves to be the first thing he heard when he woke up."

Moepono said that he, too, was awakened by the shouting coming from the other side of the parking lot.

"I got out and Kirk was already on the ground next to his van," Moepono said.

He said members of the group of young men, including the two suspected stabbers, began to scatter as police arrived.

He said he and another man chased five or six of the men from the other group toward the Ilikai Hotel and that the man who witnesses believe stabbed Hodges dived into the harbor to try to escape. He was later found floating in the harbor and was taken to Straub Clinic and Hospital, where he died, police said.

Police recovered a folding knife with a four-inch handle and equally long blade near the point where the apparent drowning victim dived into the water, said Kato, the homicide lieutenant.

Moepono could only lament the loss of his friend Hodges.

"If anything, he should have died in the water catching a wave," Moepono said, his voice trailing off.

[Poidog]

"Those willing to give up a little liberty for a little security deserve neither security nor liberty." --Benjamin Franklin

http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,2763,1493851,00.html?gusrc=rss

Doctors: Ban dagger-type kitchen knives

Sarah Left and agencies
Friday May 27, 2005
 
A group of doctors today called on the government to ban long pointed kitchen knives in an effort to reduce the number and severity of stabbings.

Knives are the most common murder weapon in Britain, and three doctors from West Middlesex University hospital in London said their experience indicated that at least half of stabbing cases involved a kitchen knife.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, Emma Hern, Will Glazebrook and Mike Beckett said the use of dagger-type kitchen knives owed more to tradition than culinary necessity. The knives, they argued, could be banned without unduly inconveniencing cooks.

A Home Office spokeswoman refused to say whether or not the government would consider such a ban.
The doctors quoted findings that 24% of 16-year-old boys reported carrying knives or other weapons, with 19% admitting they had attacked someone. In the first two weeks of 2005 alone, 15 murders in the UK were linked to stabbings as well as 16 other non-fatal attacks.

The doctors said many assaults were impulsive, often triggered by alcohol or other drugs, and the long pointed kitchen knife was an easily available lethal weapon, especially in the home.

"Government action to ban the sale of such knives would drastically reduce their availability over the course of a few years. In addition, such legislation would make it harder to justify carrying such knives and prosecution easier," they said. "The Home Office is looking for ways to reduce knife crime. We suggest that banning the sale of long pointed knives is a sensible and practical measure that would have this effect."

Most kitchen knives are based on two designs: the dagger variety with a pointed tip, such as a carving knife, and the blunt round nose variety, such as a bread knife.

"When using a knife to harm, a blunt nosed knife is unlikely to cause serious injury, as penetrating clothing and skin is difficult with it. Similarly an assault with a knife with a short blade such as a craft knife may cause a dramatic superficial wound but is unlikely to reach deep structures and cause death. A dagger type knife, however, can penetrate deeply," the doctors wrote.

With a long, pointed knife, cutting into vital organs was no more difficult than cutting into a ripe melon, the doctors wrote. They argued that continued use of the dagger design may just be a tradition stretching back to between 3000 and 700 BC. The doctors asked 10 well-known chefs about whether large pointed kitchen knives had a culinary purpose.

"Some commented that a point is useful in the fine preparation of some meat and vegetables, but that this could be done with a short pointed knife (less than 5cm in length). None gave a reason why the long pointed knife was essential," they wrote. The Home Office said the law already prohibited the possession of knives in a public place without good reason, with the exception of a folding pocket knife with a blade not exceeding 8cm (3in). The government has also announced plans to make knives harder to buy and to raise the minimum age for ownership from 16 to 18.

[argyll]

This is the first essay I've read challenging the factual basis for the recent anti-knife hysteria sweeping the UK.

http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CA825.htm

Article16 December 2004
Knife culture? Cut the crap
There is little evidence for a 'rising tide of knife crime' in Britain.
 
by Brendan O'Neill
 

Is Britain in the grip of a 'knife culture'? According to the Home Office, the Department for Education and Skills, the Association of Chief Police Officers and just about every front page of every newspaper, it is.

 
The police speak of a rising tide of knife crime, where everyone from misguided schoolkids to inner-city hoods are apparently arming themselves with flick knives, pen knives, machetes and swords. The last thing David Blunkett did before stepping down as home secretary was to propose new measures to 'tackle knife crime', including banning under-18s from buying them and allowing headteachers to frisk pupils for anything with a sharp edge (in the event, however, Blunkett failed to turn up to yesterday's launch of the 'fight against knives', instead leaving it to his junior Home Office minister Caroline Flint). In effect, as one report put it, the government has decided to 'wage war on knives' (1).

 
It started with dire warnings from the cops. In November, London's Metropolitan Police expressed 'fears' about a worsening knife problem in the capital (2). The Met had already unveiled Operation Blunt, a campaign against the menace of knives, which included trialling a metal detector at Hammersmith bus station in west London in an attempt to catch out knife-carriers. Also in November, following claims that more children are bringing knives into school, then education secretary (now new home secretary) Charles Clarke said airport-style X-ray machines might be introduced in schools too, if he thought it was 'the only way to tackle knife-carrying' (3).

 
In December, the relatives of stabbing victims - including the parents of 14-year-old schoolboy Luke Walmsley, who was murdered in a school corridor in January 2003 - launched a campaign called 'Knives Destroy Lives'. They called on the government to introduce a five-year minimum jail term for carrying an object with a blade longer than three inches, and a six-month minimum jail term for carrying a blade shorter than three inches. They also warned, according to the Independent, that there could be 'civil unrest' if the government didn't do more to tackle the problem of knives (4).

 
It didn't take the government long to get involved. Blunkett announced a raft of proposals to tackle knife crime (even though he admits that 'the number of incidents involving knives remains low, [but] I share the concern of the public about this issue'). The Metropolitan Police and others are organising a conference to cast a 'Spotlight on Knife Culture in the UK', because 'the time has undoubtedly come for the government, law enforcement agencies, schools and social services throughout the UK to come together and formulate strategies to reduce knife violence and prevent further tragedies from occurring.' (5)

 
Eventually even prime minister Tony Blair expressed concern about Britain's 'knife problem', telling ITV1's This Morning that: 'You now get a mandatory five-year sentence if you carry a gun. And I think some of these people are switching to knives, which is why we are now looking at how do you make that tougher.' (6)

 
What's going on? How did knives become the biggest issue in British politics? There have been various knife panics over the past 10 years - but now, in the space of six weeks, knives seem to have been fully transformed from everyday objects that we use at home and work into evil things, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake and potentially threatening civil unrest. Yet the evidence for a 'rising tide' of knife crime is thin indeed. The anti-knife campaign, it seems, has little to do with fighting crime, and much more to do with launching a moral crusade against something, anything, that can make the authorities feel useful and perhaps even a little virtuous.

 
When it comes to the facts and stats of knife crime, the authorities can't seem to keep their story straight. The furore over the so-called knife culture was triggered by London's Metropolitan Police at the end of November. The London Evening Standard reported the police's concerns about the knife culture 'spreading in London', claiming that '361 incidents involving knives' are recorded every week in the city, representing a rise of 13 per cent from last year (7).

 
Yet a Met spokesperson tells me that, 'There has been little fluctuation in the number of offences involving knives over the past three years'. In the year April 2001 to March 2002, there were 18,854 offences involving knives in London, accounting for 1.78 per cent of all reported crime. From April 2002 to March 2003, there were 19,107 offences involving knives, 1.77 per cent of all reported crime. The latest figures, covering the 10 months from April 2003 to January 2004, show that there were 17,362 offences involving knives, 1.96 per cent of reported crime.

 
So where did that claim in November come from, of 361 knife offences taking place every week in London representing a 13 per cent rise on last year? 'I don't know where it's from', says the spokesperson. If one does the sums, it seems that, if there are 361 offences involving a knife in London each week, that is actually little different from previous years. The 2001/2002 figure of 18,854 offences involving knives works out at 362 offences a week; the 2002/2003 figure of 19,107 translates into 367 a week. So 361 seems fairly ordinary, rather than evidence of a 'spreading knife culture', or even a 13 per cent rise.

 
What's more, the Met's category of knife offences apparently covers everything from cars being scratched with a knife to assault and murder with a knife. Even more strikingly, for all the headlines and handwringing about knife-assisted robberies and murders, it turns out that a 'knife offence' does not necessarily involve the use of a knife. According to the Met spokesperson, the Met's stats on knife crime include 'all offences where a knife has featured in some way'. 'Many of the offences?do not involve the actual use of a knife. [It] includes offences where a knife has been discovered by police during the investigation of another offence - for example, a knife discovered on a person arrested for shoplifting'. So stealing from a shop can become a 'knife crime' if the shoplifter had a knife somewhere on his person but didn't use it.

 
Is a breakdown of these 'knife' offences available, to show how many are minor, how many are major, and how many involved the 'actual use of a knife'? Apparently not. We do know, however, that of the 18,854 knife offences in London in 2001/2002, 70 were homicides, and of the 19,107 knife offences in 2002/2003, 67 were homicides. In both years, the other 18,000-odd offences cover everything from car-scratching to threatening behaviour to assault to offences not actually involving the use of a knife but where a knife was later discovered.

 
The Home Office, which compiles crime stats for all of Britain, not just London, likewise seems to make conflicting statements. In the year 2002/2003, a total of 1,007 homicides were recorded across all of the UK (this is higher than most years because the 172 victims of Dr Harold Shipman, Britain's first serial killer GP, were added, although they were murdered at various times over the past 20 years). In November 2004, according to one report, Home Office minister Hazel Blears claimed that of these 1,007 victims, 272 were killed in knife attacks. But a Home Office spokesman tells me it is misleading to refer to these as knife murders; they are categorised under 'homicide by a sharp instrument', which includes not just knives but 'broken bottles and glasses'. Perhaps the government should consider banning bottles as well as blades.

 
In a population of 60million, 272 killings with a sharp instrument a year seems a fairly low figure. Of course we'd all like it to be lower still, but will metal detectors in bus stations, more stop-and-search laws and the regular frisking of schoolkids do anything to tackle knife killings? Those suggesting such measures overlook one fact: at least as many murders, and usually more, take place in domestic settings as they do on dodgy street corners.

 
Of the 1,007 murders by all methods in the UK in 2002/2003, 410 took place in a domestic setting, between family members, friends or acquaintances, compared with 414 listed as 'stranger' murders - and it should be remembered that in 2002/2003, the stranger category included, as usual, murders where the relationship between the perpetrator and victim was unknown and, unusually, Shipman's 172 victims, where the relationship was classified as a 'commercial, business or professional relationship, where the suspect killed a customer or client in the course of carrying out their occupation', which also falls under the 'stranger' heading. In most years, there are more family or acquaintance murders than stranger murders (8).

 
And according to one Home Office report, which analyses the Scottish experience, around 60 per cent of murders with a sharp instrument take place indoors, usually in a domestic setting. The logical conclusion, then, if restricting access to knives is seriously seen as a means of reducing the murder rate, is to make all of us empty out our kitchen draws and ban knives from the home.

 
In other parts of Britain, the apparent rise in knife crime is itself the result of the authorities' obsession with knives. At the end of November the Scotsman reported that 'Knife crime soars by 50 per cent in four years'. The paper said: 'The number of people caught carrying knives and other deadly weapons in Edinburgh has risen by 50 per cent, shocking new figures today revealed?. A total of 430 crimes involving possession of weapons were recorded last year, compared to 283 in 1999 - an increase of 51.9 per cent' (9).

 
But there seems a simple explanation for this: Scottish police have prioritised searching the general public for knives, above just about anything else. As a spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said, the 50 per cent rise is the result of the police being more 'proactive'; for example, they have 'extensively used stop-and-search powers' on the streets of Edinburgh and elsewhere in their war on knives (10). They went looking for knives, and they found them. Surely, this is less evidence of 'soaring knife crime' than of a soaring obsession with knife crime. It also suggests that talk of a knife culture can become a self-fulfilling prophecy - the more knives are seen as a great evil, the more the police look for them, and the more the police find them, the more we are told we face a great evil. We will no doubt see a similar effect in London when the Met rolls out Operation Blunt to cover all boroughs.

 
What of the claims that more schoolchildren are carrying knives? Here, too, reports have been heavy on hysteria and light on evidence. Media reports have quoted from two surveys - last year's Youth Survey 2003, conducted by the polling company Mori for the Youth Justice Board, and this year's Youth Survey 2004, again conducted by Mori for the Youth Justice Board. Both surveys have been quoted out of context to paint an unrealistic picture of flick knife-wielding schoolkids.

 
The first thing to note is that the Youth Survey is just that - a survey of young people's experiences, where around 5,000 school pupils aged between 11 and 16 self-complete questionnaires on their experiences and perceptions of crime. So it needs to be read with the usual rider that young teenagers, for various reasons, don't always tell the whole truth and nothing but.

 
Despite the fact that the Youth Survey 2004 was published in July, some have chosen to quote from last year's survey - perhaps because its figures for the number of schoolchildren who claim to have carried a weapon appear that bit higher. The London Evening Standard reported that, 'A Mori survey last year found that 29 per cent of secondary schoolchildren admitted having carried a knife' (11). Guardian columnist David Aaronovitch repeated these claims on 13 December, writing that 'in a Mori survey for the Youth Justice Board, 29 per cent of 11- to 16-year-old school pupils admitted to having carried a knife - a figure that rose to 62 per cent of pupils excluded from school' (12).

 
In fact, that part of the 2003 survey is not of secondary schoolchildren in general but of secondary schoolchildren who claim to have committed an offence. The survey interviewed a total of 5,549 school-attending and excluded pupils, 1,692 of whom claimed to have committed an offence. And of these 1,692, when asked 'What offences have you committed in the last year?', 29 per cent of school-attending pupils and 62 per cent of excluded pupils said 'carried a knife'. Yet this response of a sample of schoolkids who claim to have committed an offence has been transformed by some into a snapshot of the knife-carrying habits of all schoolkids everywhere.

 
The reporting of this year's Youth Survey has been equally dubious. The Daily Mirror claimed that 'a Mori poll has revealed that 28 per cent of 11- to 16-year-olds carry knives'; the paper claimed that some 'arm themselves with penknives' while others 'admitted they had flick knives' (13). Yet one of the Mori pollsters who was involved in checking and signing off this year's Youth Survey for the Youth Justice Board tells me that the press coverage has been 'massively misleading'.

 
In a section titled 'Possession of potential weapons' (note the use of the word 'potential'), it is true that 28 per cent of young people in schools said they had carried some kind of knife 'in the last year'. But 25 per cent of these young people said they had carried a penknife, a fairly harmless device which has been beloved of schoolboys in particular for generations. The Mori pollster tells me the figures have been 'dramatically taken out of context': 'It doesn't mean they are walking around with a knife everyday, it might only have been once. And the vast majority are penknives! They might be going whittling for all we know.' As the Youth Survey itself stated, in a passage that funnily enough was not quoted amidst all the claims of school pupils 'arming' themselves with penknives: 't should be noted that a large proportion of the knives being carried by young people?are penknives, which are, of course, used for a wide variety of innocent purposes.' (14)

 
Knife culture? What knife culture? The Met can't seem to make its mind up over whether there has been 'no fluctuation' in knife crime in the past three years, or a steep rise. Scottish and other police forces are finding more knives largely because they have made it their job to find more knives. And while there may be isolated incidents of violence, schoolchildren are not, whatever the headlines might say, turning up to class armed with machetes and bad intentions.

 
Today's anti-knife frenzy is bizarre. Ask yourself - why knives? Why not fists and feet, which have been known to cause serious injury and even murder if used inappropriately (in 2002/2003, 160 people were murdered through 'Hitting, kicking, etc')? Why not 'blunt objects', which were used in 47 murders in 2002/2003? Why not newspapers, which as every football hooligan knows can be folded up to form the 'Millwall brick', hard-edged enough to smash anybody's face in? Or ropes and scarves (there were 68 murders by strangulation in 2002/2003)?

 
There is little logic to the war on knives, because it has little to do with knives themselves. Rather, this looks like another attempt by the authorities to attach themselves to a cause in a desperate bid to appear caring and right-minded. In the absence of any political vision, or much of a political programme, the government is a sucker for moral crusades, where everything can be reduced to a simple clash between good (those who express concern about knives) and evil (knives). That's one reason why the campaign snowballed so quickly, from the Met's comments in November to the launch of the victims' families campaign in December to Blunkett, Blair and Clarke getting involved; government officials always on the lookout for seemingly simple moral issues were not about to let a campaign against evil knives pass them by.

 
And if it meant putting a dagger in the heart of rational debate about crime and society, so be it.

 
(1) First we need to find the knives, David Aaronovitch, Guardian, 14 December 2004

(2) Met fears growing 'knife culture', London Evening Standard, 30 November 2004

(3) School X-ray checks possible, BBC News, 21 November 2004

(4) Knives as deadly as guns, say stab victims' families, Independent, 13 December 2004

(5) Addressing Knives and Violence, Capita conference, January 2005

(6) Blair talks tough on crime, Guardian, 14 December 2004

(7) Met fears growing 'knife culture', London Evening Standard, 30 November 2004

(8) Crime in England and Wales, Home Office, 2004

(9) Knife crime soars by 50 per cent in four years, Scotsman, 19 November 2004

Best regards,

Argyll

[buzwardo]

'Ninja' Crawls Into Restaurant, Robs Workers

POSTED: 5:56 am EDT August 17, 2005
UPDATED: 8:13 am EDT August 18, 2005

A man wearing a ninja mask and dressed in black crawled into an Orange County, Fla., Steak 'n Shake restaurant early Wednesday and robbed several workers at knife-point, according to police.

Investigators said the man was on his stomach when he entered the restaurant located at the 7700 block of south Orange Blossom Trail at about 2 a.m. Wednesday and surprised workers,

"He jumped up, threatened workers with a knife and demanded money," Local 6's Lauren Rowe said.

Police said the man, still wearing his ninja costume, escaped police by running into a nearby industrial park.

A worker at the restaurant was taken to the hospital suffering from chest pains. He is expected to be OK.

If you have any information concerning this crime, you are urged to call Crimeline at (800) 423-TIPS.

[SB_Mig]

LONDON, Sept. 28 ? British mixed martial artist Lee Murray is in critical condition following an incident early Wednesday morning outside the Funky Buddha Nightclub in Mayfair, a wealthy area of London, according to The London Evening Standard.

Murray had been stabbed repeatedly in the chest, puncturing a lung and severing an artery. He remains in critical condition after having undergone two operations, The Standard reported.

A veteran of Cage Rage and the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Murray had been attending a birthday party for "Page 3" girl Lauren Pope before violence broke out around 3:15 a.m that escalated into a mass brawl involving 25 people. As of Wednesday evening no arrests had been made, though police said that they are hunting several suspects.

Officers found one victim outside the club and another lying on the pavement near Green Park tube station. Murray, himself, had collapsed in a pool of blood 100 yards away.

[buzwardo]

Boy Faces Suspension For Bringing Butter Knife To School
Parents Fight Punishment Over Knife

POSTED: 5:05 pm CDT September 27, 2005
UPDATED: 10:49 am CDT September 28, 2005

OMAHA, Neb. -- A butter knife in a boy's book bag led to suspension at Omaha Public Schools this week.

Ethan Gray is a first-grader at Ed Babe Gomez Heritage Elementary School at 17th and P streets. Gray said he didn't know the knife was in his book bag. OPS said it has a zero-tolerance policy.

Now, there's a standoff. Gray's parents say they won't send their son to school until the district backs down on its mandatory suspension, and the district said it doesn't have any plans to do that.

Gray, who is 6, said he brought his book bag to school on Monday, but when he set it down, one of his family's butter knives fell out onto the cafeteria floor. A teacher walked up to question him.

Gray told the teacher he wasn't sure how the knife got there. His family thinks his 4-year-old brother, Ben, put it there.

The school now plans to give the boy a one-day in-school suspension as part of its "no tolerance" weapons policy.

"We're going to file suit to prevent that suspension," said the family's attorney, James Martin Davis.

Gray's family said there needs to be some leeway in this case. It was an accident and they don't want an example to be made of their son.
"If he ever needs the benefit of the doubt, he's not going to get it. He's going to be labeled as a kid who brought a weapon to school," said Ethan's mother, Lynette Gray.

OPS said any knife is considered a weapon. The principal has some discretion on the punishment for students in grades K through 3, as long as the weapon isn't a firearm.

"It isn't like we have a hammer and treat everything like a nail. We try to redirect the behavior," said OPS's Steve Nelson.

The Gray family said redirecting behavior implies the boy brought the knife to school on purpose.

"How can my son, who's still learning to tie his shoes, be responsible for a book bag that I shoved him out the door with?" Lynette Gray said.
Law enforcement was contacted in the case.

OPS said the boy could have been expelled.

The record will go into a confidential file along with test scores that only district employees, teachers and parents can access.

http://www.theomahachannel.com/news/5027982/detail.html

[Crafty_Dog]

Associated Press  9/28/05

**********************8
 MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. (AP) - Five years into the 21st century, an 1846
anti-dueling law is being used to prosecute two cousins accused of getting
in a knife fight.

"The 1800s are alive and well in Mount Clemens," joked Dean Alan, who heads
the Macomb County prosecutor's office warrants division. It issued warrants
Tuesday.

Police say the cousins, ages 19 and 31, disagreed Monday over a $30 debt.

The older man brandished a knife and challenged the younger man to fight
outside their Mount Clemens home, and the younger man accepted, said Sheriff
Mark Hackel. The teen was stabbed in the stomach.

"He could've done any number of things," Hackel said. "He could've called
police, he could've fled the area. But he took on the challenge and became part of the problem."

A lawyer specializing in criminal defense said he has never represented
anyone charged with dueling but said lawyers for both men could use the same strategy -- claiming self-defense.

"If it's a mutual fight, it's kind of hard to say it's one guy's fault,"
said Stephen Rabaut. "And just because you're the injured party, that
doesn't mean you were the good guy."

[Crafty_Dog]

WEAPONS OF CHOICE
Texan shoots robber in garage
'This is one homeowner that you ain't going to mess with'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: October 1, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern



? 2005 WorldNetDaily.com



Texan Danny Dunn fought burglar (KRIS-TV, Corpus Christi, Texas)
Stabbed by a burglar in his own garage, a Texas homeowner fought back, shooting the suspect three times.

Danny Dunn of Corpus Christi told local KRIS-TV that when an intruder entered his home just before 6 a.m. yesterday, he was determined to not go down without a fight.

"This is one homeowner that you ain't going to mess with," Dunn said. "I'll take the next one down too."


Police arrested a suspect, 22-year-old Daniel Holcomb, at a nearby hospital where he was being treated for gunshot wounds to his arm, leg and pelvis.

Dunn, in his garage heading to work, said he saw the burglar rummaging through his belongings and shouted at him.

That's when the burglar attacked.

"He came at me with a knife, he cut me on the hand, and on the face, I took 49 stitches total," Dunn told the TV station.

The homeowner said the burglar then tried to escape the same way he entered, by crawling underneath the cracked-open garage door, but he couldn't get out.

A frightened Dunn then raced inside and grabbed his .22 caliber rifle.

"He had pushed the garage door opener and it went down, trapping him; he come at me again, and I shot him. ... I shot him three times," Dunn said.

The burglar left behind a trail of blood before falling to the ground just outside the garage.

"He flopped around out here for a while, and he wouldn't stay down, like I told him, I told him I was going to kill him, and I should have."

Dunn said the burglar managed to get away by opening the garage door, but apparently left his fingerprints behind.

Police didn't take long to catch up with the suspect, however, KRIS reported.

[argyll]

"Terror weapons" my ass.

THESE horrifying knives have been taken off the streets of Coventry in the last 10 days

http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/tm_objectid=16915296&method=full&siteid=50003&headline=terror-weapons-taken-off-coventry-s-streets-name_page.html


Best regards,

Argyll

[Crafty_Dog]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Knife-wielding man tackled in mall
var isoPubDate = 'December 11, 2006'
By Christian Burkin
document.write(''+isoPubDate+'
') December 11, 2006
Record Staff Writer STOCKTON - A bizarre stabbing briefly interrupted holiday shopping Sunday evening at Sherwood Mall, but it was back to business as usual less than an hour later.
According to police, an altercation between two men at the Whimsy Family Entertainment arcade led to a vicious knife attack.
The victim suffered both lacerations and stab wounds but is expected to recover, police said.
After the stabbing, several eyewitnesses said, rather than escape, the attacker wandered around the mall, dripping blood and trailing a cleaver-style knife, following a route that was not unlike a shopping trip before eventually being tackled to the ground.
Police were unable to provide an exact time line or identify the suspect late Sunday, but after the stabbing, the attacker's first stop was the mall's security station, where he slashed security monitors - breaking at least one of them - without interruption.
Next, he drifted over to Sunglass Hut, smashed open the glass counter and grabbed a pair of sunglasses before heading for Best Buy. That was at around 5:40 p.m., said Robert Shaw, an employee of Software Etc., which sits between the security station and Sunglass Hut.
Shaw said he didn't see any guards in the area at the time, though shoppers already were fleeing, some of them dropping purses and cell phones as they ran. But at that time, Shaw said, he had other things on his mind.
"I just wanted to get people to the back of the store," he said.
Eventually, the attacker made his way back toward the mall's food court, grabbing a Christmas tree and dragging it behind him along the way.
"He had blood on his shoes and his blade, and he just picked up a Christmas tree and started dragging it around," said Michael Davis, 29.
Finally, the attacker was tackled in the food court.
One woman, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said her husband was waiting in line at Panda Express, unaware of what was going on, when the attacker returned. Her husband, who works in construction, tackled the man and wrestled him to the ground, she said.
Stockton Police Department spokesman Pete Smith could not confirm who stopped the knife-wielding man, but he said he had heard that shoppers were involved. Police arrested the suspect at the scene, and he was booked into the County Jail on assault charges. It was not known if there was any relationship between the attacker and the victim, and there was no known motive.
Mall security guards would not comment on their activities during the incident, and calls for comment from mall management were not returned.
The entire food court was taped off after the incident, and officers walked around the area, marking smears of blood on the tile.
With just 15 days left before Christmas, the brief outward rush of shoppers reversed itself, and rubberneckers returned to browsing the mall's stores.
The victim, who police would only say was a man in his mid-20s, was treated at St. Joseph's Medical Center for stab wounds and lacerations to the head. He was expected to recover, Smith said.

[Crafty_Dog]

Seems like this dual tool has ominous overtones , , ,

http://wcbstv.com/seenon/local_story_022171646.html

[Crafty_Dog]

An attempted robbery using sticks

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=04e0c0b111

[Crafty_Dog]

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/a...ase/article.do

Hospital security staff are being equipped with stab-proof vests, shields and helmets to protect them against violent patients and relatives.
The protection is available to staff at hospitals in Cheshire in response to an unprecedented numbers of assualts against doctors and nurses.
Last year across the UK, there were 75,000 attacks on NHS staff - one every seven minutes.

It is estimated that the violence costs the NHS around £100,000 a year in security, time off for affected staff, and legal costs.
Nursing leaders say violence against staff is 'endemic' in the NHS, making them dangerous and 'traumatic' places to work.


Managers at North Cheshire NHS trust, which covers Halton and Warrington hospitals, decided to act after 73 assaults occured at the hospitals in 2005/06.
A spokesman said: "Security staff have been issued with stab-proof vests. Helmets and shields are available."
Security staff are called in by doctors and nurses when situations get out of hand.
Chris Todd, the trust's security management specialist, said: "Our main priority is safeguarding the well-being off out staff and patients.
"We meet with our local police and community support officers to discuss how we can address these issues at a local level.
"The trust will not tolerate abusive physical or verbal behaviour from patients or relatives towards any of our staff.


"We keep a thorough record of all incidents and will be tracking the progress of any of these matters through the criminal justice system."
All staff attend conflict resolution training sessions, to help them recognise and defuse potentially violent situations.
The number of incidents in 2006/07 is expected to be lower than the previous year.
Hospitals across the country are taking their own measures to deal with violence on NHS wards.
In Nottingham, plain-clothed police officers have been brought in to patrol wards and step in at the first sign of trouble.


Undercover officers began patrolling the accident and emergency department at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham at the weekend.
Inspector Andy Baguley of Nottinghamshire Police said violence in hospitals is a crime and should not be tolerated.
He said: "Doctors, nurses and other staff shouldn't have to put up with rowdy and abusive behaviour."
Last week the BBC's Panorama programme revealed that the vast majority of assaults never reached the courts.


Of 58,700 incidents in England in the year 2005/06, only 850 ended with a prosecution.
A survey by the Royal College of Nursing found that 80 per cent of accident and emergency nurses had suffered harrassment or assault over the past year, and a quarter claimed they had been physically assaulted.
The violence problem in England prompted the Department of Health last June to unveil a crackdown on violence and verbal abuse in England's hospitals.
They promised that anyone being threatening or abusive to NHS staff would be slapped with a £1,000 fine and bosses would have the power to remove them from the premisis.


Patients and those needing treatment would be treated but could still later face fines or be subject to criminal action.
Last year St James Hospital in Leeds introduced police onto its wards to protect staff from physical and verbal abuse.

[arkangel]

hospitals incubate more than just sickness.
while receiving iv antibiotics for my leg infection the guy in the seat next to me offered to use his stun gun on me. then he promised to cut me.
he could hardly walk so it would not have been a good move on his part. when security moved to "assist" him out he couldnt walk his knee was so infected, i dont know how he was going to fight me.
this is the same hospital people were shot dead at two or three years ago.

[patrick portael]

The past year in Belgium:

A 17 year old boy is kiilled with a knife by another boy because he wouldn't give is mp3 player.
A 17 year old boy is killed with a knife by a 19 year old boy because he wouldn't give a sigaret.
A 19 year old boy is killed with a knife at a mardi gras parade bcause he was in another groups teretory.
a 45 year old man gets stomped  by a group of 5 youngsters because he told them to behave themselves on the bus.

fights an knifefights have been of all ages but the reasons just get absurd.

[kikr]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18295904/

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A 75-year-old man was killed and a 42-year-old woman was hospitalized with life-threatening stab wounds resulting from what police believe was a domestic dispute about 5:15 a.m. Tuesday. Investigators called to the 1500 block of Florida Avenue found L.C. Collins stabbed several times. Police said he died at the scene.

Catherine Robinson, also with stab wounds, was transported to Shands-Jacksonville Medical Center and reported to be in stable condition.

After gathering evidence and questioning witnesses, homicide investigators said that Robinson was stabbed by her estranged husband, Christopher Robinson.

Late Tuesday an arrest warrant on a charge of attempted murder was issued for Robinson, 48.

Police describe him as 5 feet 1 inch tall and weighing 163 pounds.

Detectives are still trying to determine Collins' relationship with either of the Robinsons and currently there are no charges filed for Collins' death.

[5thprofession47]

This is some graphic footage from a convenience store robbery. The website is polish I believe. One bad guy uses a kukri! Scary stuff.

http://www.smog.pl/wideo/9694/chcial_go_oskalpowac/

[Bandolero]

Closing Arguments in Airman Killing

May 15, 2007 - 10:29pm

By SARAH KARUSH
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) - A military prosecutor asking jurors to convict an Air Force enlistee portrayed him Tuesday as a methodical killer who hunted down a fellow airman in a workout room, slammed a weight into her face, dragged her body to another room and used a knife to finish the job.

But in closing arguments at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, Airman Calvin Eugene Hill's defense lawyer said prosecutors ignored inconvenient facts, including authorities' sloppy handling of evidence and the crime scene.

Hill, 21, of Warren, Ohio, is charged with murdering Airman First Class Ashley Turner. He could face the death penalty if convicted. The jury is scheduled to start deliberations Wednesday.

Turner, 20, of Frederick, Md., was found beaten and stabbed at the Naval Air Station in Keflavik, Iceland, on Aug. 14, 2005.

The prosecutor, Maj. Robert E. Luttrell, said Hill killed Turner because she was set to testify against him eight days later at a court-martial on larceny charges. Hill was accused of stealing about $2,700 from Turner by making ATM withdrawals using her card and personal identification number.
"He had motive, a clear undeniable motive, and he had an opportunity to kill," Luttrell said.

Hill's defense lawyers have suggested the killing could have been carried out by others, including Turner's boyfriend. He also was facing a court-martial that month on drug charges, and Turner knew of his drug use, they said.

On Tuesday, the defense noted that Turner's key card was used after the time prosecutors said she was attacked, but that prosecutors never explained why.

"The government has told you that Airman Hill had all kinds of reasons to go to her room," Capt. Jason Kellhofer said. "I was waiting because I was sure we'd get to hear one of those reasons. We didn't."

If the key card was used by Turner herself, that would mean the attack took place later, at a time witnesses say Hill was elsewhere.

The key card was found in the workout room, and prosecutors contend that Hill could have returned it later in the evening. The defense has questioned why he would have bothered to risk returning it.

A key piece of the prosecution's case is a tiny spot of Turner's blood found on Hill's shoelace. Kellhofer argued it could be from a trail of blood left when medical personnel carried Turner to an ambulance.

Hill's court-martial is being held at Bolling Air Force Base because the Keflavik base closed in September. Testimony lasted nearly three weeks.

[Bandolero]

Last updated May 25, 2007 11:27 a.m. PT
Minn. boy stabs father, police say

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A 10-year-old boy who may have been trying to protect his mother during a domestic dispute Friday allegedly stabbed and killed his father with a kitchen knife.

Officers were called to an apartment complex by a neighbor and found the body, police spokesman Tom Walsh said.
According to witnesses, the boy was in the apartment with two siblings and tried to defend his mother from his father, who was drunk and threatening his family with a pipe.

Walsh declined to confirm that or provide other details and said police were trying to determine the motive.
The father and son weren't immediately identified, and the boy was released to the custody of relatives.

[Crafty_Dog]

Not a knife, but it is an item that cuts, so I post it here.

A study in "the Three Ss":

Bar fight charge is attempted murder
Man is “critical” after incident early Sunday.
By Jeff Wiehe jwiehe@news-sentinel.com
 
Stapleton: Was reportedly in fight at another bar 
 
Allen County prosecutors say a Fort Wayne man used a broken beer bottle to attack Charles A. Minnix early Sunday morning, stabbing the 42-year-old in the neck, arm, chest and hand during a fight outside Country Spirits bar on Arcola Road.

After medics airlifted the critically injured South Whitley man to a local hospital, doctors put him on a ventilator. He had emergency surgery to repair his punctured lung and stop arterial bleeding.

David Lee Stapleton, 45, of the 5300 block of Stonehedge Boulevard, was arrested at his apartment shortly after the attack and charged with aggravated battery. Thursday, the charge was raised to attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Stapleton posted $10,000 bond after his intial arrest Sunday morning, but was rearrested during a court appearance the next day and given $25,000 bond. He posted that, too, and as of this morning he had not been arrested for the attempted murder warrant, according to lockup records.

The fight apparently began when Minnix began to ask bar patrons for money to put into the jukebox, according to an Allen County Sheriff’s Department report. He and Stapleton began to argue sometime before 2:45 a.m., and a bartender told police she heard Stapleton say to Minnix, “You want a piece of me?”

Stapleton — who witnesses said in the report had been in an altercation earlier that night at another bar — apparently wanted to use a pool cue against Minnix, but bar patrons wrestled it away from him and got the two to go outside. There, Stapleton broke a beer bottle and began jabbing at Minnix and another man trying to break up the fight.

According to a probable-cause affidavit, Stapleton stabbed Minnix in the arm before bystanders separated them. Then Stapleton somehow got to Minnix again and stabbed him in the throat. He also cut another man who was trying to break the two apart, the sheriff’s report said. That man suffered only a minor laceration to his arm.

Witnesses dragged Minnix back into the bar. They locked Stapleton out, and an affidavit said he tried to get back in, yelling and swearing. Several witnesses said he threatened to kill Minnix.

Stapleton left with a woman, according to the sheriff’s report.

Police arrived at the bar to find large amounts of blood outside the door and on the front wall, as well as a blood trail to where Stapleton’s car had been parked, the sheriff’s report said. Officers also found a broken beer bottle covered in blood in a trash barrel outside the bar.

Officers waited for Stapleton at his apartment, where he arrived about 45 minutes after the fight. When police arrested him, he had blood on his hands. He was treated at St. Joseph Hospital before police took him to Lockup.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/17374237.htm

[Crafty_Dog]

Washington Post, Saturday, August 25, 2007; B04

CRIME

Guard's Husband Charged in Stabbing
D.C. police have arrested a man accused of stabbing his wife at the Southeast Washington elementary school where she was working as a security guard.

Police say Dwayne Porter, 29, entered Ferebee-Hope Elementary School just after 2 p.m. Thursday and stabbed his wife 16 times. His wife, who was not identified in charging documents because she is a witness, is employed by Hawk One Security.

Porter, of the 400 block of Taylor Street NE, has been married to his wife for about five years, and she is the mother of his 2- and 6-year-old children, according to court documents.

His wife was taken to a hospital in critical but stable condition, authorities said. Before she was taken into surgery, she told police that Porter accused her of cheating on him, stabbed her with a pocketknife and fled the scene, according to court documents.

According to court records, police contacted Porter's mother, who said her son had told her that he was going to jail because "I stabbed her." She told police Porter was at her home, in the 1200 block of Perry Street NE, and wanted to turn himself in.

Police arrested Porter at his mother's home Thursday night. After waiving his rights, Porter told police that he had stabbed his wife, authorities said. Porter was charged with assault with intent to kill while armed. He is scheduled to appear in D.C. Superior Court today.


-- Jenna Johnson

[sgtmac_46]

Last year I worked a stabbing that took place after a bar fight involving multiple subjects.

The bar fight itself did not involve any weapons, but did involve several people. The actual stabbing took place after the fight while one of the participants was walking away from the bar.  He was about two blocks away, when one of his opponents in the bar fight, who shadowed him after he left the bar, snuck up behind him and stabbed him in the right upper torso, penetrating his liver, diaphraghm, and puncturing his lung.

The suspect said something to the victim as he was doing this, and the victim reached over, pulled the knife out (the suspect still had ahold of it) and then took off running without ever even looking back at his assailant.

He ran approximately 100 yards, and up a flight of stairs to an apartment building, where he collapsed from internal bleeding.  When I got there less than 5 minutes later, he was nearly bled out and was death white.  I had his buddies lift his legs, because it was obvious his blood pressure was falling, and we needed to get his blood pressure up somehow.

The ambulance arrived, pushed fluids once they got a vein (they had nearly collapsed) and got him in to emergency surgery.  He survived and was released from the hospital less than week later......though another two or three minutes in that hallway and he'd have been dead.

The moral of the story.......don't get so drunk you aren't aware of your surroundings or if someone is sneaking up on you from behind.

[Bandolero]

And a well schooled thug he is going for the neck like that!:

Rockets' Alston Arrested for Second Time This Month

Washington Post, Wednesday, August 29, 2007; E02

Houston Rockets guard Rafer Alston was released without bail yesterday after being charged with stabbing a man at a Manhattan nightspot -- his second brush with the law this month.

Police arrested Alston, 31, early Monday on felony assault charges after responding to a brawl at a nightclub. A criminal complaint alleges that amid the ruckus, he slashed a man at the club in the neck.

Alston was ordered to return to court on Jan. 3. His attorney did not immediately respond to a telephone message.

The arrest came three weeks after Alston was charged with misdemeanor assault and public intoxication in Houston. . . .

[peregrine]

Last year I worked a stabbing that took place after a bar fight involving multiple subjects.

The bar fight itself did not involve any weapons, but did involve several people. The actual stabbing took place after the fight while one of the participants was walking away from the bar.  He was about two blocks away, when one of his opponents in the bar fight, who shadowed him after he left the bar, snuck up behind him and stabbed him in the right upper torso, penetrating his liver, diaphraghm, and puncturing his lung.

The suspect said something to the victim as he was doing this, and the victim reached over, pulled the knife out (the suspect still had ahold of it) and then took off running without ever even looking back at his assailant.

He ran approximately 100 yards, and up a flight of stairs to an apartment building, where he collapsed from internal bleeding.  When I got there less than 5 minutes later, he was nearly bled out and was death white.  I had his buddies lift his legs, because it was obvious his blood pressure was falling, and we needed to get his blood pressure up somehow.

The ambulance arrived, pushed fluids once they got a vein (they had nearly collapsed) and got him in to emergency surgery.  He survived and was released from the hospital less than week later......though another two or three minutes in that hallway and he'd have been dead.

The moral of the story.......don't get so drunk you aren't aware of your surroundings or if someone is sneaking up on you from behind.

lay bad side lung down.

[Crafty_Dog]

P:

Why is that the right thing to do?

[buzwardo]

If I'm treating a pneumothorax I'd want to get some sort of non-permeable membrane (meaning a piece of plastic or similar) over the injury. I'd hope emergent care is available and keep the vic on his back so I can monitor vitals and perform CPR as needed. So much bleeding is described that I'd have to suspect a hemothorax, which basically leaves you SOL in the field as you got to get at the bleeder to do anything, and that's well beyond my skill level.

This assumes it's some sort of thoractic injury, which isn't clear from the post. Whether the dude is bleeding out, into his thoractic cavity, or into his abdomen, sealing the hole, treating for shock, and getting the vic to an ER is the way I'd play it.

[Kaju Dog]

P:

Why is that the right thing to do?

To answere your question Crafty.  You lay them on the affected side for a few reasons.  The main reason is so that it is easier for them to breath.  If you have one healthy lung still functioning, then you do not want to lay them so that their body weight is compromising the ability of that lung to function (rise and fall).  Also laying on the side would help prevent the person from choking on their own blood.  You can still monitor vitals but CPR   If he's bleeding out and your not putting fluids in, CPR is kind of a lost cause?  Whats the heart going to pump if he's bled out?


Control the bleeding, Tell someone else to call EMS/911, Maintain Airway and Breathing, Treat for Shock and place in rocovery position.  If the injured is conscious they may be better off sitting up with feet elevated also (V) this can relieve some of the pressure in the chest and aid with breathing.

Hope that helps.

There was actually a field case in Iraq where one of the Corpsman used the hose from his Camel Pack (H2O supply) to create a temporary chest tube.  (Dont try this at home kiddies)    Now thats thinking outside the Kennel. 

Semper Gumbey

[sgtmac_46]

If I'm treating a pneumothorax I'd want to get some sort of non-permeable membrane (meaning a piece of plastic or similar) over the injury. I'd hope emergent care is available and keep the vic on his back so I can monitor vitals and perform CPR as needed. So much bleeding is described that I'd have to suspect a hemothorax, which basically leaves you SOL in the field as you got to get at the bleeder to do anything, and that's well beyond my skill level.

This assumes it's some sort of thoractic injury, which isn't clear from the post. Whether the dude is bleeding out, into his thoractic cavity, or into his abdomen, sealing the hole, treating for shock, and getting the vic to an ER is the way I'd play it.

His medical issue was less the puncturing of the lung (which was a small puncture from the very end of the knife), but the now nearly bi-sected liver.  The knife actually penetrated his liver first, before passing entirely through his liver, and through his diaphraghm in to his lung, single blow from the knife.

It was clear from looking at the single stab wound that he was stabbed through the liver, and I knew this kid was in serious trouble, and the massive internal bleeding from the liver trauma was what nearly killed him.  My immediate response was to elevate the legs and the lower body, to try and get some blood available for circulation....all other things were secondary consideration for him at that point.

I remember him saying to me that he was going to die.....and I told him like hell he was!

At this point we were on the second floor, and had a flight of stairs to haul him down.  We all loaded him and hauled him to the ambulance, where they began pushing massive amounts of fluids.

[sgtmac_46]

FYI, it's been a little while since our last shooting, but stabbings seem to be increasing around here.  I don't think I arrest to many felons and parolees who don't have at least a 3" or 4" inch folding blade in their pocket.  You get caught with a gun, you go to prison.....but you can carry a knife around most places in Missouri without so much as a sideways glance.

If folks are training in self-defense, but not training for the knife, they are making a mistake.

[Crafty_Dog]

That is an interesting point Sarge. 

Does anyone have any data on this?

[Crafty_Dog]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=94d_1190715063

[TomFurman]

Knowledge of the Sayoc Vital Templates seems to be a good idea along with this medical management information. It lends to identifying the types of wounds and possible implications (internal damage and the anatomy).

-- Tom Furman

[Crafty_Dog]

Knives, Not Guns, Have Been Weapon of Choice in Campus Crimes, Study Finds
By Ian Shapira
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 2, 2007; A09



More than 3 percent of 17 million crimes reported from 2000 through 2004 occurred at schools, colleges and universities, with knives being the most commonly used weapon, according to an FBI study released yesterday.

The Crime in Schools and Colleges study, which gathered data from about a third of the nation's law enforcement agencies, showed that the most commonly used weapon in more than 558,000 campus-related crimes over the five-year span was a knife -- not counting fists and feet, which accounted for most of the incidents.

Almost 11,000 incidents included a blade, and more than 3,400 included a firearm.

"I didn't realize how significant that discrepancy was" between knives and guns, said Dave Resch, the FBI's unit chief of behavior analysis. He said that finding surprised him the most. "These kids aren't building these knives in shop class. . . . These knives are coming from somewhere."

The bureau's first study of crime at schools offers a rough portrait of threats facing the country's education staff and students, from those in elementary school to those in college. About 96 percent of the crimes in which an arrest was made were assaults (simple or aggravated) or acts of intimidation.

The largest group arrested for crimes at school for which age was known was 13- to 15-year-olds, accounting for 38 percent of those arrested. More than 76 percent, or 313,556, of those arrested were males. Year after year, October was the month in which the most crimes occurred.
More than half of all campus crimes involved acquaintances. About 7.5 percent involved an attack by a stranger. There were reports of 3,700 such random assaults in 2004, up from 2,301 in 2000.

FBI officials cautioned against drawing conclusions about trends. Although the study shows the number and type of crimes that occurred annually over a five-year period, officials said that the number of law enforcement agencies that participated fluctuated from year to year. The agencies that gave data reflect about 22 percent of the country's population, officials said.

Still, Resch said that attacks by strangers -- such as the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech in April -- are alarming, in part because schools are growing more crowded each year, which can easily fuel tension.
"You get bumped in the hallway 20 years ago, and you kind of know the guy," Resch said. "Now, schools are so much bigger than they used to be."

[Crafty_Dog]

Man stabs self with knives in pants
Man accused of stealing hunting knives hidden in waistband trips, stabs self
The Associated Press
updated 6:23 p.m. ET, Tues., Jan. 8, 2008


GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A man who hid hunting knives in his pants to try to steal them from a western Michigan store tripped while fleeing and stabbed himself in the abdomen, police say.

The suspect was hospitalized after Monday night's attempted theft from a Meijer Inc. superstore in Grand Rapids and is expected to face a misdemeanor shoplifting charge, police say.

The wounds did not appear to be life-threatening, The Grand Rapids Press reported.

The man had put about $300 worth of hunting knives in his waistband, police told WZZM-TV. Police say he tried to leave the store, but Meijer employees confronted him and a scuffle followed.

The man then fell and was stabbed by the knives he had hidden in his clothing, police said. They said it happened about 5:40 p.m.

"The man was taken to the hospital," said Meijer spokesman Frank Giuliano. "We are cooperating with the investigation by police."
Police said the suspect has a record of retail fraud.

"I saw a man laying down on the mat by the carts, a knife by him with blood on the full blade of the knife," shopper Heather Dodd told WOOD-TV. "It was not a dull kitchen knife or a sharp butcher's knife, it was somewhere in between.

"Someone was holding him down so I just walked around him, grabbed my cart, made sure everything was OK and got out of the way."

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22560281/?gt1=10755

[Crafty_Dog]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

January 11, 2008
One Dead After Attack on Transit Worker
By AL BAKER
A New York City Transit worker walking home after a late shift, three muggers armed with a curved knife and a bystander who somehow got caught in the middle: they all converged on a dark and rainy street in Upper Manhattan late Thursday in a blood-soaked frenzy that left the bystander stabbed to death and two others — including the transit worker — hospitalized.

Hours after the midnight attack on West 139th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, detectives were still trying to sift through the details of the deadly encounter.

As the day wore on, it appeared that the bystander, Flonarza M. Byas, got involved either as a good Samaritan trying to help the struggling transit worker, Maurice Parks, or inadvertently collided with the mugging. Earlier theories — that he might have been one of the assailants or that he might have jumped in to prey on the conductor once the muggers knocked him down — were being discounted.

One thing was clear: As of late Friday, investigators said it appeared that the subway motorman was a victim who decided to fight back — just as officials said he did when he was mugged in the city in 1994.

This time, Mr. Parks was attacked from behind, hit on the side of the head and knocked to the ground after he emerged from the subterranean subway tunnels at West 135th Street and walked about three blocks, the police said. Once down, the assailants started beating Mr. Parks and took a denim bag he had packed with clothes and papers. The muggers — detectives believe there were three men in all — pulled a knife and Mr. Parks pulled one too, the police said.

The conductor apparently carried the blade for just this reason, so he could defend himself, one law enforcement official said. But who stabbed whom first in this case is an open question.

When the blades were wielded, the tally of wounds was long: Mr. Parks, 39, of Manhattan, was stabbed in the abdomen and slashed in the hands; Mr. Byas, 28, was stabbed in the chest, back and leg; and Hector Cruz, 21, was stabbed twice in the abdomen, the police said.

The official said that investigators believe Mr. Parks was stabbed by Mr. Cruz and that he — in turn — stabbed Mr. Cruz and Mr. Byas. The police said they believed Mr. Byas was homeless and said he had received a summons an hour before the attack for trespassing in a nearby park. But Mr. Byas’s fiancé and his brother each insisted he had been employed as an accountant and was not homeless.

“He was a really good person, a person I really loved a lot,” said Stephanie C. Diaz, 22, who said she and Mr. Byas were engaged to be married last year. “We had a lot of plans for us; it’s just hard to see that go away.”

One official said Mr. Byas “wandered into the middle of it, unbeknownst to the victim, Parks.” The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing, said that Mr. Parks appeared to believe Mr. Byas was an assailant so he stabbed him. “That is what it looks like,” the official said.

Another official said another possibility is that Mr. Byas might have mistook Mr. Parks for a criminal.

“It’s possible he thought Parks was the aggressor,” the second official said of Mr. Byas. “He probably stepped in to help, but it might have been difficult to tell who was the aggressor and who was the victim, Parks or the others.” The official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, added of Mr. Byas: “He could have been stabbed by both of them, for all we know.”

In the chaos, 911 calls were made. When uniformed police officers from the 26th Precinct arrived on the street in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood they were flagged down by Mr. Cruz, who was bleeding, and Leandro Ventura, 15, who initially characterized themselves as victims. Mr. Parks and Mr. Byas were lying on the ground next to one another less than a block away to the west. Mr. Parks identified Mr. Ventura as one of his assailants, the police said, and the three wounded men were taken by ambulance to Harlem Hospital Center, where Mr. Byas pronounced dead at 12:46 a.m.

Mr. Ventura, meanwhile, was taken into custody and interviewed at the precinct station house, the police said. He was later charged with first-degree robbery, even though his relatives said he was being wrongly accused.

“He implicates himself in robbing, but tries to put himself away from the stabbing,” the first official said of Mr. Ventura, adding that investigators believe Mr. Cruz was wielding the knife.

Two knives were recovered as evidence — the folding knife with a curved blade and a straight knife that Mr. Parks is believed to have pulled from his pocket. Detectives were seeking a third assailant whom the responding officers initially saw, but who is believed to have fled. They were checking video cameras of nearby stores.

As for Mr. Parks, a conductor who became a transit worker in 1997, he was recovering after surgery on Friday, his mother and a spokesman for his union said.

Officials said it was not likely he would be charged criminally.

In New York, it is legal for someone to carry a knife provided the state penal law does not define it as illegal, such as a switchblade or a gravity knife, for example, according to prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys. Many objects — such as a legal knife or a baseball bat — can be classified as a “dangerous instrument” if they are used in a crime, the analysts said.

“It’s a common question in criminal cases, whether what someone had in their possession fits the definition of these few illegal knives, or whether they knew that the knife was illegal,” said Thomas M. O’Brien, an attorney with the special litigation unit of the city’s Legal Aid Society, who said he could not comment on the case in Manhattan. “Just having an ordinary knife is not a crime.”

At Mr. Parks’s bedside was Roger Toussaint, the president of the Transport Workers Union, Local 100, said the union spokesman, Jesse Derris. Transit workers were seen on Friday coming and going from the hospital at Lenox Avenue and 135th Street.

And Mr. Parks’ mother, Mona Parks, 57, who lives in the Bronx, spoke outside the hospital, saying she was upset that her son had been so seriously hurt, but relieved he had survived. She said she had spoken to him and that he whispered that he wanted some water as he slowly regained consciousness after surgery.

“I’m glad he did what he did, otherwise he’d be dead,” said Ms. Parks. Mr. Derris said Mr. Parks, “works vacation relief, meaning he covers different lines on the numbered trains when people are on vacation.” He works nights, Mr. Derris said, and got off work at about 11:23 p.m. on Thursday.

Ms. Parks and a martial arts instructor, Little John Davis, said Mr. Parks was a dedicated student of martial arts and was physically fit. “I’m sad that it happened,” Mr. Davis said. “But it’s good that somebody had some training to be able to take care of themselves.”

Ms. Parks said her son is not reckless and that his heroics were borne of necessity.

“If he had an opportunity to run he would’ve run, but there were four of them,” she said, apparently mistakenly including Mr. Byas in the group of assailants. At Mr. Ventura’s home at West 141st Street, the teenager’s older brother defended him. George A. Ventura, 21, said his brother was walking home from playing basketball in St. Nicholas Park when he saw the altercation and stopped to help one of the stabbed men who was screaming for help. Mr. Ventura said his brother flagged down a police car.

“I know he had nothing to do with it,” said Mr. Ventura, who said his brother is a student at Washington Irving High School. “I know his friends, I’ve never seen my brother hanging with older dudes in my life.” He added: “He’s a good kid, he’s not a troubled dude, he always listens.”

George Ventura said that the police called the family home after the incident and that when he and his mother, Yolanda Escoto, went to the precinct, officers said the teenager was a witness. It was not until Friday morning that the family learned he was a suspect, said George Ventura.

The teenager’s lawyer, Ismael Gonzalez, said, “He’s going to plead not guilty to the charges.”

Relatives of Mr. Cruz also came to visit him at the hospital. “He’s a good kid,” said his sister, who declined to provide her name. “He was hanging out with the wrong people.”

Colin Moynihan, Daryl Khan and Robin Stein contributed reporting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/nyregion/11cnd-stab.html?_r=2&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

[peregrine]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The muggers — detectives believe there were three men in all — pulled a knife and Mr. Parks pulled one too, the police said.

The conductor apparently carried the blade for just this reason, so he could defend himself, one law enforcement official said.
Two knives were recovered as evidence — the folding knife with a curved blade and a straight knife that Mr. Parks is believed to have pulled from his pocket.
In New York, it is legal for someone to carry a knife provided the state penal law does not define it as illegal
And Mr. Parks’ mother, Mona Parks, 57, who lives in the Bronx, spoke outside the hospital, saying she was upset that her son had been so seriously hurt, but relieved he had survived. She said she had spoken to him and that he whispered that he wanted some water as he slowly regained consciousness after surgery.

“I’m glad he did what he did, otherwise he’d be dead,” said Ms. Parks. Mr. Derris said Mr. Parks, “works vacation relief, meaning he covers different lines on the numbered trains when people are on vacation.” He works nights, Mr. Derris said, and got off work at about 11:23 p.m. on Thursday.

Ms. Parks and a martial arts instructor, Little John Davis, said Mr. Parks was a dedicated student of martial arts and was physically fit. “I’m sad that it happened,” Mr. Davis said. “But it’s good that somebody had some training to be able to take care of themselves.”

Ms. Parks said her son is not reckless and that his heroics were borne of necessity.

“If he had an opportunity to run he would’ve run, but there were four of them,”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/nyregion/11cnd-stab.html?_r=2&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

What stuck out in my mind was Mr Parks was willing to fight back. He was prepared, he trained in ma and carried a fixed blade. When you got to boogey imho folders are nice but a fixed that can be drawn quickly is what you want. I imagine he was facing a drawn knife from the get go, for him to draw and deploy a folder takes that much more time and motor skills.
I can see his fighters attitude in his mothers comments about her sons altercation...to me this was key.

1. fixed knife with training
2. winning attitude

[Mr.Happy]

Hi everyone,
My name is Grant, I'm new to the forum and i live in Johannesburg South Africa,
 Joburg has one of the highest crime rates in the world and its fair to say that the crime in our city has affected everyone that lives there.
 Last week i read an article in one of our major news papers The Star, about a man who was victimised twice in short succession.
The man was on his way home from work when a man broke the drivers side window of his car and attempted to grab his cell phone. The driver of the car grabbed his assailant as he leaned into hes window and punched him in the face. The criminal took off running and even though the victims car was in the middle of the street and still running, he took off after him, he was unable to catch up and when he got back to his car he had received a ticket for illegal parking from the Johannesburg metro police department.
A week later the same man was stopped at a red light, this time on his way to work when a man with a gun came to his open window and attempted to steal his car.
Because of what had happened the previous week, the guy had a leatherman tool with the blade extended on his passenger seat and as soon as he was approached, plunged the blade into the neck of his assailant and sped away through the red light.
On arrival at the closest satelite police station five minutes later he was told by police on duty that he should write a letter to government telling them to better police the inner city so he took his story to the papers.
To the best of my knowledge the man was not trained in any form of martial arts and had just had enough of being picked on 

[Crafty_Dog]

Welcome Grant:

I have heard of the situation in South Africa and look forward to the perspective you will contribute to our conversations.

By the way, the second half of your story is an example of "knives for good", not "crimes" 

The Adventure continues,
Crafty Dog

[Mr.Happy]

Thank you Guro Crafty,
I look forward to learning more,
 ive already learned alot from the little ive read
Ill post in the proper place next time.

[Crafty_Dog]

No worries!

[Crafty_Dog]

After stiffing cabdriver, teen girl slashes his throat

He was trying to collect his fare when the girl attacked him. Hair gel saved him, he told police.

Roy Carlson Jr.KSTP

Roy Carlson Jr. needed 13 stitches for this neck wound.



By ABBY SIMONS, Star Tribune
Last update: March 20, 2008 - 12:02 AM

Roy Carlson Jr. says hair gel saved his life.
That was one of the first fleeting thoughts the St. Paul taxi driver had as he struggled with the 15-year-old girl who, seconds earlier, had slashed his throat and stabbed him repeatedly after a cab ride gone awry early Tuesday.

After the girl tried to stiff him on a $22 cab fare following a ride across St. Paul, the frustrated driver for Diamond Cab Co. was driving her to a St. Paul police precinct for violating curfew.
"All of the sudden I hear her scream in the background, 'I'm not going to jail!' and she pulled my hair back and started to cut my throat," he said Wednesday. "I had styling cream in my hair, and it slipped out of her hands."

Carlson is taking a week off to recover from a curve-shaped slash just below his chin held together with 13 stitches, additional cuts to his face, and stab wounds to his inner right leg and buttock.

St. Paul police say Carlson was an innocent victim attempting to collect his fare when the enraged girl cut him. The girl, whose name has not been released because she is a juvenile, remains in the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center awaiting charges.

Carlson said he picked her up at a housing complex at 1511 Supornick Lane just after midnight. After taking her to an address on West Maynard Drive, the girl said she needed to collect money from her mother for the fare, so Carlson took her purse and cell phone as collateral while he waited for her to return. He was then told the mother did not have money.
"I'm kind of ticked off by now, and I said, 'Pick her up at juvenile hall, I'm gonna take her in for curfew,'" he said.

A knife cut into his neck.
That's typical protocol for getting stiffed, Carlson said, and it's easier than filing a police report, which he said generally doesn't result in recovered money, and takes additional time. Carlson said he had turned onto Edgcumbe from Montreal when he felt the kitchen knife cut into his neck. She jumped out of the cab immediately when he grabbed her. Both of them were covered in blood.

"I said, 'You know I'm bringing you in for a curfew violation. Do you realize you're looking at attempted murder now?' It was then that I think it hit her, and she started to cry."
He pinned the girl with his knee while he radioed for help. He was later treated at a local hospital.

St. Paul police said Carlson's story corroborates with what they believe happened in the cab. For the hundreds of rides given daily, attacks on drivers are relatively rare, police spokesman Tom Walsh said.
In Minnesota, there have been several instances of violence against cabbies.

In February, Blue & White/ABC driver Mohd Farahid, 51, was hospitalized after being beaten with a hatchet handle in north Minneapolis.
In February 2007, Green & White driver Jim Moody, 46, was shot to death during a botched robbery in Brooklyn Center; an Omaha man was convicted in his death. In August 2003, Red & White driver Mohamed Ahmed Salah, 28, was fatally shot in Minneapolis; Salvador Pacheco of Anoka was convicted in his death.
According to U.S. Labor Department statistics, more than 100 cabdrivers nationwide were assaulted in 2006.

Carlson, a four-year cabdriver who has also worked in the tow-truck business, said he is no stranger to assaults. This, however, is a first. And hopefully a last, he added.
"We do have a lot of young kids where the parents are gonna pay at the other end, and I don't want to leave a young kid stranded, not in the projects," he said. "But to expect a 15-year-old to come at you with a knife is unreal."