Reader Report: Smackdown on Court Street in Brooklyn Heights

By on August 29, 2012 10:57 am in Brooklyn Heights

This dispatch just in from a BHB reader:

Morning – have you received any video or photos of the fracas in front of Duane Reade at Court/Joralemon last night? It was around 6:30, right as I was walking off the train, and there was a fair crowd gathered. 4 women beating the sh*t out of some guy behind a parked car right in front of the store. Called the cops, they had two patrol cars there by the time I got off the phone with the dispatcher. Was curious if there were any details/followups/injuries. There was a pretty good crowd (at least 30-40) and I definitely saw people holding their phones up and videoing.

Anyone see “citizen reports” on “the social media” today? Post below!

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  • Willowtowncop

    Mr. Crusty – I only asked again because it seemed like you were dodging the question and quite frankly I find it rather shocking that someone with your experience in law enforcement would advise standing there with a bucket while the house burns because professionals are on the way.

    My own experience is 12 years in law enforcement (I’m quite a bit younger than you). I have a law degree from Fordham and am admitted to practice in NYS. I have 3 years at the NY county DA’s office, 2 years in special investigations with the special narcotics prosecutor, 5 years as a street cop in some of the worst areas of Brooklyn, and 2 years as a policy writer for the NYPD. I have more than 75 arrests and am several hundred names away on a promotional list.

    I never suggested that anyone was a coward for standing there shooting video. I was actually suggesting they were jerks. I guess your street experience was long before the YouTube generation where you can’t take any police action whatsoever without someone shoving a phone inches away from your face and asking “why are you arresting him?” and you can’t show up to a car wreck with injuries where 15 people aren’t filming the smoldering wreck and not one single person has gone over to even ask if the victims are ok. They never are the ones who called 911 and they never offer to help the investigation by sharing the video. They do it to post on the Internet because they get a kick out of it.

  • shamrock

    @Anon, I applaud you for helping out in a potentially dangerous situation. Glad you didn’t end up a statistic yourself.

    @ Bette, In total agreement with everything you’ve said, and without a doubt feel Willowtowncop and Mr. Crusty both do indeed have valuable things to say.

  • Joe

    I’d assess the situation (no guns, no knife) and intervene if it looks like I’d have a fighting chance. From the sound of anon’s post it seems like it was 2 women against 1 women with no guns or knife involved.

    That said, I noticed that people have a reluctance to help even if there is no danger to them. I remember in mid-town seeing an elderly man fall down and hit his head on the concrete pavement. Out of the swarm of people, no one helped even with an apparent head injury. My friend and I stopped & asked if he could talk and told him we would get help. We flagged a person with a cell phone and called 911 (this is before the days of heavy cell use) and we left when a doctor offered to take over and wait for the ambulance.

  • Joe

    ^ “woman”

  • Mr. Crusty

    Willowtowncop I understand where you are coming from and you are right I was a street cop long before the advent of video phones. I have no idea how I would have reacted but I imagine I would be as frustrated as you.

    That said, you can’t get too cynical and angry because of your experiences as a cop. That is what I sense from you – a very black and white world. Good guys and bad guys. It’s a little more complicated in my opinion, not everyone that was watching is a “jerk”. Not everyone just wants to post on YouTube. You cant assume that they never call 911. When you make blanket cynical statements like that you lose credibility. It is an occupational hazard for cops to have this anger and lose faith in your fellow man when every day you have to deal with the lowlifes of the city. Don’t let it cloud your judgement.

  • Wiley E.

    Go Carol, go. That was a good one.

  • Gerry

    @ Mr. Crusty – no FBI Agent would ever call himself a “cop” the FBI Special Agents are Law Enforcement Professionals and find the word cop disrecpectful those are Police Officers and NOT cops..

  • David on Middagh

    WTC, I’d challenge him to a duel at dawn. :)

  • Wiley E.

    My money is on WTC.

  • Mr. Crusty

    Gerry you have demonstrated repeatedly that you are a bit of a moron. Thinking that cops don’t use the word cops just confirms that assessment.

    WillowTownCop you better change your screen name to WillowTownLawEnforcementProfessional. Don’t you know cops never use the term cops?

  • Mr. Crusty

    Gerry you have demonstrated repeatedly that you are not the sharpest tool in the shed. Thinking that cops don’t use the word cops just confirms that assessment.

    WillowTownCop you better change your screen name to WillowTownLawEnforcementProfessional. Don’t you know cops never use the term cops?

  • Mr. Crusty

    Sorry for the double post but the first one was “awaiting being moderated” I assumed it was because I used the word moron. I tried to tone it down a bit in the second post.

  • Mr. Crusty

    Oh and Gerry, I never said I was an FBI Special Agent, I said I graduated from the FBI National Academy.

    “The FBI National Academy is a professional course of study for U.S. and international law enforcement leaders that serves to improve the administration of justice in police departments and agencies at home and abroad and to raise law enforcement standards, knowledge, and cooperation worldwide.”

    https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/training/national-academy

  • Willowtowncop

    I usually ignore Gerry but since he called me trailer trash on another thread this morning I’ll chime in to agree with Mr. Crusty on this one. A police officer is someone with a shiny new shield fresh out of the academy. You have to earn the title of cop – there are plenty of empty suit police officers who will never be cops.

    You know what they say, Gerry – f- with me and you f- with the whole trailer park!

  • Willowtowncop

    Mine is awaiting moderation too, so I’ll rephrase.

    I usually ignore Gerry but since he called me trailer trash on another thread this morning I’ll chime in to agree with Mr. Crusty on this one. A police officer is someone with a shiny new shield fresh out of the academy. You have to earn the title of cop – there are plenty of empty suit police officers who will never be cops.

    You know what they say, Gerry – screw with me and you screw with the whole trailer park!

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