A member of a left wing activist group called Clowns Not Bombs (apparently facing deportation) went completely bonkers in a San Francisco BART station and a video of his antics has gone viral.
Yeiner Perez, 24, was arrested May 10 at the 16th Street Mission station after a incident in which he did handstands, flips and the splits on station turnstiles. He also lunged at and grabbed several passengers, as shown in a video recorded by a station agent.
The San Francisco District Attorney’s office is still weighing whether to charge Perez, but his arrest alerted federal immigration authorities to his presence and set in motion deportation proceedings.
If you watch the video, what he does is actually worse than that. He can be seen pushing one woman backwards to the ground.
What bothers me is to see perfectly able-bodied men doing absolutely nothing to help while an unarmed psycho terrorizes innocent people.
A commenter from Portugal has more wisdom than any of the clueless citizens who were at the scene. She opines (correctly, IMO) that Americans are too easily intimidated:
I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what all the fuss is about. The man was OBVIOUSLY unarmed, so he presented no risk to anyone, at least if two or three people subdue him. If this would happen in my country (Portugal) people wouldn’t stand or pass by and let him wander about. And I personally would’t cry histerically and run away from him, but I’d stand up to him (I’m a 57 year old woman). I think you are too terrified by people, strange or not.
What really made this sink in for me was to watch the corrected (not sideways) version of the video. If you can stand it, starting at 0:55 you can see the naked man leaping back and forth over the turnstiles while the passengers dutifully ignore him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-wXM4s-On4
I was very amused by the way these normal people — many of them young able-bodied men — intently focus on correctly inserting their fare cards through the reader while almost studiously ignoring the crazy naked man leaping on top of the turnstiles, and I still am, because it’s hilarious to see.
But I wouldn’t want to depend on any of these people in the event of any sort of problem, serious situation or life-threatening emergency. I suspect they would cut and run if a woman’s throat was being cut a few feet away.
Or maybe they would just focus on properly inserting their cards into the reader.
Comments
11 responses to “Eloi Not Bombs!”
Please, you know the answers, it includes – HIV, Hep B,C,D, and LAWSUITS
The fears you voice are certainly in the minds of many people, but I think two strong guys could have simply grabbed him and held him by the arms to prevent him from assaulting people. You’re not going to get HIV or hepatitis from that, and while I suppose you could get sued by the attacking psycho for having restrained him, I don’t think he would ultimately prevail.
The real name of the group is “Assaults Not Bombs”.
Wait until he lunges. Then place a boot in his eqpt. That makes you a victim. Sue him.
Last words: “OMG OMG that’s a LADY” – I think that lady was fighting back. As I would have.
Poor guy; in the 70’s the hippies would have actually intervened and dragged him of to a ‘get off the bad trip’ place.
I’m disappointed. (If not surprised.) Didn’t seem to be any of the older crowd around there. And if they were, they’ve probably lost what they once had. Pacifism, yanno…
And as for Eloi – this resonates.
Though the Eloi were even worse…if anything can be. Soylent Green, anyone?
I can’t really imagine he wouldn’t have been tackled until the police came in this part of the country.
Did not one of those passing through the turnstiles not have briefcase to swing in the guy’s fork while he pranced around in a threatening manner? Not one?
@DJM “I can’t really imagine he wouldn’t have been tackled until the police came in this part of the country.”
What I’m saying is that, once upon a time, he WOULD have been. By the same people who have made it a sin since. Back when, he would have been restrained and helped. Now, he’s just ignored.
There are no actual hippies in SF anymore. I mourn the loss.
I’m surprised that almost nobody here is seeing the problem with trying to do something about this guy. Were anyone to try and intervene, they would not only place themselves at risk of getting assaulted by this lunatic, but they would also place themselves at risk of getting assaulted by the police, arrested, and charged with some kind of crime.
I would not go out of my way to get my ass kicked and arrested, and I doubt anyone else would if they were being honest with themselves. The best thing to do in such a situation is call the police and go about your business.
asdf has the point — what could anyone have done that wouldn’t end up with them in trouble?
Fer crissake, you can’t even defend yourself when you’re pinned to the ground and having your head smashed against concrete without being charged with murder.
Yeah, I think asdf has hit the nail on the head. People would be more likely to intervene if they didn’t they’d get in trouble–possibly serious trouble–if they were to do so. Plus, if you note (I admit I did), that guy is seriously built… and did you see the scissor-kick-flip he did off the platform? He’s likely to deliver a serious injury to someone who isn’t a skilled and practiced fighter.