Recently, The Bench reported on an estimated 100 young people rumbling on Howard Street in one of the more troublesome parts of the 49th Ward. Since then, a few blind and deaf apologists for the crowd and their enablers have criticized The Bench for sensationalizing, and for not naming witnesses that spoke to The Bench.(Listen up, Apologists. I don't name people who agree to speak anonymously. I would even apply that rule to slime like you.)
How about this one, which happened on Friday night, April 25: CPD radio chatter alerted me to another big crowd scene, and once again, Good News Church was implicated as an enabler of mayhem.
Is "CPD" too vague? Should I name all of the officers at the scene? Shut up and get a scanner, Apologists, and when you hear about the next rumble, get of your lazy behind and go witness it as I have done. Hey, no brag pal, but I don't just blog about it, I chase it and observe it. I talk to witnesses. I don't take the alderman's lying word for it.
The action, from scanner chatter and my own on-the-scene observation:
Between 9:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., there was some confusion about whether or not there would be a “parade” on Howard Street.As approximately 10:00 p.m., a cop said one of the people “with the group” told him there would be no parade, but minutes later it comes over the radio that there will be a parade after all. Permits? Confusion there, too.
11:08 p.m. - Crowd gathers where troublesome Island Groove is located, next to a liquor store. Per car 2430, they are a "public nuisance" and wants non-criminal charges brought against the owner.
Crowd moves over to Howard: "...the next disturbance will be at the Howard L station" and "you'll be getting a lot of calls on this" - "There's about a hundred of them going to that soup kitchen we're all familiar with" - "Are they over capacity?" - "Good call, get fire up here" - At 11:15, fire not there, "on the way" -
I run to Morse L Station, but northbound Red Line CTA trains are being held still. (Coincidence?) I run back home, get my bike, ride up to Howard with handheld scanner in tow. On my way to Howard a cop on scene says he doesn't "want to make this an all night thing" and he's tired of waiting for fire to arrive to inspect for capacity. At approx 11:38, Dispatch says "four [fire] captains are on the way" and should be there soon.
11:40 p.m. - I arrive at Howard Street. The “parade” is over, but as I rode west on Howard from Greenleaf and Rogers, I saw five or six groups of half a dozen to a dozen black juveniles walking east along Howard. All of them were shouting obscenities and pumping their fists into the night air. I took my first photograph 11:45 PM, at Paulina and Howard. No sign of anybody from Fire Dept.Quiet, cops leave scene at 11:55. I ride east to Sheridan, pass the Marathon. Big group of 16 black juvies hanging around; cop car drives past. Nothing he can do about lousy parents and enablers.
Just another night up 'round Ho-ward Street.
ALSO SEE: BULLSHIT
