Strange women 'possessed' while assaulting man on Edmonton train

[DementedSheep]

I can't help but feel as if the guy got fucked over here. The chick conveniently stops being "possessed" as the cops/security pretty much turn up and he gets tackled because of it. Fuck I know self defense stops being so when the attacker ceases their action, but still, you can hardly fault the man for reacting the way he did - even after he already pushed her back and told her to "chill". I'm assuming she is either malicious or on some form of drug, and obviously, neither are acceptable. But yeah, I feel sorry for the man here. It really does seem he got screwed over.

Also, for that person saying "stop, she's probably possessed!". No, you stop saying fantastical bullshit during real events.

I don't know what's up the girl. We can only speculate but I do feel sorry for the guy. I still don't he should have done what he did (that is going after her after she had stopped) but its understandable. I don't blame the cops for tackling him either though they were reacting to situation they had when they got there.
And yes with they guys saying she possessed? really? in this day and age that is what you think this is?

 

[lacktheknack]

Looks like something staged that went awry. I doubt she was on drugs that would have made her act that way, as I'm sure the police officers would have done more than just fine her $500 dollars after bringing her in for an interview, which is the only consequence I have been able to dig up.

It's funny, because you think the Canadian Justice system has any balls.

It doesn't.

A $500 fine is shockingly high for this type of encounter, assuming drugs were involved.

Also... yeah, the people on those trains are messed up. I've sat next to a guy who was discussing beheadings with his imaginary friend. I have no issue believing that a druggie got on the train, and can't imagine what "staged" thing you could be referring to.

 

[manic_depressive13]

So I can come up and attack you and when I back off, you shouldn't be allowed to do anything to me?

I should be allowed to press charges. I shouldn't be allowed to attack you because you did it first. This is the real world, not a fucking playground.

 

[Saetha]

Snip

Hmm... true. I was thinking of it from the standpoint of "She can't control her actions if she's high as a kite" but she did choose to get high as a kite, so assumably she accepted the fact that she might do something incredibly stupid or dangerous and just got high anyway.

 

[DementedSheep]

Looks like something staged that went awry. I doubt she was on drugs that would have made her act that way, as I'm sure the police officers would have done more than just fine her $500 dollars after bringing her in for an interview, which is the only consequence I have been able to dig up.

It's funny, because you think the Canadian Justice system has any balls.

It doesn't.

A $500 fine is shockingly high for this type of encounter, assuming drugs were involved.

Also... yeah, the people on those trains are messed up. I've sat next to a guy who was discussing beheadings with his imaginary friend. I have no issue believing that a druggie got on the train, and can't imagine what "staged" thing you could be referring to.

I had a guy on the train talking and punching himself in the head and taking swings at and telling imaginary people to shut up. They don't check people at the door. Fortunately he didn't attack anyone real and some cops managed to take him off with little fuss. I wonder how common encounters like this are with the volume of people going through on trains.

 

[Nouw]

I'm pretty disappointed no one picked up on the fact that he defended himself after securing his Pringles. Details make the story people!

If there's anything I've learned from the dozens of vertical-video threads I've lurked upon is that you just can't claim that they "should have" done this or that. I think it's pretty naive to think that you would act like a rational human being when someone randomly grabs you by the throat and starts attacking you. Yes 'ideally' he would have retaliated with the 'appropriate' amount of force, or perhaps not retaliated at all, but a) not many people can do that and b) that just isn't how people work.

 

[Therumancer]

I'm pretty disappointed no one picked up on the fact that he defended himself after securing his Pringles. Details make the story people!

If there's anything I've learned from the dozens of vertical-video threads I've lurked upon is that you just can't claim that they "should have" done this or that. I think it's pretty naive to think that you would act like a rational human being when someone randomly grabs you by the throat and starts attacking you. Yes 'ideally' he would have retaliated with the 'appropriate' amount of force, or perhaps not retaliated at all, but a) not many people can do that and b) that just isn't how people work.

That was a big part of my rather rambling response. It's easy to judge from a distance. Truthfully it didn't seem like an unreasonable reaction under the circumstances.

That said, I have been waiting to see if any more details would surface such as whether the girl has been confirmed to be on something, if she was mentally ill, or claiming literal possession, or whatever else.

Also having had to commute on SEAT busses for a while, I'll say that public transit and the people that generally use it tend to be horrible. I am personally kind of surprised that we don't see more crazy stuff like this from urban subway transit (which is even worse apparently) showing up on the internet more frequently.

 

[Nouw]

That was a big part of my rather rambling response. It's easy to judge from a distance. Truthfully it didn't seem like an unreasonable reaction under the circumstances.

That said, I have been waiting to see if any more details would surface such as whether the girl has been confirmed to be on something, if she was mentally ill, or claiming literal possession, or whatever else.

Also having had to commute on SEAT busses for a while, I'll say that public transit and the people that generally use it tend to be horrible. I am personally kind of surprised that we don't see more crazy stuff like this from urban subway transit (which is even worse apparently) showing up on the internet more frequently.

Yup, which is why most of these threads don't really have much discussion value in my opinion. I guess you could talk about whether the law surrounding these kind of situations is just but discussing what they should have done is just silly.

Nothing came up on a thread of another forum, closed because like I said the discussion wasn't going anywhere lol, and apparently they're not investigating it. Source. [http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/05/09/woman-strange-attack-edmonton-train_n_5298333.html] Kinda disappointing that they just fined them both $500 but I imagine they have other crime to deal with. 'Ideally' they would investigate the situation further, maybe do a few tests to see if she was drugged up or maybe even -gasp- help her out. This isn't going to happen though. Maybe in the utopia where people can flawlessly take down strangers upon being randomly attacked.

Yeah, a lot of the posts were 'Edmonton lol' or something of the vein on the forum. Pretty scary since the place I live in, and have lived in, is fairly peaceful.

 

[VanQ]

What shocks me more than anything is that people in this thread genuinely consider "she was on drugs" or "she wasn't right in the head" as a reasonable defense for her. If some woman (or man for that matter) started screaming like they were possessed and attempted to throttle me like that I'd have tried to disable them as well.

It'd be a different story if I wasn't stuck in a confined space like a train like in the video, but when backed into a corner with a dangerous individual, you don't take any chances. It takes surprisingly little force to kill an unaware person if you get attacked. I would not let my guard down around someone like that unless they were restrained.

 

[And Man]

I see nothing wrong with what the man did. People are bringing up that the woman backed off, but the entire thing started because she attacked him completely out of the blue, so there's no saying that she won't just attack him again. Also, when someone is attacked/assaulted, they're usually unable to just sit back and think "Well, what would be the safest, noblest thing to do here in this situation?" The adrenaline starts flowing and they act on impulse. And for people talking about the bystanders, jumping into a fight between strangers is an incredibly dangerous and stupid thing to do.

 

[Trotgar]

What I learned in this thread.

It is normal to allow people to attack you and once they back off you shouldn't take it any further, outside of the police who would respond with violence if the attacker assaulted them. If the attacker is drunk or messed up on drugs, they are too be treated more gently, don't know if this rule applies to the police though.

Fascinating.

Uhh, at least where I live getting attacked does give you the right to defend yourself, but if the person stops threatening you, then it's a matter for the police. In the video we see her backing off and turn her back to him, which seemed like an opportunity for him to get away from her. As far as I'm aware, the law doesn't say you can freely exact revenge if physical harm is done to you: you can, however, sue and try to get monetary compensation.

(Also, if you could legally punch back someone who has punched you, where would the deadline be? 10 second? An hour? A day? It would clearly be illegal to beat someone up even as revenge a day later they beat you up, why would it be legal after ten seconds?)

I also believe continuing to fight would lead nowhere, people could just get injured and you could also get in trouble. There seemed to be enough eyewitnesses that he could've gotten testimonies from to make a convincing case to the authorities instead of rashly resorting to violence.

EDIT: I do understand being in the situation is always different than watching it back, but a crime is a crime, whether you were pumped with adrenaline at the moment or not.

Also saw some people say that "She could have attacked again". This is true, but if a flipped out person temporarily stops fighting, trying to revenge is almost guaranteed to make them continue fighting.

 

[jademunky]

That "shitstain" is the reason we know the truth of what happened here. I would call that something.

What truth? That a violent woman attacked a guy on a subway train? There were already dozens of eyewitnesses to that.

 

[Mr.Petey]

I saw this video on Facebook the other day. One thing that comes to mind is the morbid fascination of the person filming the girl to begin with. I'll play a hunch that it may have intimidated the woman and exacerbates the girl's present ill mental health (I'm pretty sure she doesn't look at the camera directly but could have been aware of it in peripheral vision)
Plus another thing that really REALLY bugs me is the onlookers mutterings of possession. In my opinion this is a frankly dangerous and slanderous word against those who suffer from mental issues. It almost reeks of a Victorian era system of labelling

 

[William Ossiss]

To be honest, if I were that guy...
Well, instead of attacking right after she walked away, I'd have simply taken a chip and eaten it.

Though grabbing my throat is a definite knee jerk reaction. I am not liable for what would or would not happen.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

I'll play a hunch that it may have intimidated the woman and exacerbates the girl's present ill mental health (I'm pretty sure she doesn't look at the camera directly but could have been aware of it in peripheral vision)

If you know such things can set you off in a violent manner you shouldn't be out in public without help. Actually if you are prone to unprovoked violence you should be constrained one way or another. Or take your meds and if you don't live with the consequences.

Plus another thing that really REALLY bugs me is the onlookers mutterings of possession. In my opinion this is a frankly dangerous and slanderous word against those who suffer from mental issues. It almost reeks of a Victorian era system of labelling

We also say "Oh my God" without meaning it. People aren't used to seeing such seizures and/or drug effects, so this is the closet thing they describe it as at first glance, the woman filming it changed her evaluation to drugged up behavior later on when talking to the police.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

How dare a man defend himself against a woman!? How dare he stand up where he can defend himself better!? He is only allowed to be choked by the woman, punched in the face, have his hair yanked and his head squashed against the glass while onlookers did nothing to help him. How dare a victim of assault stand up to try and defend themselves against their assailant, they should take their beating passively if they want any sympathy.

I'll reiterate that were the genders reversed here, not a single person would dare to blame the woman. It seems victim blaming is allowed when the victim is a man.

 

[the December King]

How dare a man defend himself against a woman!? How dare he stand up where he can defend himself better!? He is only allowed to be choked by the woman, punched in the face, have his hair yanked and his head squashed against the glass while onlookers did nothing to help him. How dare a victim of assault stand up to try and defend themselves against their assailant, they should take their beating passively if they want any sympathy.

I'll reiterate that were the genders reversed here, not a single person would dare to blame the woman. It seems victim blaming is allowed when the victim is a man.

That does seem to be a good point, KingsGambit. A lot of the time, it feels like we are given the choice of either a woman is innocent, or a man is guilty.

I think that in a similar situation, in the role of the attacked, if I even could react (most likely being stunned by the events and simply sitting there), I'd have had a delayed reaction, and not a lightning-quick counter-move retaliation like others seem to be able to do (or think they would do).

 

[Uhura]

That does seem to be a good point, KingsGambit. A lot of the time, it feels like we are given the choice of either a woman is innocent, or a man is guilty.

But no one has actually claimed that the woman was innocent.

I think that in a similar situation, in the role of the attacked, if I even could react (most likely being stunned by the events and simply sitting there), I'd have had a delayed reaction, and not a lightning-quick counter-move retaliation like others seem to be able to do (or think they would do).

If your reaction is delayed to the point that your attacker is already walking away from you, you wouldn't really be able to claim self defense anymore. I mean, you yourself talk about retaliation, not self defense. Those are two different things.

 

[lacktheknack]

Looks like something staged that went awry. I doubt she was on drugs that would have made her act that way, as I'm sure the police officers would have done more than just fine her $500 dollars after bringing her in for an interview, which is the only consequence I have been able to dig up.

It's funny, because you think the Canadian Justice system has any balls.

It doesn't.

A $500 fine is shockingly high for this type of encounter, assuming drugs were involved.

Also... yeah, the people on those trains are messed up. I've sat next to a guy who was discussing beheadings with his imaginary friend. I have no issue believing that a druggie got on the train, and can't imagine what "staged" thing you could be referring to.

I had a guy on the train talking and punching himself in the head and taking swings at and telling imaginary people to shut up. They don't check people at the door. Fortunately he didn't attack anyone real and some cops managed to take him off with little fuss. I wonder how common encounters like this are with the volume of people going through on trains.

Ah, Edmonton trains. Can't live without em, but they're absolutely terrifying.

A friend of mine from Europe said that he found our trains very eerie, because no one talks. Well, this is why.