“Being around drug dealers is safer for Neanderthal descendants than the sons of middle class community activists! Bicycles are literally worse than being on foot it seems with these attacks…”
“What do you know about Waverly?”
-Mescaline
Waverly?
My Uncle Bill and his three sons grew up in Waverly.
It was a race war zone 40 years ago.
30 years ago Rick’s son had his nose bitten clean off in a fight with another white dude there.
Mixed race area on the bus line to Mondawmin, with a major transfer point right there.
Close to the Hopkins campus, upscale Charles Village and Union Memorial hospital. A doctor who worked emergency room there had one black mugger come in with two slashed wrists, two slashed hamstrings, and a stab to the kidney which just pierced fat. He had tried to rob a small Latino/Asian guy. He admitted to trying to rob the smaller man, who was all of a sudden behind him.
Currently muggings, bump-and-stop carjacking, rapes, recreational mob stompings.
The Story
I have been spending a lot of time moving round Baltimore City by car looking at residential neighborhoods, and can tell you that for sale signs are averaging 2 out of every 10 houses. A lot of people cannot get out except as a refugee. Many middle-aged people whose houses lost value seven years ago are actually fortifying their houses.
The victim in this attack looks, forgive me, like a ready made target. Nice white guys die in Baltimore. Mass transit is just as unsafe. Unless you can afford a car in Baltimore you are a hunted animal. Most people just do not have the skill set to deal with this type of predation.
To deal with this type of attack you must use a knife from a concealed hand position—do not brandish it—grab one shirt and stab under the heart, rip down and in, in a reverse C cut and then get another one. If you do not gut two you will do serious time. If you only cut/stab one, the rest are all witnesses. Cut and stab as many as possible.
Mr. Franklin et al,
Caught news of this poor fellows untimely demise at the hands of the Mensa crew....Prince. Jeez, really?? If/when I am ever snuffed from the planet let it not be by someone with the name Prince!? (Purple Rain was a war crime...)
Riding a bike is a heck of a lot safer than being a pedestrian in Baltimore. People drive like Richard Petty on crack though so you've gotta keep you wits about you and know that you will get hit by a car. Its not really an if but a when. Riding a bike mitigates a good deal of threats that you would otherwise face on foot. Speed and maneuverability alone make you less of a target....Only your more desperate or motivated stick up boys will come after you while riding. I rode a bicycle all over Baltimore until a few years back. I lived at 28th and Greenmount at one point and did some work for a fly by nighter in that neighborhood circa 2006.
However, not knowing all of the details and going off of my own experiences in the area I can tell you that Mr. Ponsi made a big mistake. Being on Venable Ave after dark on a bike is one of them. Venable is a weird stretch that always seems to be deserted. Never anyone on the street there (even though its inhabited). That stretch of Waverly has the kind of architecture and almost wooded feel that it isn't hard to imagine it being a nice place to live circa 1940. However that quietude offers all manner of places for goblins to lurk. Venable transits between Greenmount Ave.,which is a vector for scum. Old York the cross street might be worse. There was so much drug activity on that stretch in the late 90's. Still is...If memory serves there are a few "Recovery Houses" in that general vicinity too.
The one thing you are vulnerable to on a bike is group/pack attacks. Use Stalingrad as an analogy if you will. A King Tiger in flat open country is king of the battlefield. Take that same tank and put it in a narrow street with buildings all around...See if he is not fodder for a swarm of Bolsheveiks that have a few rifles and a Molotov cocktail or too. On a narrow dark street a pack of youths that "'jus wanna hold your bike.." are gonna be riding your bike popping wheelies on your eviscerated shell taking selfies with your cell phone. Especially if they get the drop on you.
At least he died like a man and fought when his moment came. Personally I wouldn't have used my bike as a weapon. I always carried a knife, an industrial can of pepper spray, and a U lock (James ever think about tactical applications of the U lock?). I might or might not have known a nut job cyclist that carried a can of lighter fluid (like you would use for grilling) and a Zippo as his weapon while riding. I think that would take too long to employ. A can of starter fluid would probably be a better bet.
***The other vulnerability you face on a bike is the missile weapon. Especially in the popular 40 ounce caliber.
Nero, thanks for the extensive Pictish reply here!
The bike really is a mixed bag as far as increased speed and mobility—the ability to outpace hoodrats—offset by the threat of motorists and the fact that in certain locations bikes attract hoodrat attention as they are an asset, a valuable, a reason to attack. Seeing guys het run over decided against the bike for me. I have remained in the infantry.
I have not given any thought to the U-lock as a weapon, so will seek to attain one and begin working up some forensics and develop training drills.
Maybe the follow up post could be "How to NOT be a ready made target". I was just thinking "What would James LaFond do" the other day, when zig zagging towards the police station, while a few mid eastern refugee types were following me after dark...
And to better upgrade my Swiss army pocket knife, which is really more a throwing weapon than a knife. You certainly can't stab, rip down and in, in a reverse C cut with that knife, unless you are wrestling a fish.