Blood on the Platform

groovehouse: 12th Jul 2006 - 20:54 GMT

My morbid curiosity wonders what happened...

EvilGentleman: 12th Jul 2006 - 21:46 GMT

I remember in 1995, I was at my favourite watering hole waiting for two guys to finish playing pool so I could have a turn, when I decided that I had better go check on my friend's girlfriend to make sure she was ok. (My friend was away for a few weeks, and had asked me to ensure she was ok, food in the fridge, etc) When I got back to my watering hole 15 minutes later, it was surrounded by yellow police tape, and nobody was allowed in or out.

Apparently, as soon as I had left, the two fellows I had seen playing pool had some sort of disagreement, and one guy grabbed his pool cue (my favourite 19 ounce cue, in fact) by the narrow end and hit the other guy full force in the back of the head with it. The impact was such that a 4 inch wide section of skull flew off, leaving the brain exposed. The guy attacking then took the broken half of the cue still in his hand and jammed the broken end into the other guy's brain. He then took off, and the police showed up.

When I arrived back, the police were busy questioning everyone, so I waited outside for my friends to come out, so I could find out what happened. Finally, the police let people leave, and the bar was declared closed. The bartender poked his head out the door and asked me not to leave, he really needed someone to hang out with, but he had to finish counting the cash first. As I waited by the glass door, I could see the huge puddle of blood just inside the door (The forensics guys were due to come by later with the owner), and there were pinkish-gray lumpy spots in the blood puddle. I never knew brain matter could get so mushy.

Once he got out, Leo (the bartender) and I went to the bar across the street, where Leo proceeded to get as drunk as I had ever seen a man get. He was really stressed out.

I heard the victim was brain-damaged to the point of being declared permanently vegetative, and that was the last I heard of him. The guy who attacked him was arrested a month or two later (I had actually had conversations with the guy a week before he was arrested) and was back on the street a year after that.

I sometimes wonder if the guy who was attacked is still alive or not. Probably not, I suppose.

Catherine Penfold-Waxman: 12th Jul 2006 - 23:24 GMT

EvilG, you seem to share my ability to barely avoid horrible situations.

NYer: 12th Jul 2006 - 23:56 GMT

"I heard the victim was brain-damaged to the point of being declared permanently vegetative, and that was the last I heard of him. The guy who attacked him was arrested a month or two later (I had actually had conversations with the guy a week before he was arrested) and was back on the street a year after that".

Lemme see if I get this straight: the guy sticks a pool cue into someones brain, runs off and it took the cops a month or two to arrest him?. I don't get it; YOU found him a week before they did, so apparently he was still in the area all that time!.

And on top of that this asshole is out again after only a year?.

Tell me this all happened either in JERSEY or ARGENTINA (or some other 3rd world shithole) cause I can't believe it otherwise.

EvilGentleman: 13th Jul 2006 - 01:32 GMT

Welcome to Canada: The Land of the Ridiculous Justice System

Fact is, the cops took a while before they really had a decent idea who it was they were looking for. Also, much as I hate to put it this way, the victim was black, and the attacker was white. Therefore, the cops were slow to act. I must admit, even I did not really remember what the guy looked like, and I would not have realized it was him I was talking to, except he started talking to me about "putting that guy in the hospital with a broken skull", and then everything clicked. I really did not know what to do, and I knew that people who rat to the cops do not tend to live long in that neighbourhood, so I decided to just do nothing. Besides, if the guy was nuts enough to hide in plain sight, I knew it would not be long before he was caught.

As far as his freedom a year later goes, all I can tell you is that I saw him on the streets a year later. I have no clue how he came to be out there. I assume he was released, but I am not certain of that. I did not approach him to ask, I just nodded and kept walking.

carolita: 13th Jul 2006 - 01:52 GMT

wow, memories! when I used to take the path train to parson's on 13th street from penn station (because it was 25 cents cheaper than the subway, and I needed that quarter for my coffee!), I once got on the train only to find a dead man and a couple of seats near him with blood pooled in their concave plastic. No one wanted to sit in that car, ha ha. (Oops, dead man, don't tell anyone or we'll all be late for work.)

(Needless to say I walked to school that day. In a bit of a stupor.)

Chris Erb: 13th Jul 2006 - 02:08 GMT

How can a dead guy be sitting in a train and not one single person reports it??

Peter: 13th Jul 2006 - 14:21 GMT

...like he said, no one wanted to be late for work ;)

bonz: 13th Jul 2006 - 14:26 GMT

No Greg, it's Newark, an even better excuse! From one of the most corrupt states in the union, how could anyone be surprised?

Chris Erb: 13th Jul 2006 - 14:54 GMT

That just astounds me! There's a dead guy sitting in a train with a pool of blood and all everyone can worry is being late for work?

thom: 13th Jul 2006 - 15:41 GMT

perhaps, but theres a free murderer in the equation you know

EvilGentleman: 13th Jul 2006 - 15:52 GMT

Well, what are they gonna do, call 911? It's not like they can bring the guy back to life. The transit cops will find him sooner or later. Picture the cops interviewing the commuter (let's use the anonymous name of X) who calls 911:

Cop: How did you find him?
X: Like that. (points)
Cop: Did you know the deceased?
X: Nope
Cop: Did you see anyone else when you got in the subway car?
X: Nope
Do you have any ideas who might have done this?
X: Nope
Cop: What do you do?
X: I maintain the trading bells and buzzers at the NYSE
Cop: What is your name?
X: Mortimer Johann Raoul Jean-Francois Mustafa Vladimirovich Ndobhou-O'Malley-McInnis-Chang
Cop: Gimme a break, that's not your real name. Who the hell would give their kid a name like that?
X: My mother wanted to name me after my father, but she was not sure which one got her pregnant.
Cop: She thought all these different men may have gotten ger pregnant?
X: Well, she narrowed it down to the 10 most likely candidiates. The hospital would not let her give me all 671 names.
Cop: 671??? WHAT???
X: Mom was a porn star. She said she did 17 orgy scenes that month.
Cop: Right. Where do you live, Mr. Ndobhou-O'Malley-McInnis-Chang?
X: Am I going to have to give a long statement?
Cop: I'm afraid so. We have procedures to follow.
X: And you will have to fill out a shitload of paperwork and spend a few days investigating a crime you know you will never solve, since their must be ober 100 thousand sets of fingerprints in this subway car?
Cop: Um... er... yeah.
X: Then why don't we just dump the stiff in the Hudson, and let the Coast Guard deal with him when they find him floating in the Lower Bay? He's already bloating a bit, so he should float fine.
Cop: Well, I did not call for backup yet... It's tempting...
X: I'll carry the heavy end
Cop: Ok, it's a deal. Let's do it then.

sine: 13th Jul 2006 - 22:46 GMT

then the columbia crew team can haul the floater back to the docks.

Susannah : 16th Jul 2006 - 09:55 GMT

Whipslinger - you wouldn't happen to be a Newark real estate agent woulg you? Or are you just talking about the Newark airport?

Canadian-Canadian: 31st Jul 2006 - 16:13 GMT

Just more proof the US is turning into a third-world country. Plus, police officers doubling as janitors is pretty funny.

kathleen: 5th May 2007 - 10:58 GMT

It made me feel sick how can human beings be so horrible