Leftover Metrocard Change Infuriates Some
UPDATE: City To Remove 14 Blocks Of Bike Lanes On Bedford Ave.
Hamster Rides The 4 Train
Bouncer Beatdown at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club
2nd Avenue Subway Cooling System Will "Blight" UES
We take this to be definitive proof that the video of a group of teen girls beating a man on an A train was not staged: The victim has emerged. Rafael Cruz, a 27-year-old Brooklyn resident who is a manager at a Midtown H&M, told the Post, "I'm trying to get over it. It happened a month ago."
Cruz isn't sure if he will press charges, noting, "Teenagers are allowed to make mistakes, but you need to learn from your mistakes." He explained to the Daily News, "I wouldn't have acted differently if it was a group of gentlemen. I am a peaceful person, a regular person who goes to work, who takes the train, who has family and friends."
Cruz detailed the ride, "I remember a bunch of young women getting on the train and being very loud. They confronted me... I kept saying I was just waiting for my stop. I told them I didn't want to fight. Then for some reason they took a swing. I put my head down." And he denounced Kajdera Holmes, a teen who filmed that attack but says she had nothing to do with it, "It was bad enough that it happened. But for someone to make a videotape and then put it on the Internet. For what? Amusement?"
The MTA would like Cruz to press charges. Spokesman Paul Fleuranges said, "I'm fairly certain if he files a complaint... the NYPD will make an arrest, and those people will be brought to justice. It's the only way the Police Department can do anything about what happened and send a message to others that you will be punished."
Cruz also said he accepted the apology from the father of one of the girls; Kierra Brown's father urged the victim to appear and say something, "What we have done is not working, or she would not be on the video. Please, sir, come forward."
You can see the video at the Smoking Gun.
Photograph of Cruz from the NY Post
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Aw, shucks. He came forward himself instead of being outed by friends (a la the subway Romeo's dream girl last month, don't remember the names and don't want to). This guy isn't a real New Yorker. Any real NYer knows you don't talk to crazy people. Put your head down, act like you're deaf or don't speak English. Get off at the first available station if it doesn't stop and take the next train. What was the advice John Belushi gave in Continental Divide? In the city, "never make eye contact. They'll think you need help and they'll kill you." Or something like that.
Wow. I wonder what's going to happen to all those arguments about this being a racially motivated attack. I wonder if this will dispel some of the rage they were feeling because the victim was Hispanic not white.
to Raphael Cruz: good luck with your life after this. Having your face and your place of employment plastered on the internet may turn out for or against your favor. Try and show the video to management to prove you can keep your cool in a difficult situation but don't show this to any women you wish to date as they may question if you have any man-balls to protect yourself or her.
punk ass bitch of the year award for 2008.
Something I always wonder is why other subway systems have emergency alarms along the entire length of the train, while New York's are confined to a few small panels with a red button.
When you hit one in most cities, they will stop the train, which would have resulted in probably immediate arrest and ultimately convictions.
tru dat dalata, it does seem less racist..however nonetheless still very absurd..he should press charges and teach those girls a lesson
Here I'd been thinking all along that the incident (if real, as it apparently was) illustrated how white men are pussies and cowards, unwilling to defend themselves against minorities. And now it turns out that the victim wasn't white. Bang goes that stereotype.
"white men are pussies and cowards"
huh?
Be glad Evel's not alive to hear you talk like that.
if a white guy gets a reputation for being a "pussy and coward" because he doesn't hit a teenage girl, i'm totally fine with that.
It's easy to get on a guy for not hitting back after the event, but the fact of the matter is that it's not easy to be on the offensive when jumped, especially by a gang. When it's ten people and you're one or even two you're not going to have much effect fighting back unless you're either Jason Bourne or are carrying a semi-automatic. Remaining calm and peaceful most probably allowed him to escape with less injuries and a clearer defense.
Oh please, he was nice for not getting up and beating them back, which he easily could have.
If he fought back at all, I'm sure he'd be in all sorts of trouble. They would have said, as they did, that he was antagonizing them and just lashed out. They probably taped the whole thing counting on the fact that he'd do something.
I'd say he was pretty wise to do what he did.
I applaud Rafael Cruz for showing restraint.
dude, he works at a midtown H&M. Obviously the dude is a gay. Give him some slack, you know gays are non confrontational unless they are black lesbos like the girls here.
"I wouldn't have acted differently if it was a group of gentlemen."
SEXIST!
time to tied those girls tubes.
So it turns out to not be a hoax. I think this is a perfect example of the difference between humans and animals in today's society.
are you people stupid? if he had shown any aggression back to these baboon girls, then they would have twisted the story around, pulling the self defense card, saying they were "looking out for their female friend who was first accosted, then beaten, by a man." good for him for being a pacifist, there should be more people out there who realize that fighting aggression with aggression leads to more trouble.
Agree with banana that he saved himself from being savagely beaten by a group of angry children. Now he needs to do society a favor and press charges so that the right message can be sent. Otherwise those kids just got their 15 minutes of fame, and can feel proud that they were able to beat the system at the same time!
TO BABYHITLER (your name says it all)I have known Rafael for many years and first of all he's not gay. If that was the case the saying goes 'takes one to know one!!!' Another thing ....you also seem to have a good grasp of where all the gay people in nyc work .. been scouting your next job????
OK now that I've dealt with that moron I would just like to defend Ralfy he is soft spoken and a gentilmen because of that he was an easy target for a group of idiots. I'm not trying to play the race card but I bet if Ralfy was a black man sitting by himself the women (if they even deserve to be called that) would have left him alone and found another white looking victim to pick on. Reverse racisim exsist.
Get it straight, most Hispanics (jelly beans as they were called back in the sixties because they were all different shades) do not like Afro American assholes. I have a few friends that are from the Carribean and are dark as an eggplant can get and they hate them because they are grou[ped with those pieces of shit. Take the nappy headed ho's and their attitude and move them out of the city please to an island in the mid Atlantic.
I praise the victim's response to those pieces of excrement. What if he took them out? This is New York and one of those nappy heads might have had a straight razor. You want to deal with that?
I don't see Oprah with all her money stepping up to the cause of solving the constant problem of children of color having too many children. Bill Cosby is the only individual of color that I see that calls out all those naps.
What is Al Sharpton's response to all this? Asshole.
I thought he was italian in the video and going home to Ozone Park. he could pass for sicilian.
but you know what they say about the Sicilians, they this close to being....
Al sharpton's remarks were posted 2 days ago.
any remarks on Friday's 20/20 with white kids and their videos?
SNOOPY RULES!
"Get it straight, most Hispanics (jelly beans as they were called back in the sixties because they were all different shades) do not like Afro American assholes. I have a few friends that are from the Carribean and are dark as an eggplant "
you remind me of George Costanza who tried to befriend Jerry's hired exterminator so that he could appear less racist to his bosses.
Snoopy, you were around in the 60s? and you know how to use the internet? impressive.
Agreed. Snoopy does RULE!
Snoopy, you dumbass.
Here's Al Sharptons response :
http://gothamist.com/2007/12/06/subway_beating.php
That's not a response, fool. A real "sharpton" response is when he and his homies get together and go outside and march chanting "no justice. no peace."
Where's THAT response?
Can't ever win with you whitie's, can we?
And to think this guy was acting so niggardly.....
Jack Off,
Yes you can win with whities and also the Puerto Ricans and also the Domenicans and also a host load of people of color when you start realizing that the color of your skin does not grant you a free ride because of a situation that happened well before most of our forefathers reached this country. And again it's not directed to the color of one's skin but the attitude that thinks that because you had ancestors here before the Civil War that worked in the cotton fields down south that you deserve more than the average immigrant that came from almost as poor as situation that your forbearers came from.
Get over the slave mentality which always claims the slave owners broke up our family and now here I am without my children. How about having a match game where the mother father and at least one of the seven children have the last same name. Who's lost here?
You sure are a bitter old man, aren't ya?
yes, I know you're old, don't try to hide it.
our only saving grace is that you'll die off soon.
that's mr. Jacque MeOff to you. old man.
Snoopy,
"And again it's not directed to the color of one's skin but the attitude that thinks that because you had ancestors here before the Civil War"
stop the racist rambling. meanwhile, you threw in a racist remark from the 60s about Latinos about the skin color of Latinos and then tried to explain the attitudes they have towards blacks because of the inclusion they are often given with black status. Are you white? and if so, since when were you given the Al Sharpton status of Latinos to speak on their behalf regarding their depiction in this country.
Secondly, have you noticed the irony in your tirade, telling the black community to stop harping on the slave mentality yet in every post here you generalize black people, using the tired 'nappy headed ho' quote, making a derogatory statement about the number of children they have, as well as assuming they all use their slave heritage as a crutch for their status in society.
snoopy, stop using your own heritage as a platform to address an entire people with some hackneyed racist propaganda that has and will continue to hinder this country's progress. i'm glad you chose the screenname of a dog because that's what you truly are.
p.s. i hope these girls realize the chain of conversation this has stirred in people all over NYC and how black people now have to apologize for them and prove that not everyone who is black is wild.
good luck to Rafael Cruz. he did the right thing, although maybe not smartest, in your situation. While it was noble of you to try talking sense to girls who had none, you shouldn't be ashamed for not striking back. You are an honest NYer and millions of people applaud you.
Touchy Touchy are you two guys. What time does the library close so I don't have to listen to you two any longer?
Yep, I'm extremely white, well not extremely because I'm not Nordic. And I've been blessed with coaching little league baseball for the last five years here in the city. And yes I can tell you that there is no love relationship between the hispanics and the blacks in this city. But then again I only talk from experience in my little sphere. I don't coach basketball or ice hockey.
punk ass bitch of the year award for 2008.
i know its only 2007,
but this guy has already also won next years prize!
wowzers! you coach little league! like being around little boys do you?
by the way you put it, it seems there's no love between anyone in NY. if you're guiding little kids it's no wonder our youth are so f**ked up. excuse me if i don't accept the dogma of an old guy who likes to be around little boys and their big bats!
Happy Hanukkah!
Most little Johnnies playing baseball couldn't catch a cold standing butt naked in a sleet storm on February 20th. Try dealing with them if you have the time. Or worse yet their mothers. If it wasn't for the kind hearted sympathetic coaches like me and my buddies, these kids would be on the street playing catch with their mothers. They need someone like me to look up to.
Please Dal, It's spelled Chanukkah and yes I loved coaching LL because I had so much fun dealing with their asshole parents. BTW I stopped at Balducci's yesterday to pick up some two year old prosciutto and asked if they had any more of those special Chanukkah hams left. The nice man behind the counter said nope all sold out, the DaLata family bought the last one.
it's not just that snoopy's racist, it's his commitment to professing his hatred on this site in particular, day and day out, that is most troublesome.
besides, I bet he's half eggplant anyway, so who cares what he thinks.
Rafael Cruz?? He looks more like a suicide bomber...
Guess this goes to show that requiring registration didn't really raise the level of the discussion here that much...
Good for him for coming forward, and good for him for not stooping to these girls' level and striking back.
I applaud Rafael Cruz for coming forward and I think he handled himself very well. Things would have only escalated if he had retaliated in a violent way and it wouldn't help anyone.
I can't imagine what possible negative impact his coming forward could have for him in the long wrong. If he hadn't come forward, people would be calling him a coward. It's all a matter of perspective.
I know that all black people aren't violent, ghetto, ignorant, etc. But there are way too many punkass, rude, ghetto teens (not just blacks) and even adults who pick on whites/Asians because they view them as being pussies. I don't hate black people, but i do hate "niggaz."
Why is it incumbent for Cruz to file charges? The police have a perfect witness, videotape or digital tape, whatever...
It should not be up to Cruz. A crime was committed, it has been recorded and presented to authorities. That in and of itself is actionable. Who can explain this quirk of the law here on Gothamist? For Cruz to be the responsible party in deciding if crazed teenagers should be allowed to wander the streets is absurd. If it didn't happen to be recorded, that may be one thing. But we have a moral responsibility to keep crime and criminals off the street. Personally I would like to drag the parents in on this and ask them what the hell they are doing allowing their children to behave in public in such an outlandish and criminal manner? Do people really have no clue on what is required of parents to raise children in a manner respectful of society?
If I was one of their parents, I would cringe in horror and request a press conference to air my shame and appall.
I say ban them from the Metro for 3 months and make their parents drag them around and teach them some civility while they are at it for failing them and us in the first place.
BTW, the level of vitriolic gallimaufry cast at black women-morons in this context-is untenable. snoopy and babyhitler are classic examples of the sort of ilk we can certainly do without. If I had it my way, you would be dispatched from Gothamist forever. Thankfully for you and unfortunately for us with decency and self-respect, you can stay out of respect for freedoms our constitution guarantees us.
babyhitler, your screen name which you seem so proud of tries to auto-correct in my spelling dictionary. I won't allow it to. There is nothing correct about it! You are a putz of the highest magnitude who will be ignored hereafter. I will not even read your smarmy, irrelevant remarks.
Since when were blacks and Hispanics the same race? Since when was Hispanic a race!? Kind of hard to be a racist when who you're hating is from your same Caucasian or of African race.
Get it straight. This was a criminal act of bigotry.
It's a sad state when conflict between two minority groups is passed by as a non-issue simply because of their minority status.
Main Entry: big·ot
Pronunciation:\ˈbi-gət\
Function: noun
Etymology: French, hypocrite, bigot
Date: 1660
: a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance
— big·ot·ed \-gə-təd\ adjective
— big·ot·ed·ly adverb
IRALARRY: I completely agree with you. If we have proof of criminal activity, the desires of the victim should have nothing to do with the pursuit of justice. Come on NYPD... help your reputation here!
What you want is irrelevant. You have to remember what we have is a legal system, not a justice system. It's all about what the law allows or prohibits, not what's just. The law will not allow prosecution if the victim does not want to press charges. Wifebeaters get off all the time because those scared and/or desperately needy women refuse to press charges. If you want to point fingers, point them at the state legislature, not NYPD.
The police and the DA's also need a witness. If he hasn't pressed charges, they can't effectively prosecute. Yes, there's a videotape here, but the complaining witness still needs to get up in court and identify his attackers. Even the fact that he's delayed pressing charges could make things difficult for the prosecution.
That said, I hope he does press charges.
I wonder if possession of the tape has anything to do with the law of apprehending the perpetrators without the victim coming forward.
We see surveillance tape of kids beating up and setting the homeless on fire and they get caught.
maybe it's because the Police has the actual videotape evidence.
monster mash and spiritof76-what if the police come upon a crime in progress and the attacked become unable to testify because they are comatose? Doesn't the DA have a case based on witness testimony of the arresting police? Can't a victim of a crime be compelled to testify and or press charges in order to serve the better good of society?
This is rather disturbing. It is relatively like the case of a man in Las Vegas who entered a restroom to find a friend, in fact, killing a child and he did NOTHING to help not even report it and the state was unable to press charges against him for facilitating a crime.
"It is relatively like the case of a man in Las Vegas who entered a restroom to find a friend, in fact, killing a child and he did NOTHING to help not even report it and the state was unable to press charges against him for facilitating a crime."
Could you present your thoughts and argument in a manner that is comprehensible to at least a few of us that read English?
It appears from your description that an individual witnessed a crime, but did not report same. How did he facilitate the crime? I believe that would come under the cover of an unwilling witness. That is not a crime.
For you snoopy, let me try again:
Blah blah blah....blah blah blah blah blah. Budja viudge davas colonerte. vacuous dips#!t blah duh dyh duh oops, divisa dolt shmuck.
fa·cil·i·tate [fuh-sil-i-teyt] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–verb (used with object), -tat·ed, -tat·ing.
1. to make easier or less difficult; help forward (an action, a process, etc.): Careful planning facilitates any kind of work.
2. to assist the progress of (a person).
Perfectly appropriate use of said vernacular. It may not meet the legal burden but it was apropos. Perhaps you remember this if your marijuana stifled brain can, "All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke.
on a few people:
First of all the 8-day jewish holiday is spelled various different ways depending on where you're from.
on the girls: this is exactly why i can't stand black leaders getting up and preaching equality and anti-racism. I gotta' say, in my experience, racisim (outside the corporate world at least) seems to be much more prevalent from the black-to-white direction rather than the other way around. Enough already, get off the soap box and leave everyone alone; the majority of people from MY generation (i'm 27) are ANTI-racist. I feel threatened much more often when around black people than I myself put out threats.
These girls are exactly the type of problem that is so pervasive in our society these days. They need something else to take their anger out on.
This guy was being very smart. He was non-confrontational, non-violent and polite. Leave him alone. Gay or straight who gives a fuck. I commend his courage and his brains. Let the guy alone. If he doesn't want to press charges, let him be. The girls' parents should take over and deal with them. (also, what ever happened to parenting? )
Hot damn the people who post here are uppity. I for one am certainly glad I'm not a native NYer, every one I've met has been an intense racist..on both sides.