topic Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place? in Community Chat

Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

PickyPicky3 — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 16:11:44 GMT

Unbelievable!!!! A woman was sexually assaulted this morning ON THE ESCALATOR of the same Philadelphia SEPTA 69th Street Station.

A SEPTA police officer was right there and intervened.

The attacker reportedly tore off her clothes on the escalator.

This can't go on.

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

Laura14 — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 16:30:34 GMT

When good people do nothing without any consequences, the bad ones get emboldened. So sad to see my hometown come to this.

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

Sooner — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 16:32:59 GMT

Write, call, complain, and don't let city officials look the other way. People march for all sorts of things. The people in the area will either let it go or not. It's up to them in the final analysis.

And you know, it's not looking good for us at this point! The criminals are winning.

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

Kachina624 — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 17:17:30 GMT

My sister just advised my that the original act occurred on the same train which left from the 69th Street Station, which we always took to get into Center City when we were teens eons ago. I absolutely hated riding that darn stinky train.

I took my son to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall on that train in the late '70s. I remember thinking, "thank God I never have to do that again."

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

manny2 — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 17:30:45 GMT

Thankfully someone intervened, and stopped it, but the trauma she must be feeling. Very scary time we are living in.

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

Porcelain — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 17:43:14 GMT

You guys realize people (mostly women but not exclusively) have been assaulted like this for forever, right? This is not new. It's very ancient.

It is wonderful that we are outraged nowadays and that something is being done about it. It was not always so. Now we have video proof of many of the old crimes that used to be 'he said she said' and were trivialized and went unacknowledged and unpunished.

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

chlema — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 18:39:02 GMT

@Porcelain

@Porcelain wrote:
You guys realize people (mostly women but not exclusively) have been assaulted like this for forever, right? This is not new. It's very ancient.

It is wonderful that we are outraged nowadays and that something is being done about it. It was not always so. Now we have video proof of many of the old crimes that used to be 'he said she said' and were trivialized and went unacknowledged and unpunished.

Yes I know it's not anything new - but the frequency sure is. The Philadelphia area has become so bad that I dread turning on the local news in the morning. I speak as someone who grew up there many years ago.

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

Mindy D — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 19:05:03 GMT

This is exactly like the Law and Order SVU episode. I think it was season 1. Multiple rapes on a subway train with onlookers standing around.

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

bmorechick — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 19:49:24 GMT

@Laura14 Oh boy is that a loaded, true statement!!!!

Sadly, your hometown isn't alone in things like this...

I'm not an animal owner but I am starting to think animals are smarter and at times more compassionate than the species human.

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

Laura14 — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 20:00:31 GMT

@bmorechick I keep telling people to re-read that old WWII poem about the guy who kept standing around doing nothing as everyone around him was taken until, at the end, they came for him because he was the only one left to bother.

It's amazing to me how short sighted human beings have gotten. Selfish isn't a big enough word for it. When we can't step in and help our fellow human beings with all the technology at our fingertips these days, there's just no hope for that kind of callousness IMO.

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

BoopOMatic — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 20:38:48 GMT

@Laura14 wrote:
When good people do nothing without any consequences, the bad ones get emboldened. So sad to see my hometown come to this.

@Laura14 I said the same thing, almost word for word, the other day on another forum and got scolded. I have no idea why, isn't this just human nature? SMH

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

MorningLover — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 21:47:51 GMT

October 21, 2021

UPPER DARBY, Pa. (CBS) — A 28 year old man is in custody after Upper Darby police say he sexually assaulted a woman inside a SEPTA train terminal. Edwin Allen, of Philadelphia, is currently in custody.

This was a classic case of being in the right place at the right time.

SEPTA Police Officer Thomas Schiliro has been with the department for four years. He says his police work has never been more important than it was on Wednesday evening. He was steps away from where a woman was being sexually assaulted at 69th Street Transportation Center.

“I was close. I heard screaming from inside the terminal. I went upstairs to investigate and when I arrived I saw the victim and a couple other members of the public pointing out the suspect,” Schirilo said.

Police say a woman was riding on the El and fell asleep. When she woke up, she exited the train and went into the concourse and asked the suspect for help finding the train to get back into the city.

Police say 28 year old Edwin Allen offered to help the woman, but instead ripped her clothes off, groped and assaulted her.

While SEPTA has nearly 2,000 surveillance cameras in its system, SEPTA Police Officer Thomas Schiliro was there when he was needed most.

“You kind of just have to block out the noise. You don’t really have time to think. You think, ‘bad guy, I have to get him,’ intervene however I can,” Schirilo said.

Allen has a sex conviction on his record in Philadelphia and was on SEPTA police’s radar as a serial sexual attacker.

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

gertrudecloset — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 22:34:05 GMT

Unbelievable. I have no words. It's like a psych ward has been let lose.

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

bmorechick — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 00:57:25 GMT

@gertrudecloset wrote:
Unbelievable. I have no words. It's like a psych ward has been let lose.

@gertrudecloset Unmedicated no less

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

hckynut — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 06:32:39 GMT

@Porcelain wrote:
You guys realize people (mostly women but not exclusively) have been assaulted like this for forever, right? This is not new. It's very ancient.

It is wonderful that we are outraged nowadays and that something is being done about it. It was not always so. Now we have video proof of many of the old crimes that used to be 'he said she said' and were trivialized and went unacknowledged and unpunished.

@Porcelain

No I do not realize this because it is not the same. Maybe where you live this has been common place in "ancient" times, but not here.

Stories I have read and seen on media decades ago, in big cities, this was not happening in broad daylight, and within a crowded public transportation vehicle.

I get tired of hearing this type hype, because that is what it is, hype. Then there is the "it's always been happening, but now with new technology, we can see it".

No it is neither in my opinion. It is the erosion of what used to be a more caring human race. Think Flight 93!

You may be older than my 82 years, but I do not consider myself "ancient". And if these things were happening? I must have sleep walked through much of my daylight hour decades in busy public places.

Do agree most victims are female, but that's it.

hckynut

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

gardenman — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 12:42:13 GMT

In my younger days, you would be an outcast if you committed a major crime. You'd spend decades in prison and be shunned when you got released. Criminal behaviour was not tolerated. These days there are fewer negative social consequences.

A study done by the DOJ in 2016 showed that the average time served for all criminal acts overall was 2.6 years and the median time until release was 1.3 years. Murderers served an average of 13.4 years. Violators served an average of 2.2 years for non-murder violent assaults (including rape.)

There have been efforts to destigmatize criminals and there are lots of programs to help ex-cons, so the social cost of committing crimes is less. You come out of prison these days and you're apt to be given an apartment, a job, and even a free education in some cases. "We want to give them a hand up so they won't repeat." Yeah, how's that working out?

Now in some parts of the country, you can steal up to $900+ in merchandise and face no consequences. Oddly enough stores are closing in those areas. Go figure. Back in Wilson Goode's days as Philly mayor, he announced that car thieves wouldn't be arrested or prosecuted until after they'd stolen two cars. Suffice to say car thefts increased dramatically.

We've largely removed the negative consequences for wrongdoing these days. If anything, we're almost rewarding criminals for breaking the law. When you look at the arrest history of some of these guys/gals you wonder, "How on Earth are they out of prison?"

Should we stigmatize criminals? Maybe a little. A little social pressure on people not to commit crimes might just be an improvement. Maybe a little stigmatizing isn't such a bad thing. What we're doing now sure isn't working.

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

Daisy Sunflower — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 14:40:58 GMT

Too bad a new group of Guardian Angels isn't patroling. Remember them?

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

reiki604 — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 14:59:16 GMT

@Daisy Sunflower wrote:

Too bad a new group of Guardian Angels isn't patroling. Remember them?

Their originator Curtis Sliwa is running for mayor of NYC.

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

Spurt — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 17:06:16 GMT

@gardenman

Sadly it seems we give more sympathy to the criminal instead of the victim.

Re: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Place?

gertrudecloset — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 23:38:12 GMT

@hckynut wrote:
@Porcelain wrote:
You guys realize people (mostly women but not exclusively) have been assaulted like this for forever, right? This is not new. It's very ancient.

It is wonderful that we are outraged nowadays and that something is being done about it. It was not always so. Now we have video proof of many of the old crimes that used to be 'he said she said' and were trivialized and went unacknowledged and unpunished.

@Porcelain

No I do not realize this because it is not the same. Maybe where you live this has been common place in "ancient" times, but not here.

Stories I have read and seen on media decades ago, in big cities, this was not happening in broad daylight, and within a crowded public transportation vehicle.

I get tired of hearing this type hype, because that is what it is, hype. Then there is the "it's always been happening, but now with new technology, we can see it".

No it is neither in my opinion. It is the erosion of what used to be a more caring human race. Think Flight 93!

You may be older than my 82 years, but I do not consider myself "ancient". And if these things were happening? I must have sleep walked through much of my daylight hour decades in busy public places.

Do agree most victims are female, but that's it.

hckynut

@hckynut you do know that people have been forcing their will on others since the dawn of man, right? You can find it in ancient texts even. It is common, has been, and will always be something women and men must concern themselves with. There is no cure for being human. None.