Assaulted in New Orleans

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Paul Maurer 2

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My wife and I flew to the Big Easy for a medical convention last weekend. I did my residency there so I was curious to see the recovery after Katrina. We were walking Canal Street Thursday at 2:00 after a nice lunch at Mr. Bs and had just exited Saks. A homeless guy about 20 ft. away gave me the look of the devil and then charged, swinging for my head. I managed to block him w/my arms and we took off, but he came after us, swung and missed. At this point he was not going away, so I put up my fists and said "come on!". After backing off a bit, he accepted the invitation, at which point my wife swung her lethal 20 lb. Buffalo hide Coach purse and scored the only hit of the contest. I was really wondering what the Hell was going on as he stood his ground again and a small crowd gathered, but no one moved. Finally, a salesgirl from Brooks Brothers opened her door and yelled at us to come inside and she would call the cops, at which point the scumbag took off, never having said a word. We were a bit dazed, glad to be unhurt and that he had no weapons. We continued on and encountered two of New orleans finest leaning against their patrol car in the next block. Informed of the incident, their sole comment was "Did you beat the sh--t out of him?", which seemed to indicate this is a common thing.

My wife didn't really feel safe exploring on her own while I attended the meeting, so she left the next day. I stayed- no way I was giving up sales rep financed dinners at Commander's Palace, August and Delmonico, but spent more time in taxis than ever before......I guess thats life in the city, but it was depressing. :angry:
 
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Glad to hear you escaped otherwise unscathed.



Sounds like business as usual to me...for both the cops and the native urban outdoorsmen.
 
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Not surprising. I've often been warned about New Orleans streets, even during the day. I'm glad to hear that you were relatively unscathed.



On an unrelated note, I also noticed you're a Royal alum. I grew up not to far from Scranton.
 
Lasik,



I am glad to hear you are okay.



Oh, and you are more PC than me. You didn't indicate whether or not the homeless N.O. guy was black or not.



Was he?



Go ahead...shoot me for asking.



TJR
 
Didn't the cops at least offer you a bite of their donut? Unfortunately, there are a lot of down and out people in Louisiana and other areas devastated by Katrina. But such an incident as your unfortunate attack could happen most anywhere.....sign of the times. Glad you're both safe. Barry
 
Oh, and you are more PC than me. You didn't indicate whether or not the homeless N.O. guy was black or not.



Was he?
Click to expand...



Odds are, he was black, but does color really matter?



Is it OK for a white man to do that but a black not?



I know you want to know what color the person is. Even I would like to know, but does his color really matter?





Tom
 
Caymen,



I didn't say it mattered. You say "even I would like to know"; well, I want to know for probably the same reason you do...curiosity.



Odds are that the guy was black. I would like to know to see if my assumptions and the odds are correct. Does that make me racist? I don't think so.



Also, it reminds me of Boston Legal last night. Assuming the guy was black and being more cautious of dirty, homeless looking black guys on the street needn't necessarily be racist.



I was curious. Curious as to the race, and curious as to why Lasik didn't offer it up.



Oh, and I will admit it...I wanted to stir up some other opinions on whether or not electing/requesting the race of a perp is racist or not.



TJR
 
He was black. I would be curious as well. From the look of rage he gave me, I may have been a symbol for years of oppression. Would I have had grounds to shoot him?(just read Caymen's gun post)....:angry:
 
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Glad the two of your are ok. Your wife was on her toes. I know my wife's purse would hurt like hell with all the crap she has in it when she travels...LOL Thank fully, that is the only time she uses a purse.
 
Lasik1,



You didn't oppress the guy. If he raged against you it was obviously misplaced. But then, it seems many in N.O. have a misguided sense of entitlement and a misguided sense of oppression.



Obviously the guy wasn't too stable. I am sure it was scary, but like so many other situations you were able to diffuse it without a gun. Had you had one, and an itchy finger, an unstable person might very well be dead right now...which many here will say would be A-OKAY (I'm not sure how I feel about it, frankly).



TJR
 
Glad you're alright. Me and my roommate were down there last weekend for the Saints/Jags game. The French Quarter has gotten better, but a lot of the area outside the quarter haven't changed since Katrina. I wanted to go see the lot where my grandfather's house used to stand, but my dad asked me not to go because he was afraid I might get mugged/shot/etc. We didn't go...
 
Unless he posed life threatening danger to you or your wife the gun should have never come out. That is gun control. Knowing when you NEED it vs when you WANT it.



Since it doesn't sound like your life was truely threatened there was no need for a gun. The second he brandished a weapon at me is when I would brandish mine, and we can decide from there who's is better.



Sorry for your experience, glad it all turned out well in the end. (Other than the useless PoPo)
 
I was in New Orleans 20 years ago, long before Katrina. We stayed in a nice hotel near Canal, and went walking at lunchtime. I was propositioned in the hotel lobby, and then asked for money 10 or 12 times PER BLOCK as we walked through the French Quarter. It was a toss-up if there were more black or more white.



I stayed for the rest of the convention, but never went back to the French Quarter.
 
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I would've beaten the (expletive) out of him. A lot of homeless people are also crazy, which is why they're homeless, but if someone wants to hassle me I have not an ounce of sympathy. When black folks' ancestors were slaves in this country, my ancestors were in Italy.

Lots of allegedly homeless people panhandling in Memphis, not as many as there used to be though, I travel there on business a lot and I've gotten wise to their act since I might as well have a lighted sign over my head flashing "WHITE TOURIST". One time a guy gets off a bench and walks across the trolley tracks toward me, wants to talk like he's my buddy and all. "I'm not giving you any money." He tries to give me some more rap, I get in his face and yell "Look, motherf____. Does my forehead got the letters ATM stamped on it? Does my shirt say BANK on the back? F you." He ran backwards about as fast as a man can go, meantime his buddies on the bench are rolling on the ground laughing.

Come to think, maybe I'm as psychotic as they are.

Laws vary by state but generally speaking you're only allowed to shoot someone if they are threatening your life or someone else's. Guy throwing punches at you, you probably can't get away with shooting him. Guy is armed with a knife, ball bat, whatever, then you probably can.
 
Glad your ok, Sounds scary to me, I don't know what I would have done.



BUT, If I had a gun or something, he would be shot....

Too many chances of people with disease's stabbing people with needles, Drunk or Cracked up bums looking to rob, beat you for money, ETC.



One less deranged unstable person off the streets is A OK in my book. Sorry, but if your not fit, or do nothing for society, and you thrive or rape or hurt others, Your useless to me..



Todd Z
 
Lasik, sorry that happend to you and your wife. Had a similar incident in Boston about 20 years ago. Fortunately, the homeless guy backed down. But it shakes your faith in your fellow human beings, that's for sure.



As to your question about whether or not you could have used a (lawfully carried) gun:



I just read the Louisiana law on justifiable homicide. It's a "stand your ground/castle law" state, meaning you would be within your rights to dish out whatever force was needed if trying to prevent great bodily harm or death. But that gets into a sticky and not legally clear area of whether or not a guy coming after you with fists can do you great bodily harm. You can be seriously injured in unarmed, hand-to-hand fighting.



If you brandish a gun with the intent to deter the assault (which it probably would if the other party is even mildly rational) and the guy keeps on coming, you are probably forced to use it, for fear of being disarmed and having the gun turned on you. I have no idea how that plays out, legally.



Basically, if you introduce the gun into the scenario and use it against an unarmed party who has yet to hurt you, you will be at the mercy of politicians, and maybe a jury. Given the very high crime rate, and the desperate need to bring tourism back to New Orleans, you'd probably receive every benefit of the doubt from local authorities. But if the politics broke the wrong way, for example, Ray Nagin fearing for his re-election chances and needing to please black constituents, you could very well find yourself on trial for manslaughter. It's sad, but that's the way the system works.

 
Sorry that it happened, glad it wasn't worse. Sounds like there's nothing you did to cause it, nothing you could've done to prevent it. Being aware of your surroundings, moving with a purpose, not flashing your valuables, etc., are somewhat effective against minor league predators, but sociopaths aren't looking for the soft target or the easy escape.



Two weeks ago, an older lady walking her dog here at 9:00am was stabbed to death by a street dweller with a long history of mental illness (Richmond, VA). No robbery, just a senseless killing. I drive by the site several times a week, wish I had been on that morning. Yet another reason I'd like to put one of your compatriots to work, if someone like that got the jump on me and knocked my glasses off, I'd be swinging, or worse yet- firing, blindly...



Wait a minute, did TJR actually use "perp" in a sentence? Watching "Law and Order" reruns again?
 
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But such an incident as your unfortunate attack could happen most anywhere
Click to expand...

Actually you have a much better chance in crime infested New Orleans. It was even worse before Katrina.
 

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