LAist: LAist gets jacked; gets back

Dark Mark

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 15:01:33 -0800

Josh, Spence makes a strong argument about one's responsibility to community versus self-interest. I do think that you are allowing yourself to be intimidated by these guys and their reputation. HOWEVER, there are plenty of neighborhoods in LA, even ones close to South Pasadena, where you do not want to be living in the 'hood AND pressing charges against people that live there too. Because that shit can get you killed. So essentially the question for everybody who is flaming Josh is whether your responsibility to your community also includes not doing anything that would result in your unexpected and permanent departure from it.

may

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 14:14:34 -0800

if possible, maybe move to another city? crime still happens in other cities, but at least you'll relieve yourself of the paranoia attached to the traumatizing events in the city you're in now.

axl

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 13:26:45 -0800

Josh Strike

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 18:02:51 -0800

The police took an incident report; several witnesses at Starbucks gave full reports; two of the guys were caught on videotape. If they're caught, the state will prosecute them. Where I'm allegedly lack moral fibre is that, when asked whether I personally would press charges, I said "no." I think this was a wise decision, and I stand by it. Lastly, the paranoia -- I never implicated LAPD for anything -- I realize (and said) that it's a stretch that there was any larger reason behind stealing my laptop. However, for my own sense of security, I decided to make my remote suspicion a matter of public record.

cd

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 13:22:15 -0800

I get your fear and stress over the incident and while many have made rather indelicate suggestions about future courses of action - I do agree that even if you'd just make an anonymous call to the cops so they can adjust their stats, that be helpful. Someone robbed my car once (and no, I'm not comparing the incidents) and while trying to decide what to do about it - knowing full well the chances of getting my stuff back were slim to none - a neighborhood patrol officer rode by and I stopped and asked him about it. He agreed that finding my stuff or whomever did it was unlikely, but also said that crime stats help departments decide where to beef up patrols, etc.

Spence

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 13:15:19 -0800

Josh, It's because I have sympathy for the victims of crime, having been one myself, that your post infuriated me. You had a chance to contribute, in however minor a fashion, to doing something about crime, and you refused. Then you tried to excuse your refusal with some cockamamie conspiricy theory about the L.A.P.D. trying to steal your laptop. Listen, I know how bad it can be to be a victim. I also know how indifferent cops can be. I once had a gun held to my forehead by a jittery junkie who robbed me of the only spending money I had for a month, only to have the local police (this was overseas) refuse to even bother with the paperwork. I know how devastating it can be to be attacked, how it can fill you with fear and make you ill at ease to even walk down the street. I'm totally sympathetic. But the problem here is that you still refuse to acknowlege that you failed to do the right thing. You still insist that refusing to cooperate with the cops was the best thing to do, to allow these thugs to go merrily on their way and to find their next victim. For those of us who have been there, that kind of abrogation of justice is far too much to swallow. You should go back to South Pasadena, walk into the polise station on Mission, and file the proper report that you should have done when it was all fresh in your memory. Until you do so, you are the one who has to live with doing nothing. Lashing out ain't going to make the guilt go away, man. BTW, if you don't want people who disagree with you to read your posts, you shouldn't post them to a public forum on the internet. That takes a bit of thick skin, brother. As for the ad hominum, I said that the pot comment may not apply to you, and if it doesn't, I apologize for the implication. I've smoked enough weed to know what I'm talking about though, and it seemed a likely explanation. And yeah, I doubted your story, because, as you acknowledged by clarifying yourself above, in your previous reply, you indicated that you had special knowlege of unsolved murders in your neighborhood. You gotta admit, that's a stretch. You may not have a problem with pot, Josh, and good on you, but you do have another problem. By seeking to inflate the forces against you by claiming that the men who tried to rob you were murderers and that the PD might have conspired to steal your computer, you reveal another addiction entirely. An addiction to exaggeration. How do you expect your readers not to call bullshit on that? I'm sorry you got robbed, man. And I'm pissed off that you helped them get away. End of story.

spence

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 12:50:06 -0800

Josh Strike

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 03:49:12 -0800

All I can say to the people who've attacked me here is that you lack compassion and decency, even when trying to explain that you're somehow more decent than I am. I went through some extremely traumatic shit that I'm lucky to have survived, spent the next three days in pain from head to toe, and you've got the gall to badger me and insult me. I can't even walk down the street right now without freaking out. And you're judging me. By all means, go ahead and congratulate yourselves on what superior human beings you are; your scruples are all in the right places. Feel free to insult me. Sure! I'm a pussy. If I ran to the police and begged for their protection, that would make me a big, strong man like you. You're right. I'm a moral coward. I'm the decline of Western Civilization. I'm the ruin of Los Angeles. Forget it; why be ashamed of living in a city with thousands and thousands of gangbangers, or in a country where 1 in 100 are in prison, when you can be ashamed of a guy like me, who never wanted anything but to drink a cup of coffee and work, and now -- pussy that I am -- am afraid to even leave my house. I guess I'm a perfect target for idiots like you. Normally it wouldn't bother me but I'm not feeling that great since this thing and it's just SO APPALLING TO ME that there are people as compassionless as you attacking me over it. Where are your grandiose morals, where's your sense of the civil and the urbane when it comes to insulting people you don't know and have never met? If you're so moral, where's your sense of sympathy? Where's your humanity? Or are you just perfect law-abiding machines? Is that really what it takes to have a just society? Jesus. Take a look at yourselves. You should be ashamed. The fact that people like you even read my posts makes me sick. If I had any ill-will for anyone, I'd have it toward you. I'd rather have the thugs who robbed me over to dinner than a pack of sniveling little jackals and snitches like you supposedly upstanding citizens.

Arnaud H

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 22:13:25 -0800

So you don't want to press charges because you don't want to get killed. There is a name for people like you: cowards. You are letting thieves intimidate you and others. This is how they get away with that kind of crime. Nice job, pussy.

Josh Strike

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 19:49:48 -0800

ONE: I do not know them personally, I had never seen them before the incident. I do not for a fact know that their mates were involved in any homicides, all I know is they were from a local gang, and the local gangs kill ppl around here all the time, and I don't want anything to do with them, and I'm definitely not going into some witness protection program over it. If you think the police don't know that gang members here are dangerous, you're crazy. They know. But they're not going to be there to protect me if I go and get these guys busted on a minor charge and a week later they're out and threatening my family. TWO: I don't smoke pot, you can ask anyone I know. I resent the implication and the attempt to smear me. Your ad hominem attacks are pointless, and again, seriously misplaced. Get a life. THREE: I don't have deadlines. I write here when I want to, and I don't get paid. Again, ad hominem attacks. You feel you need to attack someone for having done something you would never be able to do. I know why I'm writing here...it has nothing to do with making myself feel better at other peoples' expense. Do you? FOUR: I have no further information about any crimes other than what happened to me. Again, I resent the implication that I'm somehow protecting criminals. I had something awful happen to me and am lucky to have gotten out alive, and the idea that I somehow wronged you personally in the process is sick and absurd. What kind of human being are you? You've got too much time on your hands. I don't know who you think appointed you the moral arbiter of how one ought to handle being victimized by criminals, but I'm not the one to blame for what happened to me, and again, you are way the hell out of line. Take your shit out on someone else.

Sydney

Sat, 29 Jul 2006 22:40:59 -0800

I think Spence has a good point. What is the real story here? Mr. Strike, do you know these guys personally? Is that how you know their friends killed several people in your neighborhood? Because if that is the case, and if the police are still investigating those homicides, then you have the important responsibility of telling the police what you know about these people (what they look like, details about their car, etc.) The case of the stolen laptop becomes a case of multiple homicide. You, like everyone else, really do have to do your part as a responsible citizen and report the crime. If everyone acts the way you do and refuses to report out of fear, then criminals will become emboldened and crime will just get worse. And I don't think it's fair to tell people they must live cushy lives in safe suburbia because they feel this way; I definitely don't live in posh South Pas, and I feel as Spence does. I would like to know the whole story.

David

Sat, 29 Jul 2006 16:00:26 -0800

There's a real simple solution to all of that. Spend $40 on a cable lock and lock it to your table or chair. The crooks go for the low hanging fruit. If they see your cable lock, they'll probably hit the jerk next to you who doesn't have one. Or if they don't see it, they'll drop it as soon as there's resistance.

spence

Sat, 29 Jul 2006 00:53:15 -0800

Now I know you are full of shit. Apparently, you know who these guys were? How else would you know that they have committed several murders in your neighborhood in the past few weeks? Where? South Pasadena? Funny I didn't hear about that. The cushy suburban den I live in is otherwise known as Highland Park. But then again, I don't really expect you to get your facts straight. What I do know is that I too have been victimized by criminals, both while living in a real poverty-stricken country, as well as right here in L.A. In fact, I was the victim of a criminal act last month. And no, I didn't pussy out and slink off, Josh, I did my duty and stood up for myself, like people do who actually give a shit about their city. I've had to do so several times in the last five years in Los Angeles. I did my best to see that the thugs who victimized me didn't get the chance to do the same to others, something you don't seem to care about. You say, ridiculously, that it is the job of the P.D. to protect you, and yet you refuse to see that you had the chance to help them do exactly that, and you whimped out. The P.D. can't be on every street corner, nor would we want to live in a society where they were. But when a crime is reported, they can find the criminal and see that he is no longer on the streets that we all share. But the police can't do their job when selfish bastards like you won't do yours. That's how it works, Josh. We have to help each other. You know, I try real hard not to make statements that aren't backed up by fact, but this whole story is starting to stink. I wonder if it wasn't a deadline-induced daydream. I hope for your sake it wasn't because if you really did act this way, you should be ashamed. Let's hope that it never really happened. Oh, and while I don't know if this actually applies to you, you should know brother, that one commonly reported side effect of excessive marijuana consumption can be irrational paranoia. We all love an occasional bowl, but when you are sure that they are out to get you, it's time to put down the pipe.

Josh Strike

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 13:34:25 -0800

well, easy for you to say, and you're probably right, from the perspective of whatever comfy suburban den you crawled out of. But your post was shitty, your anger's misplaced, and you're frankly way the fuck out of line. You don't understand what it's like to be worried that your girlfriend or your mother might be attacked walking out of the house for something you said. If I lived in Brentwood I'd file a report, but I don't have the luxury here to do that. These guys' mates have killed several people in my neighborhood in the last few weeks. I'm lucky to be alive, and I want to stay that way. What is clear to me is that it's the PD's job to protect people, and if they can't protect me, I can't help them. It's all beside the point. Take your high-handed bullshit somewhere else, until you've walked in my shoes and had to sneak in and out of your own apartment when you were sure no one had seen you.

Spence

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 16:55:57 -0800

You know what? They were right, you are a pussy. It's irresponsible people like you that make the city unlivable. You go along with being a victim, talking about "respect" for the very hoods that tried to turn you into a victim. They had no respect for you, I assure you, not for your property, not for your safety, not for your sense of mind. You refused to do that most basic of duties that we are all called upon from time to time as citizens, the duty to stand as witness. You only stood up to hold onto your own material goods, your precious computer, but you didn't stand up and do your duty for your community. What about the next person these thugs attack? What if instead of just running, they hit someone in the head to get their computer? Or throw them to the curb? Or, indeed, shoot them? You had a chance to try and make sure that might not happen by filing a police report and describing them, down to the last detail of their SUV. You had a chance to stand up for your community and your neighbors. You had a chance to help put a collar on some predators before they hurt someone else. Because you didn't, they will continue to roam the jungle, next time finding an even softer prey. The fact that you wouldn't even stand up for your rights and the rights of your neighbors not to be victimized makes you unworthy of those rights. Whether it's George Bush mangling our constitution, or witless thugs striking violence in the street, we all have a duty, every one of us, to speak up and testify against evil. You didn't. In your world Josh, there is no justice, because no one has the courage to demand it. Yeah, the system isn't perfect and frequently is straight-out broken, but we still must demand our rights. Your paranoid fantasies about the L.A.P.D. are just convenient excuses to keep you from taking responsibility for yourself and those around you. We get the city, and the country, that we deserve. I'm embarrassed to share a city with you.

Rhea

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 11:34:31 -0800

I always wondered if anyone would ever walk into a coffeeshop and grab my laptop. Now I know. Thank you for sharing.

chris ullrich

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 09:31:45 -0800

the important thing is you are ok and didn't get stabbed, shot or both. the rest doesn't matter. a laptop, no matter how important, isn't worth your life. glad you're ok.

big steve

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 05:55:12 -0800

I agree with how you handled it! I think the most important line is, "if they were just snatching... i don't take it personally." Shit happens. Being robbed sucks, but if you're okay and your data is safe, you're a lucky man! Retaliation is without question the worst part of any situation. Pointing the finger at "some cholos in an SUV" does absolutely NO GOOD, other than giving you a reason to always have to look over your shoulder. Being able to say, "fuck it, I'm over it," is a very good thing.

Ken Layne

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 22:37:23 -0800

Josh Strike -- Jesus farkin' christ! That is the craziest thing I've read all week. Well, except for the gov't going through your trash, and possibly (pointlessly) stealing your laptop. That part isn't surprising. Let Tony know we should discuss this when I'm back in LA. Despite my love & devotion for the lyric "When they kick at your front door, how you gonna come? With your hands on your head or on the trigger of your gun?", this may not be the ideal time to follow Paul Simonon's advice. Sounds like somebody is setting you up. Careful out there ....

Josh Strike

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 21:53:17 -0800

No. It happened at the one on Huntington and Fremont...not the one in the photo above.

jules

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 18:49:35 -0800

On Fair Oaks just north of the 110.

sean bonner

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 17:08:28 -0800

Which Starbucks was this? There are only a few in South Pasadena but it would be cool to know exactly which one to avoid.

sean bonner

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 17:07:24 -0800

Which Starbucks was this? I mean there's only a few in South Pasadena but it would be cool to know which one to avoid.

darleene

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 16:28:03 -0800

Were you outside with your laptop? Because I know that Starbucks - I go to Phoenix next door all the time. It's always busy and scattered with random chairs. Plus, South Pas is not your normal hangout spot for cholos who randomly run into Starbucks to steal a laptop..... I guess this is why I don't run around coffee shops with my laptop. Besides it being a pain in the butt, of course.

smo

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 16:17:08 -0800

you can file an 'anonymous' police report.

stwsr

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 16:08:31 -0800

You're an idiot for not filing a police report. As such, you are contributing to the now-to-be-more-frequent laptop snatchings.

Zona Boy

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 14:16:39 -0800

Laptops need to come equiped with blue ink packs or a special device that started blaring out Hank Williams Sr tunes at high volumne when stolen. You ARE lucky to be alive. People are killed for much much less.

cd

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 13:45:09 -0800

I recall my mom telling me when I was little that if anyone ever tried to grab me to scream "fire" as loud as I good. People care more about their shit, naturally, and "fire" could hurt their shit - so they're more likely to react. Or at least come watch. And the Pershing Square comment is partially accurate. I remember readings some articles about how it's much better to be in peril on a lonely moutain highway than in an urban area. On the lonely mountain highway - or any other sparsely populated area - people are more likely to hear your cries and think "uh-oh, better help." In urban areas, people assume with SO many others around SOMEONE will have called for help. But if everyone thinks that . . . . you end up stabbed in Pershing Square. Moral: freakin' call the cops if you hear someone in trouble.

wurd

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 10:49:21 -0800

there are about 10 million people living in LA county. do you really think a person that makes their money stealing is going to have the means/resources to find you? maybe you have been watching too much 24? stand up for yourself and do the community good by getting these people off the streets. in reality, they (along with the department of homeland security) just need to google "south pas + gangsta + muthafuckers" and there you are.....

Darnell

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 09:05:30 -0800

I believe it. My homie is in a wheelchair and was working on his laptop, when a dickhead did the same thing, snatched his computer and ran off. That's real uncool.

David Markland

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 08:54:09 -0800

Exactly which Starbucks was this? Were there witnesses?

MichaelG

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 08:31:52 -0800

you definitely need to file a report... if only to make sure that the crime statistics are accurate. If LAPD does not know about problem areas (and they only know from reports filed with them) how can they ever focus on preventing crimes?

strike one

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 08:31:11 -0800

Did you stage this or just make it up completely?

shay

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 08:08:39 -0800

thats a crucking frazy story. i don't think that you are retarded either. damn

josh strike

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 07:37:18 -0800

uh, personally I don't want to get fucking killed. there's a difference between calling the cops when you see somebody about to get killed in front of you, and putting yourself in a position where you're going to spend every day of your life in fear of retalation. I'm really not sure how you can draw any kind of equivalence between those things, but I guarantee that if you were in my position, you would have desperately wanted police to show up as you were running from crazed muthafuckers just as you would desperately need to keep yourself from spending six months in fear waiting to prosecute some guys who'd get probation and then come knocking and probably kill you the next day. I don't think it's retarded at all: it certainly doesn't mean there's no reason to call the cops. That's about the most idiotic thing I've ever heard.

wurd

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 06:39:42 -0800

why call the cops when retards like you don't press charges?