Crimes using knives

[5thprofession47]

She's lucky to be alive. He showed amazing restraint considering the situation. I hope she spends many years in a small cell.

[whitewolf]

Just some thoughts on one of the posts here-It delt with a rider on a NYC subway being stabbed-Here are some comments:
1-You dont ride the NYC subways at 0400 in the morning-
2-Take a cab-especially if you have a female friend or  wife with you
3-If you have to  ride one ride the first  car and sit outside the subway motormans door
4-Observe what is going on
5-Hopefully dont be drunk
6-If you observe a rider getting on and he/she is acting strangely-leave that car and go to another
7-Learn the subway routes so you can change trains and still get to  where you wish to  go
8-dont stare at strangers because they look or act diffeent
9-If femalle and you have to ride subway-wear sneakers and carry shoes in a  bag-
10-purchase Mace-(the kind that you spray a bear  with)-and learn how to use it in stressful situations
11-lastly-take a reality type self defense course
Just some thoughts from Whitewolf-stay  safe and semper fi all

[Growling Dog]

not real about an edged weapon but defiantly a scary one to deal with
my mom was robbed by some one using a hypodermic needle she was cornered and asked for her money.
this happens alto in her neighbourhood and its usually junkies, they usually wait for someone to use a phone booth or ATM machine
or the walk in groups and and push you into an Ailey . they also usually say the have HIV and the just used the needle for extra intimidation
like i said not relay edged weapon but something to think about
H.

[5thprofession47]

not real about an edged weapon but defiantly a scary one to deal with
my mom was robbed by some one using a hypodermic needle she was cornered and asked for her money.
this happens alto in her neighbourhood and its usually junkies, they usually wait for someone to use a phone booth or ATM machine
or the walk in groups and and push you into an Ailey . they also usually say the have HIV and the just used the needle for extra intimidation
like i said not relay edged weapon but something to think about
H.

It certainly counds as an edged weapon. Similar to a shiv made in prison. The needle may not cause near as much physical trauma but add the potential of disease and it is something to be taken seriously. LEO's will attest to this as they encounter needles a lot in their day to day interactions. They are not to be taken lightly.

[Crafty_Dog]

This article can be read on many levels-- including as a reflection upon the wisdom of the UK's unilateral disarmament of its citizens of their guns , , ,
==================
LONDON — Every day, it seems, there are more victims. Shakilus Townsend, 16, stabbed to death by a masked gang. Ben Kinsella, also 16, fatally stabbed during an argument outside a pub. Victims in Bristol, Manchester and Glasgow. Four people fatally stabbed in London in one 24-hour period alone last week.

Skip to next paragraph
 
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Imagse
Jimmy Mizen, 16, was stabbed in London. His brothers carried his coffin in June.
In a country where few people have guns or access to them, a spate of knife attacks, many involving teenagers, has forced the issue to the top of the domestic agenda. The Metropolitan Police are so concerned, they said recently, they have made knife crime their top priority, along with terrorism. Government and law enforcement officials are scrambling to produce plans to allay public fears.

On Monday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced a series of measures that he said would make it “completely unacceptable to carry a knife.” The plan includes automatic prosecution for anyone over the age of 16 caught with a knife and doubling the maximum sentence for knife possession, to four years. It also sets up a $6 million advertising campaign to discourage young people from committing crimes with knives and a program to force perpetrators to confront their actions by, for instance, attending courses that describe what happens to stabbing victims.

The prime minister also said the government would intervene directly with as many as 20,000 families whose children were considered at risk of turning to violence because “the mother or father have lost control of their children and their whole life is actually in difficulty.” Parents who refused to accept the government intervention, he said, would be threatened with eviction from their homes.

“Too many people, young and old, do not feel safe in the streets, and sometimes even in their homes,” he said, speaking at his monthly news conference.

But opponents of the government complained that the plans were merely warmed-over versions of past initiatives.

“Jacqui Smith is coming up with the same half-baked ideas because the government has been in denial about the scale of the knife crime problem,” Chris Huhne, the home affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democratic party, said, referring to the home secretary, who has offered a number of proposals recently.

Knife crime, most often involving weapons like simple kitchen knives, has dominated the headlines in recent weeks, with reports of fresh cases every day. But statistically, the picture is more murky. Violent crime over all has actually decreased by 41 percent from a peak in 1995, according to the British Crime Survey, in which citizens report their exposure to crime.

Yet the survey accounts only for people 16 and older, and evidence suggests that young people in poorer areas are increasingly likely to carry knives, and increasingly likely to use them. The Daily Telegraph, which examined data from three-fourths of the police forces in England and Wales, reported recently that nearly 21,000 people had been stabbed or mugged at knifepoint so far this year.

Doctors in busy emergency rooms say they are seeing a steep increase in patients admitted with injuries caused by violence, often involving sharp objects like glass bottles or kitchen knives. A recent study by the Center for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University found that the number of people admitted to hospitals after arriving in the emergency rooms with injuries caused by violence had increased by 30 percent across England in the last four years.

According to the study, rates of admission as a result of violence were six times higher in the poorest fifth of the country than in its most affluent areas. “The difference between the experience of violence between the wealthier and poorer communities is quite dramatic, even for children as young as 14,” said Mark Bellis, director of the center and an author of the study.

The government’s plans, part of a $200 million program to combat youth crime, are the latest in a series of measures meant to address the country’s problem with knife crimes.

In May, Ms. Smith, the home secretary, announced a $10 million knife-crime-reduction program in problem cities.

In London, where 20 teenagers have been killed with knives so far this year, the police embarked on a six-week blitz in May. About 27,000 people were searched, 1,200 were arrested and 500 knives were seized, the authorities said.

The Conservative Party said the government’s plans did not go far enough and called for steeper penalties. The party’s leader, David Cameron, told reporters: “If you are carrying a knife and you are caught, you should expect to go to prison. Plain, simple, clear.”

But Mr. Huhne of the Liberal Democrats said that approach was the wrong one. Young people in Britain — who regularly score at the bottom of charts that measure relative deprivation, poverty, educational attainment, health and general well-being in Europe — have been subject to “mass criminalization,” he said.

“By dragging more and more young people through the criminal justice system, they have reduced the fear of a criminal record and contributed to the problem,” he said.

Roger Grimshaw, research director of the Center for Crime and Justice Studies at King’s College London, said little was known about how many people carry knives and under what circumstances. “We need to look at the violence itself instead of focusing on the instrument, because clearly knives are very available,” he said.

“Many of these people come from disadvantaged districts in which there is a buildup of fear,” he said. “We have to think about the circumstances in which young people are tempted to use violence, where they have few resources and a law-abiding lifestyle is not a rewarding one.”

Professor Bellis of the Center for Public Health said that the authorities should be “intervening far earlier, before violence erupts” in problem areas.

“For certain communities, violence dominates,” he said. “We have to provide education and support for those families that need additional support, and we have to tackle inequalities. Many people are growing up in environments where they feel they have very little to lose.”

[Crafty_Dog]

And here's some more:

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Thugs committing 350 knife assaults EVERY DAY, as blade menace spreads to rural areas

By Stephen Wright and Nicola Boden
Last updated at 4:56 PM on 17th July 2008

Thugs are committing more than 350 knife assaults every day across England and Wales, latest crime figures reveal.

Results from the British Crime Survey showed nearly 130,000 attacks took place last year - a figure which does not include those against under-16s.  Separate figures recorded by police forces reveal 22,000 serious knife assaults including 231 attempted murders, almost 14,000 robberies and more than 8,000 woundings.  Ministers welcomed the annual figures which showed a nine per cent drop in overall crime last year, and claimed the steady downward trend in recent years was the most impressive in modern times - including a 12 per cent fall in all violent crime last year.  But they acknowledged serious public concerns over knife crime, following a spate of horrific murders in recent months, many involving young victims in inner city areas. Firearms offences recorded by police rose 2 per cent last year to reach a total of 9,803, while homicides were up three per cent to 784. 

The latest figures show how the shadow of 'Blade Britain' has spread from urban areas to the shires.  Hundreds of knife offences are being committed in county force areas including Devon and Cornwall, Hampshire, Kent, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Northumbria.

Crime statistics released by the Government today show the overall crime rate has fallen nine per cent, but for the first time the number of serious violent offences involving blades is broken down. What emerges is a national map of knife crime across England and Wales which demonstrates how provincial areas are being hit by the problem.  As first revealed by the Daily Mail this morning, 22,151 serious crimes involved knives and sharp instruments in the financial year to March 2008.  This figure, equivalent to 60 offences a day, does not include an estimated 250 fatal stabbings, which are counted separately by the Home Office.  There were 231 attempted murders, 13,887 robberies and 8,000 woundings where the offenders used blades to some degree.

Ian Johnston, president of the Police Superintendents' Association, said: 'The public needs to understand this is not just a London or inner-city problem. It is a serious problem all over the country.

'While we welcome many of the initiatives which have been announced, they are mainly for the medium or long term.

'There is now a need for radical, short-term solutions. Serious consideration should be given to the idea of introducing a minimum prison sentence for carrying a knife. I believe this would have a dramatic impact.  We must get back to the time when members of the public accept that even if they have done nothing wrong, and are not carrying a knife, they must not object to a police officer questioning them and in some cases searching them,' he said.  'The police need the public support from all communities to do that.'

Recorded crime figures show firearms offences increased two per cent to 9,803, drugs offences rose 18 per cent and murders rose three per cent to 784.

But overall, the survey shows crime has fallen leaving people two per cent less likely to be a victim of crime - now at 22 per cent.
This is the lowest level recorded since the British Crime Survey began in 1981, according to the Home Office. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she was 'extremely pleased' with the figures and that the Government's priority was to build on it for the future.  But the reduction belies people's fears of knife crime after a spate of stabbings across Britain since the start of the year.

Roughly a third of non-fatal knife offences, 7,409, were committed in London, which has recently been hit by a series of horrific stab murders involving teenagers. Greater Manchester (2,294) and West Midlands (2,303) have the next biggest knife crime figures. 

But of particular concern to detectives, politicians and parents is the extent of Britain's knife problem in provincial forces. For the first time, the Home Office has collated data on categories of violent crime where a knife has been used, including attempted murder, wounding with intent, grievous bodily harm and robbery.

Of the 22,151 knife crimes in England and Wales last year, 231 related to attempted murders; 5,248 were cases of wounding with intent; 2,785 were cases of grievous bodily harm; 2,359 related to robbery of business property and a further 11,528 were connected to the robbery of personal property.

Devon and Cornwall Constabulary recorded 288 offences where a blade or sharp instrument was used to stab, to cut or in threat.
Avon and Somerset had 360 such offences last year, Kent 327, Hampshire 388, Staffordshire 219, Cheshire 224 and Northumbria 351.
Dorset, with just 43 knife crime offences, had the lowest figures for a provincial force.  Although the statistics cover only England and Wales, they are mirrored by a similar pattern in Scotland, where knife crime has spread beyond major cities such as Glasgow.

Officers have become increasingly concerned about the way blades have become a weapon of choice for a new generation of teenage thugs. Casualty doctors believe knife crime is far more widespread in the country than official figures suggest because scores of victims who seek treatment in hospitals leave without making a formal complaint to police.

Knife attacks ended six lives in 24 hours in London last week, leading to an unprecedented statement from Scotland Yard aimed at reassuring the public.

As part of a crackdown on knife crime, Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Alf Hitchcock has been appointed national knife crime czar to oversee police efforts in eight 'hotspots'. In an exclusive interview with the Mail on Monday, Mr Hitchcock called for cross-party efforts to find a long-term solution.

'We've seen the problem of violence among young people getting worse,' he said. 'But it's not just knife crime. Knife crime is just symptomatic of larger issues.  Of course we in the police are doing what we can to crack down - but policing cannot be the whole answer. After all, if we were able to stop and search every youngster estimated to be carrying a knife today, and they were all to be sent to prison, we'd be talking of tens of thousands.'

Gordon Brown called Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, to Chequers on Saturday for urgent talks about the knife epidemic.   The Prime Minister urged him to make full use of new police powers to make pubs and clubs search customers for knives and guns. Dominic Grieve, Tory Shadow Home Secretary, said the figures proved that knife crime affects the whole country and that targeting hotspots was inadequate. Detectives expect the murder figures to be similar to 2006/2007, when a sharp instrument was used in 258 of the 734 unlawful killings recorded by police.


Find this story at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ral-areas.html

[Crafty_Dog]

Guard Stabbed, Killed Inside Federal Penitentiary

ATWATER (AP) ― Authorities say a federal prison guard has been stabbed
to death by inmates at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atwater.

Merced County Sheriff Mark Pazin says 22-year-old Jose Rivera was taken
to Mercy Medical Center with stab wounds at about 3:30 Friday afternoon
and was declared dead at 4:15 p.m.

A brief statement released by the prison says the officer was stabbed
by two inmates with homemade weapons.

Pazin, who is also the County Coroner, says his department will conduct
an autopsy while the FBI investigates the incident.

The prison is in the San Joaquin Valley about 64 miles northwest of
Fresno.


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Inmate Charged With Slaying Of Tomoka Guard
From: http://www.wesh.com/news/16713238/detail.html

Fitzgerald, 50, Worked At Correctional Facility For 15 Years

POSTED: 11:53 pm EDT June 25, 2008
UPDATED: 8:10 am EDT June 27, 2008


DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- An inmate at the Tomoka Correctional Institution
was quickly transferred to the Florida State Prison on Thursday after
officials said he killed a prison guard. Authorities identified the
inmate as Enoch Hall, 39, who was sentenced to life in prison for sexual
battery with a weapon and kidnapping charges in 1993. He had been at the
facility since 1994.

The officer, Donna Fitzgerald, 50, was a veteran guard, who had worked
at Tomoka Correctional Institution for 15 years.

Hall hid in a welding shed adjacent to the Pride workshop area with a
knife made out of a piece of sheet metal, police said. Pride is a
vocational training facility located at the prison.

Officials at the prison said Fitzgerald entered the shed around 7:30
p.m. Wednesday looking for Hall. 

When she discovered him hiding, Fitzgerald confronted Hall and was
stabbed multiple times, police said. Fitzgerald was armed only with an
alarm and mace; there are no guns at the facility.

Department of Corrections Secretary Walter McNeil said that there is
usually more than one officer involved in moving an inmate, but he
insisted that protocol was followed.

"Words cannot express the sorrow I feel over the loss of our
correctional officer," McNeil said. "The entire department grieves the
murder of one of our finest officers, and we pray for the victim's
family during this difficult time."

Authorities said they found the knife Hall had made stashed in a
concrete wall.

McNeil said death or injury within a violent population is always a
possibility.

"Yet, when it happens, like we all are across our department today, it
is still very shocking and heart wrenching," McNeil said.

Hall has been charged with first-degree murder. He went before a judge
Thursday afternoon.

It is unclear if the protocol of more than one guard being involved in
moving an inmate was followed.  Sources said that Fitzgerald was
alone, at least at one point, while locking up the work area and
moving inmates back into the dormitory.  The affidavit states that
Fitzgerald was apparently alone while looking for Hall when she was
murdered. The facility was not under lockdown while the search
was under way.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is currently investigating
the incident.

The prison is located off U.S. Highway 92 on the outskirts of Daytona
Beach. It was established in 1981 and houses adult male inmates. There
is also a work camp and work release center at the facility. The prison
can hold a maximum of 1,263 inmates.

Fitzgerald is the second woman in Florida to die while working as a
guard. In 2003 during an escape attempt, inmates killed Darla
Lathrem at the Charlotte Correctional Institution – a
maximum-security facility.

A total of 13 guards, including Fitzgerald, have died in the line of
duty in Florida prisons since 1928, when records first began being
kept.

To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Craig Lucie.

Hall Has History Of Criminal Behavior

Enoch Hall was serving a life sentence for a rape in the '90s. Hall, 39, is a career criminal.
He first showed up in the system in June 1988. That year it was burglary plus a stolen car.
In 1990, the charge was battery on a law enforcement officer two days before Christmas.
In 1992, he moved on to sexual battery. Then in April 1993, in Pensacola, Hall raped a
woman again. This time the charge was sexual battery with a deadly weapon and
kidnapping.  For those two offenses, he was sentenced to life in prison.

Hall has spent nearly all of his 14 years in prison at Tomoka.

Jim Baiardi with the Florida Police Benevelont Association represents
the officers who work in the prison. He's spoken with a number of
guards working on Donna Fitzgerald's shift at the time of this incident.

"They're very upset. You know when you lose somebody you work with, in
this line of work we're brothers and sisters because at any moment our
lives could be taken," Baiardi said.

Hall is currently at the Florida State Prison in Stark.


Copyright 2008 by WESH.COM. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Colby]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,395313,00.html

Man Accused of Stabbing, Decapitating Seatmate on Greyhound Bus in Canada

A passenger on a Greyhound bus traveling through Manitoba, Canada, is accused of repeatedly stabbing his seatmate before decapitating the man, CBC News reported.

On Wednesday evening, Canadian police detained an unidentified man suspected of the murder. The victim, also unnamed, appeared to be about 19 years old.

According to CBC News, the attacker was seated next to his victim, who was sleeping with headphones on, when he began stabbing him repeatedly with a large knife.

The suspect had been on the bus for about an hour and didn't even sit near his victim at first.

"He sat in the front at first, everything was normal," Passenger Garnet Caton said.

"We went to the next stop and he got off and had a smoke with another young lady there. When he got on the bus again, he came to the back near where I was sitting."

When the victim began screaming, the bus pulled over and more than 30 passengers fled. The driver, along with a passenger and a trucker who had stopped at the scene then boarded the bus in an attempt to help the victim, the CBC reported.

"When we came back on the bus, it was visible at the end of the bus he was cutting the guy's head off and pretty much gutting him up," Caton told the CBC.

The attacker reportedly lunged at the three men, who managed to trap him inside the bus until authorities arrived.

"While we were watching the door, he calmly walks up to the front with the head in his hand and the knife and just calmly stares at us and drops the head right in front of us," said Caton.

Fellow passenger Cody Olmstead told Brandon radio station CKLQ that the man "dropped the head and went back and started cutting the body back up."

According to the CBC, passengers were traumatized by the event and many required counseling after witnessing the brutal attack.

[maija]

Blog from the UK regarding knives and crime.


Celebrating the knife

    * Mark Easton
    * 6 Aug 08, 02:45 PM GMT

This weekend in the French town of Nontron they are holding their annual Fête du Couteau - a celebration of the knife.

Poster for Fête du Couteau Knife lovers from all over Europe will descend on Périgord Vert to discuss blades with some of the world's finest cutlers.

Even in Sheffield where cutlery runs in the blood, it would be impossible to imagine such an event. The knife has become weaponised in Britain, stripped of all artistry and beauty.

As a Cub Scout in the 1960s I was given a knife by my parents to wear on my belt. It was one of the best presents I can remember; a bone handle with a long and razor-sharp blade housed in a tough leather sheath.

It was certainly dangerous but it was also significant: a sign that my mum and dad considered me mature enough to be trusted with such a tool.

Were I to do the same for my son today, I would be regarded as irresponsible and he might be regarded as a criminal.

The now ubiquitous phrase "knife crime" suggests the problem lies with the implement rather than the user. The contents of my kitchen drawer has become an arsenal. Evil lurks in the cutlery tray.

A few weeks ago, at the height of the knife panic, Gordon Brown was filmed chatting to some urban youth at a project in South London. "What do you think about an amnesty for knives?", the Prime Minister asked.

The tall young man in his hoodie was quick to point out the policy flaw. "What's the point of that?" he asked. "You'd just go and get another one."

I am hopeful that as we enter what some call the "silly season" (but I prefer to think of as the sensible season), the sense that we are living through a widespread epidemic threatening our daily lives will be replaced

by a belief that, while there are dangers in our society, the vast majority of us need not worry unduly.

I worry that the British media, including the BBC, must take some responsibility for a different epidemic - a phobia of street violence which diminishes people's quality of life.

The renowned criminologist Robert Reiner published some research a few years ago which asked whether the media's depiction of crime had changed since the war. In quantity terms, he found very little difference.

But the way criminal behaviour was described had altered significantly.

"The most marked trend in the reporting of crime over the half-century studied was the increasingly accentuated portrayal of crime as an all pervasive menace" he wrote in the journal Criminal Justice Matters,

"threatening ordinary people...and in particular harming exceptionally vulnerable individuals."

"The style of reporting shifts markedly", he concluded, "from a degree zero description largely in legal terms only, to the vivid accounts of the fear and suffering of the victims with whom the reader is invited to identify."

He compared two stories from 1945 and 1989. The first from the Daily Mirror reported the trial of a "strip-tease dancer" and an American paratrooper for the murder of a hire-car driver.

"What is striking from the coverage", wrote Professor Reiner, "are a number of absences: no account of the details of the murder itself, of the injuries suffered by the victim, or any fear he might have experienced."

The more recent story comes from The Times and was headlined "Martial arts fanatic gets life for killing daughter aged five: Girl died from a combination of pain, shock and exhaustion after vengeful beating."

"The pictures portray a smiling child, a sullen and sinister looking man and a weeping woman", Professor Reiner noted. "The story graphically details the fear and suffering of the girl, and undermines any excuse of

'bad temper' offered on behalf of the accused. The story is clearly victim-centred and demonises the offender."

"Crime stories fifty years ago took for granted that crime was wrong independently of whether suffering was inflicted on sympathetic victims. The burden of the story was to make the perpetrator comprehensible."

Academics in the USA have long been documenting a similar phenomenon there. In her 1980 book, Crime News and the Public, Doris A. Graber noted: "The mass media supply a large amount of data about specific

crimes. These data convey the impression that criminals threaten a legitimate social system and its institutions."

A 1998 Freedom Forum report included this observation: "Disproportionate and superficial coverage fuels public fear and anxiety, which then can cause politicians to overreact and pass unnecessary and costly

get-tough-on-crime laws."

In February 1999, an American Bar Association study on "Federalization of Criminal Law" criticised the US Congress for passing "misguided, unnecessary and harmful" anti-crime laws, for fear of appearing "soft on

crime."

I feel as though we have been living through an identical experience a decade later. Crime has been falling for over 12 years and yet our law makers have passed more than 50 Acts of Parliament to deal with public

concerns that it is getting worse.

Some of the legislation has been valuable, but there is scant evidence that all the new laws have contributed to making us safer. I suspect the constant focus on counteracting the crime menace has helped make us

all more fearful.

Will we ever again have the confidence to put on a British festival of the knife or give a Cub Scout a bone-handled blade?

[Body-by-Guinness]

Indianapolis woman dies trying to stop sword fight, NA

4/9/2009, 2:50 p.m. EDT    
INDIANAPOLIS — INDIANAPOLIS  A 77-year-old woman in Indianapolis suffered a fatal stab wound while trying to break up a sword fight Thursday between her grandson and brother-in-law, police said.

An autopsy determined Franziska Stegbauer died of a wound from one of the swords, police Sgt. Matthew Mount said. Both men were hospitalized with stab wounds and one was critically hurt.

"We're unsure yet who started this fight, how the swordplay got involved," Mount said. "We're not sure who it was who stabbed the woman. We'll have to do some testing on the swords and figure out who had which sword, whose blood is on which sword."

One of the weapons was a World War II-era Japanese officer's sword with a thin blade, and the other had a thicker blade, Mount said.

Police placed Stegbauer's grandson, 39-year-old Chris Rondeau, under arrest on a preliminary charge of attempted murder. Stegbauer's brother-in-law, 69-year-old Adolf Stegbauer, suffered several serious stab wounds, police said.

Franziska Stegbauer was not breathing when officers arrived about 1 a.m. at the home on the city's northwest side and she was later pronounced dead at a hospital, police said.

Adolf Stegbauer was listed in critical condition at Wishard Hospital, a spokesman said.

Rondeau also was taken with stab wounds to Wishard. Police said he was alert at the scene, but a condition update was not immediately available. He was being held in the hospital's detention unit.

http://www.silive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/national-0/123930634261790.xml&storylist=new_topstories

[Body-by-Guinness]

The UK continues to astound.

Family of father stabbed to death by three thugs is denied compensation... because he tried to fight back
By WIL LONGBOTTOM
Last updated at 9:12 PM on 10th April 2009

Comments (50)
Add to My Stories

The family of a man who was stabbed to death by teenage thugs after he asked them to keep the noise down have been denied compensation - because he tried to fight off his killers.

Kevin Johnson, 22, was brutally murdered by the gang who invited him to 'meet Mr Stanley' during a confrontation outside his home moments before plunging a blade into his chest, arm and back.

The young father collapsed a few feet from his front door whilst the trio - aged 19, 16 and 17 - ran off in 'triumphant mood' before stabbing their second victim a short distance away.


Kevin Johnson, 22, pictured with his son Chase, was stabbed to death by three youths in Sunderland

But after applying for a maximum £11,000 in compensation Mr Johnson's family have been told that they do not meet the criteria as he tried to fight off the gang who took his life.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority has twice rejected John Johnson’s case. They ruled that the demolition worker had 'significantly' contributed to his own death.

Mr Johnson, 57, will now make a last-ditch plea before an independent tribunal this month - almost two years after his son was murdered on his doorstep on the Pennywell estate in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear.

'I'm livid. They’ve got no empathy or any regard for us,' he said yesterday. 'The £11,000 is all they value a person's life at. And then you have to fight for it. It’s absolutely disgusting.

'Obviously they just want to keep the costs down for the Government. The criminals get all sorts of help and that’s called human rights. Yet we don’t seem to have any human rights.'

According to the CICA the parents, child, husband, wife or partner of a person who died as a result of a violent crime can claim up to £11,000 for the loss of their life.

Yet that figure is dwarfed by the amount paid to an RAF typist last year who injured her thumb at work and was awarded half a million pounds by the Ministry of Defence.

Mr Johnson, who works as a taxi driver, said his case simply highlighted how badly victims' families are treated by the Government. 

He said he and his wife, Kath, 59, their son's fiancee Adele Brett, 28, and their one year old son, Chaise, were condemned to a life sentence after his death in May 2007. The rejection for compensation had only added to their pain, he added.

Recent figures showed that inmates in British prisons were awarded £6.5million for injuries between 2005 and 2007, for claims including assaults, medical negligence, unlawful detention and sports injuries.

Drug-addicted prisoners at some jails received compensation because their human rights were breached when they were denied drugs such as heroin and substitute substances.

Mr Johnson was stabbed to death after he and his fiancee returned home from a night out on May 19, 2007. Woken by raised voices outside he went down to ask the teenagers to keep the noise down.

The gang beckoned the father over with their hands, enticing him to come forward. Then they surrounded him. One pulled out a Stanley knife and repeatedly stabbed him until he fell to the floor.

As he lay dying the gang ran off and celebrated by damaging parked cars before stabbing a second man in the chest.  The killers - Dean Curtis, 19, Tony Hawkes, 17, and Jordan Towers, 16 - were later jailed for life.

Last night, the CICA said it could not comment on an individual case.

However, a spokesman said: 'We consider all available evidence in reaching our decisions, including relevant witness statements. If this evidence shows that a victim’s behaviour contributed significantly to the incident they were involved in then we have to take that into account - but there are safeguards built in to our process.

'If an applicant does not think their case was assessed fairly, they can apply to have it reviewed. If the applicant remains unhappy after the review they can have an appeal heard by an independent tribunal.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1169009/Family-father-stabbed-death-thugs-denied-compensation--tried-fight-back.html

[Crafty_Dog]

"pocket knife" stabbing death in my town

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LONGMONT, Colo. — As a Longmont teenager lay bleeding on the porch of a stranger’s home late Monday night, his good friend who stood by his side and called 911 never noticed the mortal wound. According to 911 tapes released Thursday, the friend of Logan Cameron Steele Sisson, 19, thought his friend was bleeding from a rough fight with two women and two men, but told dispatchers the worst wound was likely a broken arm. But police say the violent attack was far worse, and while the victim’s friend didn’t know the full extent of the injuries, the women accused of inflicting them should have. Mariena Amber Harris, 19, of Longmont, and Lakesha Marie Crutcher, 20, a transient, continued to be held Thursday at the Boulder County Jail on suspicion of second-degree murder in the teen’s death. They’re expected to be charged today. Harris told several people after the stabbing that she was responsible for the fatal blow, Longmont police Cmdr. Tim Lewis said. Both women knew — or should have known — that bringing a knife with them to the city’s Lanyon Park after a confrontation at a nearby “4/20” pot party could end with someone dead, he said. “The investigation shows us they were aware of the magnitude of the incident,” Lewis said of the women. He said the nature of Sisson’s wounds would have made it “apparent what occurred,” although he declined to elaborate. An autopsy Tuesday concluded Sisson died from a stab wound to the chest. Lewis said detectives believe they’ve recovered the murder weapon, which is described as a pocketknife with a blade about 3-inches long. A knife with a blade longer than 3½ inches is generally not legal to carry, according to state law. Boulder County Coroner Tom Faure declined to release information about the number of stab wounds that Sisson suffered, and it could be weeks before an official autopsy is released. Sisson was stabbed shortly after being told to leave the 4/20 party when the woman hosting the celebration became the “object of his unwanted affection,” police said. According to the Longmont Times-Call, the 43-year-old hostess denied police accounts that it was a pro-pot party and said that she asked Sisson to leave because he brought alcohol and she knew he was underage. The paper agreed to withhold the woman's name at her request. Sisson’s friend, who was walking with him Monday night after police say Sisson was kicked out of a nearby party, told 911 dispatchers there was a “big ol’ fight” happening at Lanyon Park about 11 p.m. “There’s a bunch of people fighting,” the teenage caller said. Asked whether he could see what was happening, the man replied, “No, I started walking away because they started picking (expletive) with me.”
The caller identified his 19-year-old friend’s attackers as two women. He told the dispatcher he couldn’t see any weapons involved. “It was physical, they were down on the ground beating him,” the man said. “The girls were?” the dispatcher asked. “Yeah,” he replied. About five minutes later, the same man called 911 again. This time, the fight was over and he’d gone to meet up with Sisson, who had staggered across the street and was bleeding on the front porch of a nearby house.
“I was walking down the street and um, like, two more guys showed up and they just kept beating up this one guy,” the caller said while standing beside a dying Sisson. “He’s my friend and he’s laying on the steps right now and he’s bleeding pretty bad.” Police have said two men, Robert Glenn Wittmer, 35, of Longmont, — who was arrested Tuesday and is being held on possible charges of being an accessory to murder — and another man whose name has not been released, arrived at the scene and joined in the fight. The caller told dispatchers the men, “beat him (Sisson) up, they picked up the girls and they left.” When the dispatcher asked if Sisson was hurt, the man said his friend was bleeding, but apparently never noticed the mortal stab wound. “I think his right arm is broken,” the caller said. The caller, whom police described as a transient, could not be reached for comment Thursday. Lewis, the Longmont commander, said the man was among Sisson’s inner circle of friends. He also said the caller’s actions Monday night — leaving the fight to phone police — was “prudent” given the circumstances. Lewis said the investigation continued Thursday into the hours before and after the stabbing. He said detectives have interviewed the second man who showed up at the fight, but there are “no imminent arrests planned” in the case. On Thursday afternoon, a memorial grew at the corner of Lanyon Park. Sisson’s adoptive father, mother, grandmother and other relatives gathered near a pile of photos, cards, candles and a poem dedicated to Sisson. The family declined comment, but a note left behind read, “Logan Sisson is our angel.”

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009...d-beating-him/
__________________

[Body-by-Guinness]

Wheelchair-bound men in knife fight, one dead
By JOHN DOYLE, SABRINA FORD and LUKAS I. ALPERT
Last Updated: 7:33 PM, December 19, 2009
Posted: 2:26 PM, December 19, 2009
Two wheelchair-bound men in an East Village shelter got into a name-calling argument early today that ended with one man stabbed dead and cops struggling to explain why they missed a chance to break up the fatal feud with an arrest.

The deadly episode began around 3:30 a.m. when the men, both paralyzed, got into an argument in the cafeteria of Freedom House on East 2nd Street.

Others at the shelter said the victim, Ronal Garcia, 24, "had a really foul mouth," and would often get into arguments with older residents.

The alleged stabber, Felipe Cruz, 52, had been drinking and had a bad reputation for being a hothead when he consumed alcohol.

"[Cruz] was talking about his [Garcia’s] genitals — you have a short one this, you have a short one that," said Garcia’s roommate, Norbert Toledo.

That prompted Garcia to remove the footrest from his wheelchair and strike Cruz with it twice on the head, knocking him out of his chair.

"[Shelter officials] called the police in. They saw Felipe on the floor. Felipe told police he was hurt, but the police just thought he was drunk and fell out of his chair," said Toledo.

"Felipe pointed out cameras and said he wanted to press charges. But the cops just sent the boy [Garcia] upstairs."

After they left, Cruz, who used a motorized wheelchair, went to his room and got a homemade knife.

In a shelter hallway, Cruz zoomed up to Garcia, who had a slower manual wheelchair, and stabbed him repeatedly. A security guard wrested the knife away from Felipe.

‘I killed that motherf——-," Cruz was overheard saying.

Garcia was rushed to Beth Israel Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 4:20 a.m. Cruz was arrested and charged with murder.

In a statement, police insisted that the officers left because no one had wanted to press charges.

"The police went there and they spoke to both of them and no one wanted to press charges. The police left and they were called back when they started fighting again," a department spokesman said.

Toledo said Garcia hailed from the Bronx and had moved into the facility – which is run by the city’s Department of Homeless Services – about a month ago. He said Garcia was paralyzed after being shot eight times last year in a drug-deal-gone-bad.

"He was a street punk thug. He got here because he was shot eight times. He had a really foul mouth. We’ve had words. I told him he had to respect his elders. I have a son his age," Toledo said.

He described Cruz – who comes from Puerto Rico and had lived at the facility for at least a year — as "a nice guy except when he drinks."

Toledo said the house had good facilities for its 48 residents – all of whom are disabled – but not everyone was a pleasure to live with.

"It’s a privilege to be placed here but it is not a privilege to live here," he said.

The Department of Homeless Services said it was investigating "the circumstances surrounding the death," but could not comment any further.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/deadly_wheelchair_stabbing_in_east_frnUCl5qj7zINxVqpByVlK

[G M]

Suspect in NH machete attack regrets girl survived
January 05, 2010 1:49 PM EST
MILFORD, N.H. (AP) — Newly released court documents say one of the men charged with killing a New Hampshire woman in her bed told police his only regret was that he didn't succeed in killing her 11-year-old daughter.

In the documents released Tuesday, 20-year-old Christopher Gribble told police that he had wanted to kill someone for a long time. He said he was disappointed he didn't feel any emotion following the Oct. 4 killing of Kimberly Cates in her Mont Vernon home.

[Crafty_Dog]

http://policelink.monster.com/news/articles/130661-slain-officers-last-words-to-emts-thank-you?utm_source=nlet&utm_content=pl_c1_20100112_lastwords

January 11, 2010

OTTAWA – As Constable Eric Czapnik lay dying from a mortal knife wound to the throat, he spoke two final and poignant words to his paramedic rescuers.

The patrolman had been writing case notes inside his cruiser, parked outside the emergency department of The Ottawa Hospital’s Civic campus, when a man approached and attacked him with a knife.

Four paramedics, none yet publicly identified, ran from the emergency room to help. It wasn’t until a male paramedic grabbed the attacker in a headlock from behind, that they realized the assailant had a knife.


As the attacker tried to reach around and stab the male paramedic, a petite female paramedic wrestled the weapon from his hand. A second female paramedic kicked him in the groin, and all three wrestled him to the ground. Another female paramedic attended to Const. Czapnik.
As he lay dying from the random attack, Const. Czapnik, 51, uttered his last words to the paramedics, according to police sources.

“Thank you,” he said.

That his very final act was an expression of gratitude to others is a powerful testament of a man who, as his mourners heard last week, cared deeply about others and about this community.

The first police officers to arrive on the scene found the suspect restrained with Const. Czapnik’s handcuffs, sitting in the back seat of his cruiser.

None of the paramedics were physically injured. But the incident is reviving debate whether paramedics should wear body armour and possibly even carry arms of some sort.

Kevin Gregson, 43, an RCMP officer on suspension from the force since 2006, is charged with first-degree murder. His next court appearance is on Jan. 19.

[Crafty_Dog]

Police: Minor sidewalk squabble leads to stabbing

January 17, 2010 - 1:31pm

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) - Police in St. Cloud said an argument over sidewalk etiquette led to a man being stabbed because he wouldn't move out of another man's way. The 31-year-old victim told police he and the other man were walking toward each other on a sidewalk early Friday morning. Each man refused to make way for the other.

The St. Cloud Times reported that the argument escalated into a physical fight. When it was over, the victim noticed he'd been stabbed several times in the stomach.

Authorities said the victim's injuries were minor.
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Information from: St. Cloud Times, http://www.sctimes.com

[Jonobos]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100504/ap_on_re_us/us_target_stabbings

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – A woman who stabbed and wounded four people in a busy Target store Monday afternoon was arrested when an off-duty sheriff's deputy pulled his gun and ordered the woman to the ground as screaming shoppers ran from the building, authorities said.

Layla Trawick used a butcher's knife and a carving knife to attack the victims, using both blades at the same time — one in each hand, like in the movie "Psycho," sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said

"She was literally walking up and down the aisles slashing people," he said.

A mother holding her baby was stabbed in the neck and was in critical condition, Whitmore said. The baby was unhurt and all four victims were expected to survive.

One witness said she was shopping for a Mother's Day card when she heard someone screaming, "There is no witness protection program!" as chaos broke out in the store.

"I don't know what it means but she was yelling that repeatedly and at the top of her lungs," said Katy Winn, a freelance photographer from West Hollywood. "I think I heard (the deputy) telling her to drop to the floor. That's when things got really chaotic and started falling over."

Winn said she dropped her basket and dashed across the store to the women's section, where she hid behind the clothing racks.

"From the moment the screaming started it was about five minutes. But it felt longer than that," she said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Clay Grant Jr. said he was picking up paper towels and other items when people around him started running and screaming.

Grant grabbed his duty weapon, identified himself as a sheriff's deputy and ordered the woman to drop the knives, he said. She ran away and he followed her from aisle to aisle.

Grant was wearing a white T-shirt, camouflage shorts and running shoes so several shoppers mistook him for a gunman, adding to the sense of panic, sheriff's Sgt. Josh Mankini said.

Grant followed Trawick from aisle to aisle, until she turned and waved the knives at him from above her head, he said.

But he decided not to shoot because he didn't feel his life was in jeopardy, he said. For a second time, he ordered her to drop the knives and finally she complied.

"I was more concerned about the knife, more than what she was saying," Grant said. "Her facial expression was someone who was lost, confused, didn't know exactly where they were."

Trawick was arrested with the help of private security guards and held on $1 million bail on suspicion of attempted murder. Investigators were trying to determine whether the 34-year-old Antioch woman got the knives in the store.

Speaking to reporters at a sheriff's station later, Grant was modest.

"I don't feel like I'm a hero, I just do what I'm trained to do," he said.

Whitmore said surveillance video cameras captured the stabbings, but the tape hasn't been released.

"If he wasn't there, who knows? Someone would be dead right now," Mankini said. "He had no communication with outside law enforcement. He's just some guy doing his shopping. We're pretty proud of him."

Mankini said Grant, a five-year veteran of the department, was authorized to have a weapon in the store.

___

Associated Press Writer Raquel Maria Dillon in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

[Stickgrappler]

Copied and pasted from:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/dogfight_ends_in_owner_slay_ElE09i9lTbpYHV0hLjjNTM


Dogfight ends in owner slay
By JENNIFER BAIN, JOHN DOYLE and CHUCK BENNETT

Last Updated: 11:46 AM, October 1, 2010

Posted: 2:39 AM, October 1, 2010

A popular bartender with a black belt in karate was stabbed to death yesterday outside his Brooklyn pub by an ex-con in a senseless fight over who had the tougher pint-sized pooch, police said.

The violence erupted at around 2 a.m. at the Branded Saloon in Prospect Heights when off-duty bartender Chai Eun Hillmann's miniature pinscher, Rocco, snipped at convicted killer Daniel Pagan's Maltese.

Hillmann, 41, a former karate instructor and sometime TV actor, had a sushi dinner with his parents at their Hamptons home and then drove to the Western-themed bar on his night off to play in a charity poker tournament while Pagan, 36, was downing drinks with his wife, witnesses said.

Both men had tied their pets to a fence outside the bar and were mingling when the little pooches began biting each other, according to the witnesses.

Rondel Sommerset, 30, a friend of Hillmann, said the dogs' antics attracted everyone's attention.

"The wife was trying to separate the dogs. Chai and the stabber were arguing whose dog could beat up whose. It was in a sort of joking way," Sommerset said.

But the dogs' leashes became entangled and Hillmann may have brushed up against Pagan's wife while unknotting the mess, police said.

"The stabber was saying, 'You pushed my wife's arm.' Chai said, 'No, I didn't. Before we get into this, ask your wife,' " Sommerset recalled.

"They started to tussle. No punches were thrown. People were trying to break it up."

Dan Hultquist, 36, another off-duty bartender then jumped in.

Pagan whipped out a serrated gravity knife and sliced Hultquist in the neck, police said. The wound was not serious.

"Chai and the guy ended up in the street. That's when I saw the stabber's elbow going back and forth [in a] stabbing motion eight times," Sommerset said.

"Chai stumbled. He got up twice and said, 'He stabbed me! He stabbed me!' "

Hillmann suffered two wounds to his chest and died at Kings County Hospital.

Pagan, who served nine years in prison for shooting a man to death in 1991 and wounding another, was charged with murder, attempted murder and weapons possession.

The short, bulldog-looking suspect refused to comment when he was walked from the 77th Precinct station house.

Hillmann recently had small roles in "Law & Order" and the USA Network's "White Collar."

He was adopted from a South Korean orphanage when he was 7 years old by Carl and Jane Hillmann. His father, speaking outside his home in Amagansett, LI, was filled with rage at Pagan.

"If the guy was in front of me right now, I would probably kill him," he said.

A friend is looking after the dog until the parents can take it in.

"That dog is our grandchild," the elder Hillmann said, adding that his son and Rocco "were inseparable and they had the same personality."

For years, Hillmann ran the Chai Karate martial-arts school in the Westchester County town of Ardsley, and wanted to open a school in the city, as well.

In a 1996 interview with The New York Times, he said people should study martial arts for self-defense.

"They won't be victims," he said. "They can choose whether to continue confrontation or get out of it and flee."

Additional reporting by Selim Algar

chuck.bennett@nypost.com

[Kaju Dog]

Store owner defends himself against knife attacker with pistol.

http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhdysSmiamXw3onFgL

[Crafty_Dog]

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/1000-knife-crime-victims-in-london-each-month-shocking-new-figures-show-8681511.html

[Crafty_Dog]

https://www.dailywire.com/news/29978/breaking-7-students-killed-12-injured-knife-attack-ryan-saavedra

[G M]

https://www.dailywire.com/news/29978/breaking-7-students-killed-12-injured-knife-attack-ryan-saavedra

Obviously the Chinese National Knife Association is to blame.