Reached for comment, Duh Mayor of Oaktown said, "Let's all link hands and sing 'Kumbahyah.'"
Posted on 07/18/2004 8:34:52 PM PDT by Bobibutu
Oakland Homeless Man Beaten and Killed in Ruthless Attack
Joe Rogers for KCBS-740 AM
(KCBS) – Word of the senseless killing of an Oakland homeless man has spread quickly across the streets of Oakland as police searching for a group of five teen-agers they believe are responsible for the death of 52-year-old Darlus Joseph Brown early Saturday morning in West Oakland.
Witnesses told police that the suspects in Brown's death were between the ages of 16 and 20 and did not live at the homeless encampment.
“I’ve seen kids just out of hand, way out of hand. It’s just not going to change,” said Fred Pawns to KCBS reporter Matt Bigler in West Oakland. Pawns lives in a motor home normally parked about one block from where Brown’s body was found.
Police said Brown was attacked by a group of young people who beat him for several minutes, ripped apart his sleeping area, and left him for dead.
The Alameda County Coronor’s office said Brown died from blunt force trauma.
Detectives ruled out robbery as a motive, connecting Brown’s death to a series of attacks targeting the homeless people in Oakland.
Two weeks ago, three teenagers in Oakland were arrested for severely beating a homeless man with a board. At least two other victims have been hospitalized from recent attacks.
(Copyright 2004 by KCBS. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
(updated 7:25pm, jro)
I guess with all the billions pumped in over the years - West Oakland is still ... well ... West Oakland.
You would think the milk of human kindness would prevent horrors like that in the Bay Area. Only kindness is not a function of government handouts but of personal values. Liberals think ending deprivation will create kinder and gentler people. History proves them wrong time and again. If people do not know right from wrong, then yes senseless things like this are bound to happen. The only people surprised things like this occur are liberals and they haven't made the connection between their assault on this society's values and the assault on homeless men in one of the most liberal places in America.
Reached for comment, Duh Mayor of Oaktown said, "Let's all link hands and sing 'Kumbahyah.'"
Jerry Brown was on the tube getting misty eyed about all the poor families and homeless in Oakland, who were not being properly helped by the Bush administration. Nobody bothered to ask how many Republican mayors Oakland has had in the last 40 years. Is it even one?
I lived near Oakland for a few years and let me tell you - I saw some pretty scary stuff. If there's anyplace that can be called the armpit of America that would be it!
Remember, keep it nice. No profiling.
"If there's anyplace that can be called the armpit of America that would be it!"
There is a small area called West Oakland and another East Oakland - been problem areas since the 50's. The Bay Area is one of the most desirable places in the US to live and work.
Two small areas do not make Oakland the armpit. I was raised here and still live here after traveling and living all over the US and the world.
And OK - Oakland has had a "tough" reputation since the mid 1800's.
There are much larger and rougher areas in other cities in my experience.
I lived in Alameda for about a year and a half. I remember wanting to take a class at Merritt College in Oakland. The day I went to register, I encountered so many scary men bugging and following me that I dropped the class and never considered going back. It was just too dangerous. Someone told me he knew a teacher there who carried a gun in her purse.
I vote for the armpit of America.
I agree that the Bay Area is a desirable place to live but the Bay Area is made up of more than just Oakland. If I had to make a choice of where to live in the Bay Area Oakland would be my last. Sure, there are some pockets of decent places in Oakland but when you have to travel through gangs, bums, graffiti, run down buildings and the over all hostile atmosphere of the area to get there - you're better off staying home.
It won't get better until we take back the night.
"I vote for the armpit of America."
Alameda - Good Place -
Your vote - noted and counted.
America's Best and Worst Cities for Crime
http://www.bestplaces.net/crime02/crime_study3.asp
Oakland is no Rose - however there are much worse places...
OAKLAND (AP) -- Three teenagers told police that the fatal beating they gave to a homeless man in Oakland began out of boredom, according to the lead investigator on the case.
"Basically, they said they did this because they were bored and they didn't have anything to do," Oakland Homicide Sgt. Bruce Brock said. "It ended up that their fun was harassing this homeless guy, and things just escalated."
The trio of boys, two 16-year-olds and a 15-year-old whose names were not released because of their ages, was arrested Friday in the death of Dalrus Joseph Brown, 55. Brown, who often stayed in a homeless encampment near an abandoned factory, was killed during the early morning of July 17 while he was sleeping, Brock said.
Although the attack on Brown was the worst in a string of recent assaults on Oakland's homeless, Brock said investigators did not have evidence suggesting the three teens were involved in other cases, which remain unsolved.
The boys allegedly told investigators they originally intended to shoot out factory windows and cans when they awoke that morning itching for something to do, but changed their plans when they came upon Brown, Brock said.
"They started hitting him, kicking him, and then he was shot with a BB gun," Brock said.
The Alameda County Coroner's office said Brown died from blunt force trauma. The severity of the beating he suffered troubled veteran officers such as Oakland Police Chief Richard Word. None of the suspects had a prior criminal record.
"This was such a brutal and senseless crime," Word said. "I cannot understand how three young boys could be so cold and callous."
The Alameda County district attorney's office charged the three teens with murder Tuesday and filed a motion indicating it might seek to have the boys tried in an adult court. They remain in custody at juvenile hall.
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