15-year-old girl assaulted in downtown Seattle transit tunnel while three security guards stood by

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Run time: 01:35 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AMIc0Zm1Co   Posted on YouTube: February 10, 2010 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: February 11, 2010 By DU Member: Amerigo Vespucci Views on DU: 3948

 

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/415247_tunnel10.html

Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Last updated 6:24 p.m. PT
Four charged in transit tunnel beating
Girl, 15, beaten as guards stood by

By SCOTT SUNDE AND LEVI PULKKINEN
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Four youths have been charged with robbery as Metro Transit Police continue to investigate the beating of a 15-year-old girl in the transit tunnel at Westlake Center.

As surveillance cameras rolled, three unarmed security guards stood by during the Jan. 28 assault. The guards, who are trained not to get involved in physical confrontations, stood by as the girl was beaten, kicked and robbed.

On Wednesday, prosecutors filed first-degree robbery charges in King County Superior Court against Latroy Demarcus Hayman, 20, Tyrone Jamez Watson, 18, and Dominique Lee Whitaker, 18. A 15-year-old girl was also charged in juvenile court,

Investigators believe the assault followed incidents at both Macy's and Nordstrom, where a group of teenagers and young adults created a disturbance, according to a statement from the King County Sheriff's Office, which operates the Metro Transit Police.

Describing the incident to King County sheriff's detectives, the 15-year-old girl who was attacked said her assailants confronted her in Macy's, according to charging documents.

Egged on by Whitaker and others, the female suspect in the attack threatened the girl repeatedly, the victim told detectives. Seattle police officers interceded, forcing both the girl and the group that had confronted her outside the store.

[provis99]

1. security guards have no business enforcing laws.

just because they wear a "uniform" doesn't make them any different than any other member of the public. Though oddly enough, police officers aren't required to enforce laws either, as the courts have established.

[paulsby]

26. actually, that's false

the SCOTUS has ruled that police have no duty to any individual to protect them.

cops can and have been disciplined , fired, etc. for not enforcing laws that they are legally obligated to enforce.

you misunderstand the ruling. need i cite it for you?

[bowens43]

33. bullshit.

[OregonBlue]

35. Then they're not really security "guards" are they? They're security "observers". What a waste of

money. If they can stand and watch a girl be beaten and kicked, they're less than useless and the city should cancel the contract and put the money towards officers who can DO SOMETHING not simply observe and report.

[MrMickeysMom]

38. "oddly enough, police officers aren't required to enforce laws either"...

Are you just visiting from another planet, or are you just confused about everything on THIS one?

[icee]

40. Baloney. The security guard was also a human being. One

who should have come to the aid of another human being. That's the way it works. Your answer disgusts me more than the inactions of the security guard.

[Poll_Blind]

2. Holy fucking shit. Screw being a security guard, how about some humanity here?

When you see a kid getting their fucking head stomped on, like fucking murder right in front of you, you should do something about it unless your safety is also endangered to the point of needing to flee for your own life.

Especially if you and two other full-grown men are watching this go down between kids.

Talking into your walkie-talkie less than 2 feet away doesn't cut it.

No, it might not be a requirement of the job but it's not like someone's asking you to dodge in front of automatic gunfire.

BTW, these dudes- all of them- should be fired. If that's their job description then there is nothing the camera that caught the incident can't do, either.

PB

[TheDebbieDee]

6. +1.......You said everything I would have said.

[paulsby]

27. you can't fire somebody for following policy

this is oh so politically correct king county.

king county's POLICY is that these guards NOT take action except to "observe and report" so to speak.

[Grassy Knoll]

3. Maybe they thought it was Candid camera . HA !

[asdjrocky]

4. That's not at all funny.

What if that was your daughter?

[Grassy Knoll]

10. I don't have a daughter........

But my brother would have clocked those so called " Guards " until their parents died !
My point was they didn't seem to react , like in shock, like on Candid camera. like WTF .

[asdjrocky]

11. Sorry then, guess I took it wrong.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[zonkers]

7. This is a hard video to watch. Those guards are pathetic.

[freeplessinseattle]

20. how 'bout that one who turns away when she really starts to get

pummeled on her head. geez, a little old lady would have been more use at helping this poor girl.

I have to wonder if these guys even said anything to their supervisors later about what a messed up policy it is, and how conflicted they felt, blah blah (since they are being defended on other threads). Or if they didn't think about it anymore until it became an issue for them?

[zonkers]

24. Pathetic. Those thugs were brazen. Hope they get do hard time.

[Sanity Claws]

8. Why the hell are the security guards there if not to provide security?

I don't get what their job function is.
Outrageous.

[npk]

15. To deter crime

Even though this case is a bad example, studies have shown that when unarmed security guards are present their is less likely to be a crime committed then if they are not present. Also many people can't tell the difference in armed and unarmed security personnel. Think of it this way, it cheaper to hire a security guard and place them in a location full time, then to hire an off duty officer. What is strange in this case is that most security guards are trained in the use of pepper spray and other non-lethal techniques. It's odd that they would not have used pepper spray until the police arrived on the scene.

[paulsby]

31. it's not odd. they are not SUPPLIED with pepper spray and the POLICY

set by king county is for them NOT to get involved. to observe and report in

iow, they did what (oh so lovely) king country employed and told them to do.


i've been in the bus tunnel numerous times. the security guards do not have pepper spray

[Mike K]

16. Uniformed security guards effectively prevent -

- minor offenses and disorder only because the vast majority of Americans are conditioned to respect the authority which is represented by a uniform and a badge. Most Americans are unaware that a uniformed security guard has no official (police) authority. But hardened and knowledgeable criminals, many of whom are armed with a knife if not a gun, are well aware of it and will not hesitate to attack a "square badge" security guard who interferes with them. In the interest of avoiding lawsuits, employers of unarmed security guards instruct them to avoid direct involvement in violent incidents and to take no further action than summoning assistance.

Conversely, most armed security guards are retired police officers who are paid more than twice the hourly wage of their unarmed counterparts and while they have no official authority they will intervene in such incidents as the topic assault because they are capable of defending themselves and innocent victims of criminals.

Incidents such as the topic assault would be far less common if more civilians were armed and thus able to effectively intervene. Incidents of this nature emphasize the negative aspect of rigid gun control. If more responsible civilians were armed street criminals would be far less inclined to behave aggressively.

[paulsby]

30. mostly true

security guards on public property, as these guards are, have no more authority than civilians.

however, security guards on private property, have the power to act as agents of the property owner, which means the power to arrest (for certain offenses, as any citizen can when defending their property) or detain based on the state code, the power to expel people, etc.

[paulsby]

28. "observe and report". that's what lovely king county wants

and that's what their policy says. they contracted with a private company under those parameters

[ellenfl]

42. the city might as well put up those fake signs

that say the stop is protected by security cameras. i agree that the bodies are apparently worthless . . . as these kids apparently also know. heartless at the least.

ellen fl

[exboyfil]

9. Like the strip club owner in

Kill Bill II said, "You're saying that the reason... that you're not doing the job... that I'm... paying you to do... is, that you don't have a job to do? Is that what you're saying? What are you trying to convince me of, exactly? That you're as useless as an ******* right here? Well guess what, Buddy. I think, you just ****** convinced me!"

[MadMaddie]

12. This is what happens when you attempt to cut costs and remove

real police officers and replace them with a security firm whose only job is to report things on their walkie talkies.

[paulsby]

29. this is what happens when you don't know facts

nobody REMOVED ANY POLICE OFFICERS . king county metro has steadily iNCREASED the # of officers assigned to metro

they ALSO contract with private security for guards and set the parameter (don't get involved. report and observe).

that's the POLICY

but metro has been a growing contract, and has had a growing # of cops over the last few years.

your post runs contrary to facts

[MadMaddie]

46. Ummm I read the article and my reading comprehension is just fine

Yes a smaller detail of commissioned officers and a larger number of unarmed security guards with walkie talkies. No longer do they have uniformed and armed police officers at each of the five stations.


<snip>
Metro replaced the off-duty cops with private security and a smaller detail of commissioned officers from the new transit police force. The tunnel now is guarded 24 hours by a larger number of people, but no longer has uniformed and armed police officers at each of the tunnel's five stations.
<snip>

Metro made a mistake in policies and they should be held responsible. The victim survived......this time.

[paulsby]

47. i stand corrected

fwiw, metro has steadily increased the # of officers total in the metro division, but you are right. they did take officers out of specific tunnel duty.

my bad. i apologize

[MadMaddie]

48. No worries!

:hi:

[MrMickeysMom]

39. ... and it's going to escalate elsewhere...

Nobody will go to the mall that allows this kind of "security" to gangland or routine criminality.

How many years of Reaganomics will it take to know that the only thing that trickled down to self-regulate free market economies with thriving business districts is the shit sticks paid minimum wage picking their noses and allowing this chaos.

[rasputin1952]

13. They better do some better "training"...

The guards, who are trained not to get involved in physical confrontations, stood by as the girl was beaten, kicked and robbed.

As a human being, you are obligated to do something, even if it is to stand between them.

This isn't "training", it's stupidity.

[JI7]

14. were the security guards one of those hired from a private company ?

[Shining Jack]

17. That's beyond disgusting.

:grr:

[bertman]

18. It's obvious at the beginning of the clip that the girl who was attacked pointed out the

attacker to the three "guards" before the attack began. I guess they thought she was just a whiner.

First degree robbery charges? How about attempted murder by stomping on someone's head?

This is way messed up.

[freeplessinseattle]

21. I have to wonder if it was a friend or relative of a guard

getting attacked if they would have been such robots.

what if it was the owner's daughter-would he have been as concerned about a lawsuit?

[exboyfil]

23. A group kicking someone in the head

yields simple battery (see Jena Six). Attempted murder is an overcharge based upon public opinion resulting from that case.

[bertman]

49. About 40 years ago there was a case where a fight took place between two local boys.

One guy got the best of the other one, knocking him down and almost unconscious. As the other kid lay on the ground, the attacker began running up and kicking him in the head as if it were a football. The kid died. The attacker spent at least six or seven years in prison; although, I don't remember what he was convicted of.

[progressoid]

19. Good God.

This happened right in front of them. It's like the thugs knew nothing would happen.

[winyanstaz]

22. Sheesh! a real human being would have stopped that crap..

I think some security guards need to be fired.
I hope the kids that did this go to jail.

[berttheturk]

36. I agree with everything you said. It's sickening to watch people stand around and do NOTHING! n/t

[WhoIsNumberNone]

25. Lawyers guns & money-

People are terrified to get involved in anything like this. You don't know if the assailant is concealing a gun or a knife, or if they'll come back tomorrow with a gun and pop you when you're not expecting it. And of course if you put your hands on someone for any reason -even breaking up a fight- you are potentially opening yourself (and in this case your employer also) up to a variety of lawsuits. And what's with girls being so violent these days anyway?

[Boudica the Lyoness]

32. The Seattle police need to get into trouble for this.

The victim had gone to the Seattle police for help and they force her out into the street with the gang. She thought the guards would defend her, but as you see they didn't. It was a gang who beat and robbed her. They all look black to me and I'm sure if that had been me in Macy's (a white grandmother) asking for protection, they wouldn't have forced me back out into the street with this gang. I've been to Seattle enough to know the police would look after me...but not a 15 year old girl. It could have been my granddaughter. Someone needs to lose their job over this. :mad:

O God the mad bitch came back and kicked her in the face again and the guards just stood there and let her do it. How the hell can you train a human being to stand there and let that happen? What if it had been a man beating a baby? Or a man raping a little girl, would they always just stand there and watch as they (maybe) call on their radios for grown ups to come and help? What if the mad bitch started hitting them, would they stand there and take it because they are trained not to get involved in physical confrontations? Cowards!

[spicegal]

34. Un fricken believable.

[trumad]

37. Fucking Cops didn't do shit...

Describing the incident to King County sheriff's detectives, the 15-year-old girl who was attacked said her assailants confronted her in Macy's, according to charging documents.

Egged on by Whitaker and others, the female suspect in the attack threatened the girl repeatedly, the victim told detectives. Seattle police officers interceded, forcing both the girl and the group that had confronted her outside the store.

The girl told detectives she was immediately confronted by the female suspect after stepping onto Third Avenue outside the downtown Macy's. She rushed back into the store, she said, where she again encountered the Seattle officers who'd ejected her moments before.

"I asked them to take me to the tunnel and they said they couldn't because they didn't have time for kids who started trouble," the girl told sheriff's detectives.

The officers eventually led the other group away, and the girl went to the transit tunnel to wait for her bus home. While she waited, her assailants returned, she said, and the other girl attacked her.
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/415247_tunnel10.html

[sulphurdunn]

41. Had three uniformed and armed cops been standing where the

"security guards" were there would have been no assault in the tunnel for the same reason there was no assault in Macy's.

[democracy1st]

43. thats a travesty

[Quantess]

44. Pathetic.

Just pathetic.

[Blue Owl]

45. So what are they paid to do, exactly?

Un-freaking-acceptable, no matter what.