topic Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning' in Community Chat

'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

golding76 — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 03:24:55 GMT

[Well, now we don't need guns or knives to terrorize people going about their business in the light of day. This news story contains really unpleasant details. Obviously, the attacker has a mental illness, and I suspect he is one of the homeless who live on McPherson Square. There is no way to contain and/or help all those who are now unmoored from rational behavior. We are going to have to rethink the societal plan. Once again, I don't have the answers to these sorts of problems, but we need to get a handle on the problem of these lost people who are off the grid. As many know, mental illness, drugs, alcohol -- you name it -- have destroyed the lives of these lost souls who can no longer make it in the regular world.

The news tonight said it was a GALLON of urine.]

McPherson Square

‘Disgusting': Liquid Believed to Be Urine Poured on Woman at McPherson Square

Man arrested on simple assault charge

By Mauricio Casillas, News4 Reporter • Published 26 mins ago • Updated 6 mins ago

A man poured what is believed to be urine on a woman walking in McPherson Square Friday morning.

According to a disgusted witness, the woman was walking on a sidewalk near the intersection of 15th and K streets in Northwest D.C. before 10 a.m. when a man grabbed her from behind and poured the liquid on her.

“I was standing on the crosswalk waiting to cross over, and a woman on the opposite side started screaming,” Jack Rutman said.

“Grabbed her by the back of the dress and dumped a gallon of, I presume, his own urine violently on top of her,” he said.

You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning.

Jack Rutman, witness

Rutman said he called 911 from a safe distance since he didn’t know if the man was armed.

“I had never seen anything on that level before,” he said. “It was truly shocking and disgusting.”

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

Shanus — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 03:49:31 GMT

@golding76 I'm horrified by this, but I can't say anything surprises me anymore. Violence, mental illness, etc. is rampant, prisons are full to capacity and mental facilities as well.

Social workers, psychologlists and mental health professionals are so overwhelmed since Covid.

Sometimes it seems like the world is going to he*l in a handbasket.

Hoping we all can live our days safely....

Thank you for posting this.

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

bikerbabe — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 04:00:41 GMT

Everyone laments mental illness and drug addictions but no one is willing to truly fund it, including insurance, social outreach programs, staffing. research, and in-patient and outpatient facilities. For adults AND minors.

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

Linmo — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 04:04:46 GMT

It could have been a hate crime. Too soon to tell. Either way, it was done by a person with mental issues. I hope that both the victim and the perpetrator get the help they need to recover.

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

Isobel Archer — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 04:13:25 GMT

@bikerbabe wrote:
Everyone laments mental illness and drug addictions but no one is willing to truly fund it, including insurance, social outreach programs, staffing. research, and in-patient and outpatient facilities. For adults AND minors.

I think it's even more complicated that just funding. You can't just commit the mentally ill against their will. When they do something like this, they can be arrested, but then they probably won't be jailed because of their mental illness. If they are sent to treatment, and then resume their meds and/or seem to get better, they have to be released - and then the cycle resumes.

Also with the increase in drug use such as fentanyal etc., more and more people are on the streets and treatment centers are overwhelmed. It has always amazed me when people insist that drug dealing is not a violent crime.

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 04:54:11 GMT

This post has been removed by QVC because it is baiting

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

Snowpuppy — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 05:02:20 GMT

What are posters personally putting up with?

They aren't taking public transportation nor do they work in a major metro city.

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

Isobel Archer — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 05:07:02 GMT

@Snowpuppy wrote:
What are posters personally putting up with?

They aren't taking public transportation nor do they work in a major metro city.

Obviously you didn't read any of my posts on a previous thread.

I worked in DC for years and took Metro. I still go into the city on Metro - although it is not really safe any more.

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

golding76 — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 05:30:06 GMT

Snowpuppy, my story is similar to Isobel Archer's. I worked in Washington, D.C., for years and took public transportation to and from work. In fact, only yesterday I posted an account of a sexual affront that occurred in 1972, but the entire thread has been deleted and you won't be able to read it now.

What hurts me to the core with this urine assault is that I flashed back to all my days walking blocks from buses or the Metro (what we call the subway in this area) in later years and not having to worry about such a vicious and disgusting act. My greatest worry was if my slip was showing or the wind was tossing my hair around. It breaks my heart that people do not have that sort of carefree existence any longer.

McPherson Square is not an undesirable neighborhood (at least I do not remember it as such). There may be homeless people there now, but they chose a lovely spot.

These days, my Metro travel has been limited to getting to the Kennedy Center and the Capitol One Arena for shows. And I don't do that much these days So, you are correct in thinking I have no recent experience of going to work via public transportation.

However, I did take the bus from McLean, Va., to D.C. for several years in the latter part of the 1970s and from Northern Virginia to the Pentagon from 1979 to 1982.

So, for much of my adult life, I took public transportation to work.

Photo of McPherson Square

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

Isobel Archer — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 05:30:39 GMT

@golding76 Very well said.

Although we did have the sniper there for awhile. I practiced walking in a zig zag manner. Probably looked like a mentally ill person myself.

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

golding76 — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 05:35:19 GMT

Thank you, Isobel. I remember being terrorized by the sniper and his little pal. When I went to get gas, I would scrunch myself down behind the gas pump to protect myself.

My trip to church took me by the Home Depot where one woman was shot dead.

It was a hellacious time.

My husband had died in 2001, a few weeks after 9/11. My mother went into decline in early 2002 and died that summer. When the snipers came along, I was gutted.

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

Snowpuppy — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 05:35:59 GMT

Taking the Metro in 1972.

Oh dear.

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

golding76 — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 05:37:37 GMT

Okay, I am not getting into a peeing contest. I'm tired. I'm cleaning out stuff. Better get back to purging.

I grant that what you are experiencing now is wicked. I am sorry for that, Snowpuppy.

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

Isobel Archer — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 05:52:09 GMT

Yes, I'm sure that public transportation in Detroit isn't a good situation either.

Sad.

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

Isobel Archer — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 06:20:38 GMT

Not good in NYC either.

A Bronx woman was hit in the face with a bag of feces while waiting for the subway in the Bronx, N.Y. New York City Mayor Eric Adams said these kinds of events are “real signs of mental health issues.” WNBC reports.

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

STYLE — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 09:32:10 GMT

DRUG ADDICTS, THE MENTALLY ILL....SOCIETY'S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET. FOR YEARS SWEPT UNDER THE CARPET. AND YES, THE GOVT, MEDICAL COMMUNITY, INSURANCE COMPANIES ALL CAN SHARE IN THE BLAME. IT IS AN OVERWHELMING PROBLEM, NOT EASILY FIXED, IF AT ALL.

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

Imaoldhippie — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 10:16:52 GMT

A lot of this started way back in the 70's & 80's when "they" decided that mentally ill people can not be locked or kept locked up against their will. Incidents like this one is just one of the results, along with adding to the homeless crisis.

Very sad and scary, what if it had been acid?

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

CalminHeart — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 12:33:13 GMT

@bikerbabe wrote:
Everyone laments mental illness and drug addictions but no one is willing to truly fund it, including insurance, social outreach programs, staffing. research, and in-patient and outpatient facilities. For adults AND minors.

Politicians in my state closed all state mental facilities and cut funding to other places while they significantly increased welfare for big corporations, huge corporate farms, and the 1%. Unless one has good insurance, there is little to no place to go for help. People continue voting against their own best interests so they get what they voted for.

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

proudlyfromNJ — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 12:56:50 GMT

We have a number of psychiatric facilities in the county. One is even a psychiatric hospital.

Re: 'You should not have to expect a violent encounter on your way to work in the morning'

skatting44 — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 13:30:49 GMT

@Imaoldhippie

Actually, deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill began in the 1960's with the development of antipsychotic drugs, implementation of Medicaid & Medicare and patient rights. Also, states closed many poorly funded and inhumane state mental institutions . When this occured , there was little infrastructure in place to support the mentally ill to successfully succed in sociaty unless family were involved, however many mentally ill do not take their medications for a myriad of reasons which perpetuates further exacerbations of their mental illness . Many do not want to live where they have to follow sobriety rules so they prefer to live on the streets.

For many families dealing with family members with mental illness or substance abuse is a contant nightmare of a rollercoaster . The only solution is to get local communities involved , but monetary support is needed along with many more acute hospital psych beds and transitional housing . All the millions that National Institues of Mental Health and Neurosciences spends on some silly reasearch could be spent on actually helping the mentally ill .

(corrected fonly or adding word Medicaid )