Who needs a gun in Norfolk - Call 911..... All circuits are busy!

Grapeshot said:

Just so we know 100 people against 2 is "simple assault" even when a felony is involved - interesting concept. :uhoh:

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45acpForMe said:

Also in the article, "charged with throwing a missile at a vehicle, a felony, as well as two counts of simple assault by mob, destruction of property and participation in a riot, all misdemeanors."

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Blk97F150 said:

I like the 'simple assault by mob'..... yet only ONE person was charged. A mob of one, perhaps??

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Grapeshot said:

I've been called worse :lol:

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Blk97F150 said:

Yeah, but you're one of a kind....

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Bowesmobile said:

They just had to toss in Trayvon Martin for good measure... It sucks that it happened and yeah if calling 911 is useless what are you suppose to to? Just accept you're going to get beat down?! I dont think so!

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http://hamptonroads.com/2012/05/police-seek-twitter-data-beating-pilot-journalists
Police have issued search warrants for four Twitter accounts seeking information about an April assault of two Virginian-Pilot reporters.
The warrants request personal information, including all tweets, email addresses and locations of users, from Twitter, according to court records. Messages on the online accounts mention the assault.
In one tweet written about 90 minutes after the attack, a user wrote that she feels sorry "for the white man who got beat up at the light." Another user responded that he did not feel bad, writing "do it for trayvon martin."
Other comments posted on the accounts joked about the assault and mocked police for their response.
Two Pilot reporters, Dave Forster and Marjon Rostami, were assaulted on April 14. Their car was stopped at a light at Church Street and Brambleton Avenue when a pedestrian threw a rock at the vehicle's window, according to a police report. The driver, Forster, got out to confront the rock-thrower and was attacked by several people, the report says. He and Rostami suffered minor injuries.
Norfolk police arrested a 16-year-old last week and charged him with throwing a missile at a vehicle, a felony, two charges of assault by mob, destruction of property and participation in a riot. The juvenile's name is being withheld because of his age. Police said last week that they are still investigating and that a handful of people were likely involved.
In addition to the users' names, the warrants also request phone numbers, Web pages visited and private messages for the entire month of April.
Detectives monitored several social media networks after the incident, the warrant states. "Shortly after the mob assault occurred, the social media network 'Twitter' had several postings in reference to the incident," the report states. "These postings sparked a conversation between several 'Twitter' members."
The search warrants, issued last week, note that Twitter has complied with the request and will turn over the records.

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peter nap said:

I don't read the Pilot, but I get the daily FOIA alerts and today this popped up. This should also be a reminder to be careful what you say online.

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Formal complaints have been filed against a Norfolk Police officer by two Virginian-Pilot reporters, according to the City.

Forster claimed an officer told Rostami to “shut up” and both have said they were upset with the way police treated them at the scene.

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Last week "The Factor" reported on a bias assault in Norfolk that left two newspaper reporters injured. Shortly after 11 pm on April 14th, 26 year-old Marjon Rostami and 31-year-old David Forster were coming home from the theater when someone threw a rock at their vehicle. Mr. Forster got out to confront the assailant and was set upon by approximately five African-American young men who beat him.

The thugs then attacked Ms. Rostami as a crowd of about 30 surrounded the vehicle and witnessed the assault. Hysterical, Miss Rostami called 911 and the police arrived.

The initial police report described the assault as a bias crime and a 16-year-old has been arrested. But now, the Norfolk police say it was not a bias crime and are refusing to release the 911 tape saying that would hurt their investigation. How? How could that be possible?

In addition, both victims have filed complaints against the Norfolk Police Department alleging the investigation was mishandled and the cops didn't really want to arrest the assailants or even find them. At the same time the newspaper the reporters work for, "The Virginian Pilot", didn't cover the story for two weeks. Despite the fact the reporters had to take a week off from work to deal with their wounds.

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Now, the story gets even more disturbing. The victims Miss Rostami and Mr. Forster have received death threats and had to leave the Norfolk area for a time. They now have security guards providing protection because the situation is so volatile.

In the face of all this Virginia's Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says his office will not intervene or even provide oversight. Cuccinelli also says he will not ask that the 911 tape be released. Since the victims have filed formal charges against the Norfolk Police Department, we're obviously having trouble getting a handle on the case, we find the attorney general's apathy troubling to say the least.

So we called Virginia Governor Bob McDonald who late this afternoon said he would take a look at the case. The Governor has the power to order a state investigation which this situation badly needs.

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The public has a right to hear the 911 call made by a mother accused of killing her son, a Virginia judge ruled.

"The press needs to know," retired Circuit Judge Robert Stump said. "The 911 tape is a public record."

"I’m looking at the bottom line here," the judge said. "The Freedom of Information Act is a sunshine law that says the public should know."

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The city of Bristol Virginia has a long history of refusing to release public records to the news media. On many occasions, the city has violated the spirit of the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and occasionally the letter of that law.

Two years ago, the Bristol Herald Courier pushed back.

Nearly 26 months of legal wrangling between the city and this newspaper ended last week with a victory for public access. But the big losers were not city officials but you taxpayers: The city’s obstinance in refusing to comply with the law and then its unwillingness to go along with a judge’s decision and make things right will cost you $32,504.45.

THE NEWSPAPER’S victory undermines a routine objection used by prosecutors and police to withhold public records -- that the records have become part of an ongoing criminal investigation.

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I don't expect local officials to make my life easy when I'm trying to collect information. It's my job to dig that stuff out.

I also don't expect them to twist the law to keep details about the public's business from the public.

The state's Freedom of Information Act gives authorities too many loopholes. Time after time, Virginians are deprived from learning about what's going on with their leaders and in their communities.

Here's an example:

Virginia Beach officials have refused to release the 911 tape involving the grisly death of a homeless man at the Oceanfront, after a city dump truck ran over him in June. They have cited an exemption in FOIA that allows - but doesn't require - government officials to keep private the items in a "criminal investigative file." The city's top prosecutor has said no criminal conduct occurred and that he won't charge the driver.

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Citizens must clamor for greater openness, and lawmakers must strengthen FOIA to further benefit all Virginians. Then the government won't treat residents like such an annoyance.

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When two white newspaper reporters for the Virginian-Pilot were driving through Norfolk, and were set upon and beaten by a mob of young blacks — beaten so badly that they had to take a week off from work — that might sound like news that should have been reported, at least by their own newspaper. But it wasn’t.

The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News Channel was the first major television program to report this incident. Yet this story is not just a Norfolk story, either in what happened or in how the media and the authorities have tried to sweep it under the rug.

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Those who automatically say that the social pathology of the ghetto is due to poverty, discrimination, and the like cannot explain why such pathology was far less prevalent in the 1950s, when poverty and discrimination were worse. But there were not nearly as many grievance mongers and race hustlers then.

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Repeater said:

Thomas Sowell has it right:

A Censored Race War


Far less "gun violence" in the 1950s as well. So much for Progress.

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skidmark said:

You mean back when certain people were not allowed to legally have guns, and certain other people only used guns to control folks, but preferred lynching as the means of killing? There was little need for "gun violence" when "rope violence" was both available and often condoned (by at least one side).

The "good old days" were never as good as we want to remember them being.

stay safe.

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67GT390FB said:

it's going to get even harder for the folks on here clamoring for someone to do something and release the tapes and lets hang cuccinelli for not doing his job even though he is doing his job we just don;t like how he's doing it cuz it don't suit us.

i'll find the links but there have been 4 arrests made so far in this incident but they all be minors(also known as sweet innocent baby angels) so don't be looking for mugshots or names or anything else.



can't find the link to the richmond times dispatch article i read in last nights print edition but here is what i've found online.

http://www.wnd.com/2012/05/more-blacks-arrested-in-mob-attack-on-whites/

http://nation.foxnews.com/virginia-mob-attack/2012/05/14/2-more-arrests-mob-attack-white-reporters

http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/norfolk/suspects-speak-out-on-norfolk-attack

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67GT390FB said:

it's going to get even harder for the folks on here clamoring for someone to do something and release the tapes and lets hang cuccinelli for not doing his job even though he is doing his job we just don;t like how he's doing it cuz it don't suit us.

i'll find the links but there have been 4 arrests made so far in this incident but they all be minors(also known as sweet innocent baby angels) so don't be looking for mugshots or names or anything else.

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skidmark said:

The "good old days" were never as good as we want to remember them being.

stay safe.

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