Seattle "Superhero" Arrested For Pepper Spray Assault

[SadakoMoose]

He's the hero Seattle deserves, not the one it needs right now. He's a loud guardian, a watchful moron, a dark idiot.

Good man. This needs carving onto a bronz statue of this asshole.

Lol, I called somebody an asshole! Just like Penn and Teller, derpadoo!
Forgot an E
Why is this guy an Asshole?
Sure he's probably putting his life at great risk by doing this stuff, but his heart is in the right place. As far as I can tell, he isn't going looking for fights, but rather responding to them. If you heard there was a man choking to death, and you ran to him, you wouldn't be accused of ambulance chasing would you?
While I do think he might be a bit misguided, it's not like he's going out and assault people for selling drugs, or over eagerly tasering people. He's just a altruistic dude that doesn't quite know what to do.
Certainly not an asshole.
An asshole is when you kick puppies, spam emails, or ignore people being hurt because you don't want to get involved.
Why do you think you get to be so vindictive in this situation?

You don't think running around, spraying pepper spray into an angry crowd is at all risible? The guy dresses up as a super hero and goes out into the street with weapons; of course he was looking for trouble! That is the difference between a decent member of the public stepping in to break up a scuffle, and a kook like this: an innocent person can argue they were just doing the most reasonable thing at the shortest notice.

If you are the kind of person looking out for trouble on purpose, and your primary intention is to get involved in this sort of thing, you can't argue you were taking the best, most reasonable course of action. You are making a stupid choice and trying to take the situation into your own hands, which is very irresponsible and potentially very dangerous to all involved. That is why he is an asshole. Because he prioritised his super hero antics over doing the right thing, to the endangerment of the public.

The man did not start the fight, which is key to the whole idea of "looking for" a fight.
The world needs altruism, especially in Areas like Seattle where the public is greatly disillusioned with the Civil Servants who are supposed to be looking out for them.
These aren't antics, these are very necessary human instincts. Admittedly, the presentation is a bit garish and showy, but it still shows an inherent desire within humans to do what is ultimately best for their survival. Protecting other members of "the tribe".
I do not claim to understand the full circumstances of this incident, and not all that much can really be gleamed by just watching this video. I wasn't even there.
I can't really argue that his presence incited the violence, or otherwise.
Frankly, I can't see those drunks acting all to differently to an officer in Uniform trying to break them up. Belligerents are belligerents. If no one had been around to do anything, one of those guys might have actually gotten a chance to use that gun.
End of the day, someone was there to try and do something.
Most days that's all you can ask for.

Even then, he sprayed in self defense, and with much more restraint and adequate warning than some police officers I've seen, might I add.

BTW, Risible?

 

[Treblaine]

It's probably the most sensible argument against costumed vigilantism.

And we DO need sensible arguments against silly things like costumed vigilantism.

I don't think this guy is taking the costumed part of costumed vigilantism far enough, where is this guy's sense of THEATRE!


Now THAT is a masked vigilante!

The thing is in the movie the mask covered a horribly burnt face, in real life it would most likely mask pimples and a neck-beard.

 

[cefm]

Man seeks out situations of conflict with the express intent of using threats or actual physical violence on the individuals involved - brings weapons with him to carry out that violent intent, and somehow thinks he can argue "self defense"?

Bullshit. You go looking for a fight, it's not self defense.

 

[Tsunimo]

So he pepper sprayed the people attacking him, and he is being charged for it?
Why do I have to live so close to such a strange place...
Granted he did kind of 'go looking for it' but his intentions were obviously not to get in a fight but to break one up.

 

[cefm]

Man seeks out situations of conflict with the express intent of using threats or actual physical violence on the individuals involved - brings weapons with him to carry out that violent intent, and somehow thinks he can argue "self defense"?

Bullshit. You go looking for a fight, it's not self defense.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

Why am I suddenly living in Kick Ass?

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

If he really wants to help, and not just live out some superhero fantasy, he should join the police force. Of course, he'd probably never pass the psychological evaluation exam.

 

[Cavouku]

I will admit that the fact that his intention is to prevent unlawfulness does make it harder to sympathize with the idea of self defense, or just being a good Samaritan, I can't agree to the charges faced, if nothing else.

What I would recommend is that he make a police call right after he witnesses a situation, or crime in progress, that requires them, but I have to admit, I don't look down on him for getting involved. Had I done the same thing, in civilian clothes, merely walking around at night, with a concealed self-defense item like a taser, saw something happen, attempted to break it up, and then used that item in self defense, it would be a different situation. I would get a talking to by the cops, maybe, if I told them I was explicitly looking for trouble.

Then again, this would probably only happen the first time, the second time the cops might be more stern with me about getting involved in these situations intentionally. And if I started wearing body armor, possibly glared up, it would escalate, yes. But at the end of the day...

He's trying to do the right thing. Sometimes the police just don't feel adequate enough. Sometimes you, as a citizen of the place, feel that you have to do something. That getting on the force won't help the real problems. Maybe you feel there's a corruption or inadequacy in the system that would prevent you from getting to the job you feel the need to do.

What I'm saying is, I can't help but help justify what he's doing. I don't know if he's going about it the right way or not. I don't know how effective the alternatives are. At the least, he doesn't deserve jail time for trying to stop a fight, even if he was out looking for something to stop. I've done that before, I just haven't gotten results. And hey, if I remember correctly, this guy is at least wearing a stab-proof chest plate, and apparently has military/martial arts background. This was in a news thing about him.

 

[lordlillen]

anyone else want to see a one shot comic book of this guy?

 

[maninahat]

to the people talking about the pepper spray and the taking weapons looking for fights....

1. so a woman who carries a pepper spray in her bag is a criminal offense?
2. cops stroll the night looking for trouble too. thats their job. to ensure they are safeguarding everyone. thats what this guy was doing. going thru the night, hoping he might stop any ongoing crime. looking to start a fight and looking for a fight to stop it are two different things.
2. he even avoided touching people in that fight. all he did was separate them(like normal thoughtful good hearted people do when they see a fight) and he used the pepper spray in his own defense.

1. No, because the woman wasn't carrying it with the express intention of looking for people to use it on. If someone attacked her and she had to use it, she would be using it in self defence. If she purposely went looking for people to use it on, she would be committing assault. The key is in people taking "reasonable action". The pepper spray is reasonable self defence if you are attacked and can't get away or rely on the police to get there in time. Looking for and running into fights to use the pepper spray isn't.
2. Cops perform that duty in an official capacity, which makes them accountable (don't laugh), impartial and trained for the task. Trying to do their job is as advisable as attempting to perform surgery in the place of doctors. I'm surprised no one got seriously hurt, with all the blinded people wandering around on the roads.
3. As far as I can tell, he had the pepper spray out almost immediately, and it is hard to tell what he did to seperate the fight in the first place. It seems that the ladies were angry at him for using the pepper spray in the first place.

 

[ph0b0s123]

The truth is I think the cops are getting a little sick of his shit and finally decided to take him down a couple of pegs. He's been running around downtown Seattle since 2010 putting himself in situations where he doesn't belong and potentially putting himself in danger of being seriously injured or killed if things got far enough out of hand. The police department have said many times before they'd prefer that he just call 911 and report what he sees instead if injecting himself into the situation and making it worse.

He's lucky he hasn't been been the target of police a lot more often as he dresses like a twat, carries a cattle prod and pepper spray and his two 'sidekicks' dress in street clothes and black ski masks.

The video that is embedded into the clip is from a local camera crew that was following him at the time and is not affiliated with any local news network so there's no telling how much was edited out of that video before it was released to the public.

Does not matter whether the Police don't like him. It all comes down to whether he broke the law.

Is going out at night wearing a funny costume illegal?
Is stepping in to help other people out illegal?
Are the weapons he was carrying illegal?
Has he shown to be breaking any laws with his night time activities?

Unless the answer to any of the above is yes, then it does not matter what you me or the police think about him, he has broken no laws and gets to keep doing what he is doing. Full stop.

Man seeks out situations of conflict with the express intent of using threats or actual physical violence on the individuals involved - brings weapons with him to carry out that violent intent, and somehow thinks he can argue "self defense"?

Bullshit. You go looking for a fight, it's not self defense.

It is if you did not start the fight. That's why people can go out with guns in their bags in case they need to defend themselves. His weapons look a bit lame in comparison to the firearms he could have been carrying legally in the US.

 

[Treblaine]

"civillian pepper spraying bystanders in the face" is OK?

By what definition were they bystanders?

 

[Cavouku]

I just want to point out that when I was visiting Oliver, British Columbia, the local news was all about a police officer in nearby Kelowna, who had booted a man in the head, which was speculated to cause brain damage. The surrounding circumstances do not, in fact, make it sound justified.

The situation was apparently that the suspect was seen 'discharging' a shotgun at a local golf course, to scare away geese. There's no word on whether he had been intentionally aiming at geese, or was firing blanks or live rounds, but he has apparently been hired to do this in the past. Now, reasonably, some people may not know this, so an RCMP officer responded to the situation, and went to arrest the man at gun point. So far, this isn't totally out of line. No, when it crosses the line is when the man is on his knees, in front of the officer, who is repeatedly shouting at him to 'get down on the ground'. I'm assuming the officer wanted the man's hands down as well, as that's what the man did. The officer, though, was already in motion, and had kicked the man in the face.

http://www.calgarysun.com/news/canada/2011/01/10/16827166.html

So... I can understand why some people might be hesitant to joining the force. One officer is not indicative of the entire force, and if it makes any difference, this was the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, but... it can make one worry about where and how police brutality comes about, so just saying 'he should join the cops' doesn't hold as much sway as, well, as it should. And it's a shame.

EDIT: I know the video says "raw", but there are related videos on Youtube by the same poster, CastanetNews. Many of these add extra insight into the situation if you're interested... okay, screw it, here's a video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbdareHU4Ik&feature=relmfu

 

[DarkRyter]

People just ain't got no heart in Seattle.

 

[zehydra]

So the police can pepper spray a group of innocent people at occupy wall street but a vigilante can't pepper spray some drunk people beating on him?
America y u no be consistent?

Because America is a large collection of semi-autonomous states. At least where police is concerned.

 

[Andronicus]

Half of the gang, girls in tow, went all out on this guy, just because he wanted to break up a fight, whilst he constantly warns them that he's called the police and that he'll pepper-spray them if they continue. They continue, they get pepper-sprayed. Then the guy who breaks up the fight gets put in jail? And it's all on film?

Faith in humanity: -6

 

[viking97]

So funny the comments here.
Most of the time when a group of people does something bad, for example beat someone up, most comments are like "This society is sick, why doesn't any do something, where are all the heroes?"
Then, when someone has the balls to actually do something (it's his own fault and decision if he puts himself in danger), the comments change to "Wow, what a moron, why does he act like such an idiot and do something so stupid."
Sigh, people just don't know what they want.

ever heard of this funny thing called middle ground?

 

[synobal]

Ya I find it amusing and sad that he is likely to get more of a punishment than that NYC cop, officer bologna I think? Who maced those to young girls during the occupy wall street protests, in the face for no reason at all.

 

[maninahat]

snip

The man did not start the fight, which is key to the whole idea of "looking for" a fight.
The world needs altruism, especially in Areas like Seattle where the public is greatly disillusioned with the Civil Servants who are supposed to be looking out for them.
These aren't antics, these are very necessary human instincts. Admittedly, the presentation is a bit garish and showy, but it still shows an inherent desire within humans to do what is ultimately best for their survival. Protecting other members of "the tribe".
I do not claim to understand the full circumstances of this incident, and not all that much can really be gleamed by just watching this video. I wasn't even there.
I can't really argue that his presence incited the violence, or otherwise.
Frankly, I can't see those drunks acting all to differently to an officer in Uniform trying to break them up. Belligerents are belligerents. If no one had been around to do anything, one of those guys might have actually gotten a chance to use that gun.
End of the day, someone was there to try and do something.
Most days that's all you can ask for.

Even then, he sprayed in self defense, and with much more restraint and adequate warning than some police officers I've seen, might I add.

BTW, Risible?

By "looking for fights" I meant, going out to find people in the act of fighting or committing crimes.

I think altruism is all well and good, but things like responsibility and common sense need to take priority over it. I don't go with the philosophy that at least "someone was there to try something", and I think the priorities are wrong. It basically sets the precedent that as long as someone confronts the problem, they are not culpable as to how they try to solve it.

There are ways for altruistic individuals to help, if they think there isn't enough being done. Join charitable organisations, join the civil service, take an active interest in local politics etc. Putting on outfits and trying to run into dangerous situations? That should be the last thing any reasonable person should try.

Oh, and yes...risible...I suppsoe it isn't all that funny. But the awkwardness and clumsiness of it did make me laugh.

 

[TheRundownRabbit]

I'm just your average ordinary everyday superhero, gettin your license plates, and spraying you with mace.

As far as I'm concerned, he was defending himself and he did everything right. I bet the supposed "victims" are gonna say he's insane.