Winnipeg runner hit

[waynerdog]

Solution = run carrying a brick!

[hmacdonald]

Could you please make sure that my mother doesn't see this news clip? Probably too late for that. There goes any chance of me ever running in Winnipeg again.

That is very, very scary, but for some reason, I don't find myself all that surprised. Actually there was an article in the Ottawa Citizen within the last couple of weeks about drivers purposely swerving TOWARDS runners.

H

[dwayne_runs_far]

Bigger story in today's Winnipeg Sun

http://winnipegsun.com/News/Winnipeg/20 ... 2-sun.html

From one of the group that was run at but not hit:

He said the group decided to carry on because all the runners are training for a marathon and it's not unusual for drivers to challenge them for running on the road -- although never that fast or that close.

WTF?????

I've had numerous encounters with idiots and *****'s on that stretch of road. And as other's mentioned, this is the most expensive real estate in the city, a good neighbourhood. In the summer, when the street is supposed to be closed to vehicles on Sundays and long weekend Mondays, there will be dumb-a$$es driving around the barricades and then speeding past kids on bikes or rollerblades.

Pedestrians are third rate citizens in Winnipeg.

Dwayne

[Stephan]

It's those dog darned video games I tell ya!!!

[barebuns1]

Another reason you should not run with a walkman. I pity the poor runner.
Hope the maniacs in Winnipeg will keep us informed about this case.

[BaldGuy]

The whole set of circumstances are bizarre - I can't imagine anyone trying to intentionally run someone down!

Tony, this is because you aren't a self-centred criminal with no respect for the lives or property of others. Some people get off on seeing others scared or hurt ... like the kids who think that throwing stuff at runners from a moving car is 'fun'. They like to see the reaction. I wonder if this is one of those stupid joyrides gone horribly, tragically wrong.

I hope they find the person(s) and come up with an appropriate punishment. I wonder what would be appropriate, though?

[runJrun]

The whole set of circumstances are bizarre - I can't imagine anyone trying to intentionally run someone down!

Tony, this is because you aren't a self-centred criminal with no respect for the lives or property of others. Some people get off on seeing others scared or hurt ... like the kids who think that throwing stuff at runners from a moving car is 'fun'. They like to see the reaction. I wonder if this is one of those stupid joyrides gone horribly, tragically wrong.

I hope they find the person(s) and come up with an appropriate punishment. I wonder what would be appropriate, though?

Force him to run a marathon...

[clocker]

It's the community and culture that produces this. We all play a role in it. I don't buy the "Us and Them". The world is now too small for that. It's all "Us" now. History cycles and unfortunately it's cycles are longer than our collective attention spans.

I saw this image taken by a friend in San Fransisco recently and loved it.
Poverty is the enemy. Poverty of spirit is not excluded.

[Stephan]

I think it's because of the 1-2-3 time out mentality which should be 1-2-3 "spank your arse till it lights on fire" mentality......mind you I don't agree with spanking but sometimes I think about it... (in a raising children sort of way)

[JSmitty]

From the Free Press


Chaput said the incident highlights the need for all car owners to theft-proof their vehicles.

“It’s unfortunate it’s come to this,” she said. “Based on what’s happening here, it could have potentially tragic consequences.”

Police had no information on where or when the Sunbird was stolen.

.

This story is very scary. I think what bothers me the most is the concern of the stolen vechiles versus the safety of people. As everyone has said, the offenders will probably just get a slap on the wrist.

[The Joggler]

This just came across the BN news wire:

Three Winnipeg teenagers facing charges after jogger driven down
Source: Broadcast News
Mar 13, 2007 12:35

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WINNIPEG - Winnipeg police have arrested three teenagers following a hit-and-run that seriously injured a jogger.

Police say two 16-year-old youths and a 13-year-old boy face a number of charges, including dangerous driving causing bodily harm and theft.

They allege the trio stole a car last Thursday and made several runs at joggers, at one point hitting a 49-year-old man who is still in hospital with head injuries.

Police say they caught the suspects after arresting one of them in another stolen car three days later.

The crime has raised concerns about Winnipeg's high rate of auto theft.

The Manitoba government is doubling cash rewards under its Crime Stoppers program in March and April for cases related to stolen vehicles.

[seuss]

holy crap...!

[CinC]

horrible.

Sad state of affairs though. 13 yrs old? yikes.

[La]

I hope they find the person(s) and come up with an appropriate punishment. I wonder what would be appropriate, though?

Force him to run a marathon...

Or maybe just train for one...

So, based on The Joggler's update on the story, what do you do to punish these two 16-year-olds and one 13-year-old? And what were kids that age doing out in a car at 6AM?? Don't kids sleep in anymore??

[Marg]

Wow, that is so sad. At that age, the punishment will definitely not end up matching the crime since they are Y/O.

I sure hope the runner recovers fully. How do you overcome the paranoia of looking over your shoulder constantly after an incident like this?

Wellington is such a stunning and peaceful Wpg street... just unreal.

[turd ferguson]

I hate to say it (flame me if you want) but I'm not surprised. When they said the car was abandoned on West Broadway, this is exactly what I figured.

I don't blame the kids - there's an huge number of kids in that part and nearby parts of Winnipeg growing up without supervision or rules.

[clocker]

Three teens in custody. Two 16 year olds and a 13 year old.

So very sad for all. I signed a tee shirt at the Polar Bear run to go to the fellow that was hit. What a sad state we're in. It was good to have a focus for my pain on the run on Sunday. I was grateful to have only the pains of running and not head injury.

[dgrant]

Since I first heard this story, I've actually been hoping it would turn out to be a drunk driver... or drunk car thief as it were. I don't like believing that a human being could be so chillingly heartless as to intentionally target any other stranger.

Stealing cars, or vandalizing property, or getting in schoolyard fights are one thing, but it must take some grievously bad parenting to unleash little monsters who would run down strangers into the world...

[abhainn]

I hate to say it (flame me if you want) but I'm not surprised. When they said the car was abandoned on West Broadway, this is exactly what I figured.

I don't blame the kids - there's an huge number of kids in that part and nearby parts of Winnipeg growing up without supervision or rules.

I won't flame you. The sad situation in Winnipeg, and maybe other cities, is that youth today are growing up without supervision, or in many cases the "supervision" is greatly inadequate and as affective as none.

When I worked at a dinner theatre until after midnight I would drive home in the middle of the week and see groups of kids, ages 10-11-12 and up, hanging out, getting into and looking for trouble. I always ask myself where are their parents?

I know you can't always blame the parents but very often in Winnipeg's poorer neighborhoods the parents are the ones to blame. One drug addicted women actually said the police were framing her 3 oldest boys after they were arrested for stealing cars and causing massive damage to the vehicles and a seniors apartment complex last year. She flat out said that they weren't afraid of the police and they knew very well that nothing would happen to them.

[waynerdog]

A snippet from the CTV news site about the arrests:

Two of the accused have lengthy records for stealing vehicles and were being monitored by the justice system under a special Manitoba program for youths convicted of repeated vehicle thefts, Safioles said.

Big surprise.

The intent of Canada's youth criminal justice legislation is to give young people a "second chance", on the premise they are young and the focus should be on rehabilitation and ensuring they become good, productive members of society.

With all due respect, that's a load of horse s**t!!! Lengthy records for stealing vehicles = second chance GONE. Try them as adults and penalize them as adults. Once they are convicted, send them to Millhaven or Kingston or some other place they can play with the big boys. Little bast**ds!!!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

(BTW - tell the "rehabilitation" part to the poor bugger who got mowed down, has serious head injuries, and is still in hospital. You know, the guy who won't be able to get anything out of these little creeps because the car they were driving was stolen, so if he has any sort of permanent brain injury and requires care the $ will come out of his own pocket.)

Suitable punishment = use the little trolls as pylons themselves. See how funny they think it is when a 3500lbs vehicle mows them down. Ha ha ha. Real funny.

[hmacdonald]

I'm not surprised either. But it isn't confined to Winnipeg, or the North end of Winnipeg.

In 1992 (in Ottawa), I had my car keys taken from me, at knife point, but some young teenage punks. They were in the parking garage of my apartment building. There was work being done on the garage, so it was easy for them to get access. That was on a Friday night, and they went on a mini-crime spree with my car that weekend. I was phoned three times by the various police forces in Ottawa (pre-amalgamation) to ask about my car. They robbed a convenience store, tried to do a purse-snatch from the car and dragged a woman with the car before letting go of the purse, and then got involved in a couple of high-speed chases with the police (to which I always commented... its a 81 Chev Citation... it doesn't do high speed).

I have no idea if they managed to stick charges to them. They did finally catch the drivers, but I couldn't identify them in a video line-up. Suffice to say I have a healthy fear of teenagers in groups, particularly males.

The end result... some parents aren't doing a good enough job of supervising their teenagers. In my humble opinion, too many parents are worried about being buddies with their kids, or not wanting to look like tough parents, so they don't demand to know where their kids are and who they are with. Yeah, there will always be some bad kids, but it has gotten out of control.

My heart goes out to the family of that runner. I hope that he is OK and recovers from his injuries. I also hope that the 16 y.o.s get tried as adults. Seems to me they have had enough chances already from the sounds of it.

I'm so sad to think of this happening, and I just can't imagine something so ugly happening on such a beautiful street (not that it should happen anywhere). I used to love riding my bike from St. James through that area to go to high school.

[McBoom]

I just got back into the city and heard this.

According to a CBC report, they are not charging the driver with attempted murder as he didn't line the runner in the middle of the car. It appears that it is just an assult charge if you attempt to hit a person with the side mirror and oops the runner doesn't cooperate.

Other than the runners involved, I feel sorry for the police. I couldn't imagine having a job where I had to keep cleaning up cr@p everyday just knowing that I would be cleaning the same stuff tomorrow.

[BaldGuy]

I read the news reports last night and I am still too angry to compose an adequate response.

The charges laid

These are the charges laid by police against three boys in connection to last Thursday's hit-and-run of a 49-year-old jogger on Wellington Crescent.

The 16 year old driver: Two counts of driving dangerous causing bodily harm, two counts of driving dangerous, two counts of driving while suspended, six counts of failing to comply with a probation order, failure to remain at the scene of a motor vehicle collision. (The boy is a Level 4 offender, the highest level of high-risk offenders, under the Winnipeg Auto Theft Suppression Strategy).

A 13-year-old boy: Two counts of theft over $5,000, Two counts of joyriding and failure to comply with a court undertaking. (The boy was one of six kids arrested March 5 in connection to the theft of two Cadillac Escalades and following smash-up derby in north Winnipeg. He was released under the Youth Criminal Justice Act because at that time he had no criminal record. He is now in custody).

A 16-year-old boy: Driving dangerous, theft over $5,000, failure to remain at the scene of a motor vehicle collision, two counts of joyriding, and possession of break-in tools.

(The boy has no prior convictions and was released under a promise to appear in court at a later date.)

[garth]

Here is the CTV reprot

CTV.ca News Staff

Winnipeg police and city residents are aghast at a trio of car-stealing teens who attempted to brush joggers while driving by them, although one man did suffer serious injuries.

"It looks ... like it was some sort of sick game where you might just want to hit them with the mirrors," Sgt. Doug Safioles told a news conference on Tuesday.

And who told the police that was what their motives were? Was it the same little darlings who were driving?

"There's no indication ... someone was trying to deliberately run them down."

except the fact that they actually hit someone

The incidents occurred last Thursday.

A 49-year-old man suffered serious head injuries.

Dennis Pickerl found the seriously injured runner. He told CTV Winnipeg a vehicle came close to him too.

"He passed within five or six inches of my leg at about 70 kilometres per hour. It was frightening, very frightening," he said.

Police revealed another jogger had been brushed three times that morning.

The suspects, between the ages of 13 and 16, were arrested Sunday after allegedly stealing five vehicles. They crashed trying to escape police.

A 13-year-old arrested in the case had been arrested last week in connection with car thefts. Another suspect had disappeared three weeks ago after failing to respond to a curfew check.

Two of the accused already have lengthy records for stealing cars. They were being monitored under a Manitoba government program for youths convicted of repeated thefts.

Their new charges include dangerous driving causing bodily harm, theft and failure to comply with a probation order.

None of the accused can be named because of their age.

Safioles said kids who steal cars are driven by kicks and don't care whether their actions put people at risk.

"A lot of these kids suffer from intellectual disabilities," he said. "What they lack is a little voice in the back of their head that tells the rest of us at some point that 'this is too dangerous and we should stop.'

Intellectual disabilities? Is that what we are calling it now?

"When they see the red (police) lights behind them, they are so excited that it takes them hours to come down from that.

"That's a very difficult thing to defeat."


Pickerl said he'll continue jogging: "We can't let them win. We can't let them make us victims."

The 13-year-old was in the custody of his parents Tuesday evening. He has a court date later this week. He was also released to his parents after last week's incident.

Hmmmmmmm

The provincial Conservative party called for convicted vehicle thieves to be made to wear ankle bracelets so their movements can be monitored.

The NDP government said it can't do much until the federal government makes car theft a more serious offence.

So attempted manslaughter or murder are not serious enough?

As a temporary measure, the government doubled the cash rewards under the Crime Stoppers program for auto theft cases that involve injuries. That bonus reward only extends to the end of April.

Yup don't bother looking for a fix, just try to get more reports of it. Sounds like they found the EASY button!


In the end I have to haev some sympathy for the police as thier hands get tied by the easy going young offenders act.

Wasn't Mr Harper supposed to fix all that in his first 100 days??

[abhainn]

I just read snipits in the Free Press this morning, but are these not the same little s***s that stole a couple of Escalades at Polo Park last week, smashed them a couple of other cars, were arrested and released to their parents (I use the term lightly) because they had no previous records????

I love our justice system....