The big news story here in Philadelphia today:
About a dozen neighborhood residents flew into a rage yesterday afternoon when they cornered Jose Carrasquillo, who police said they had linked through physical evidence to the heinous Monday-morning rape of Reynolds' daughter.
The justice-seeking mob rained fists, feet and wooden sticks upon Carrasquillo, 26, for several minutes until police intervened at Front and Clearfield streets.
When the dust cleared, Carrasquillo, whose last known address was Orkney Street near York, was in critical condition at a local hospital, and police officials were thanking the locals for helping them catch a man they had pursued feverishly but identified only as "a person of interest."
The reaction so far?
"These guys really stepped up."
-- John McNesby, president of the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, as overheard tonight on WPHT's "Dom Giordano Show."
OK, OK, it's hard to imagine what kind of uncharged-suspect-beatdown that McNesby would not endorse. But how does one explain this reaction from someone we once -- emphasis on the word "once" -- expected more from, Mayor Michael Nutter?
"I do not generally condone what someone might consider vigilantism out in our streets, but it’s indicative of the anger and the compassion that many of our citizens have," Nutter said. He went on to call the episode a "demonstration" of the fact "that Philadelphians care passionaltiy about this city, about our quality of life and certainly about our children."
I felt I was inside Alice's Looking Glass, or some version of Bizarro World, as I listened to the radio on the way into the office tonight. That's because -- completely defying the stereotypes of conservative talk radio -- the host Giordano and the majority of a handful of callers that I heard had the common decency to use the C-word, as in "condemn," as in, sure the passion and anger out on the streets is understandable, but that it's also important that we condemn vigilante-style justice.
The kind of condemnation that Mayor Michael Nutter was too afraid to utter himself.
Look, everyone can and should agree that the rapist and attacker of an 11-year-old girl is the lowest scum in our community, who deserves the full force of justice, and that people's passion is understandable -- to not share that level of anger over the crime itself would be less than human.
But we have laws against vigilantism for a reason -- several reasons, actually. For one thing, Carrasquillo is still officially just the "person of interest" in the case, and there's always still the chance that he's not even the guy. What's more, there is the chance that the angry mob could have mistaken someone innocent for Carrasquillo and then assaulted the wrong guy, or worse. (Indeed, Giordano said there were reports that such a thing did happen yesterday -- if that's correct then I'll update the post.) There's a lot of reasons why we expect people in authority -- the alleged grown-ups -- to oppose citizens taking the law into their own hands.
Which is why I think Nutter's cowardly statement is much worse than whatever the mob did. Here's a guy who -- in my opinion -- is seeing his popularity and maybe even his re-election floating down the tubes because of his halting responses to a very real fiscal crisis, and so now he may think he's getting back into Philadelphia's good graces by playing to the mob, in the Roman tradition. That's pretty low, not to mention a poor calculation. This is a city that needs a leader -- someone who'll actually condemn this sort of thing in no uncertain terms, popular or not -- and not someone chasing after an emotional crowd, begging for its approval.
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Mayor Nutter is a one trick pony. I for one will not vote for him again.— philligurl- "I do not generally condone what someone might consider vigilantism out in our streets, but it’s indicative of the anger and the compassion that many of our citizens have," Nutter said. He went on to call the episode a "demonstration" of the fact "that Philadelphians care passionaltiy about this city, about our quality of life and certainly about our children." Perhaps I'm missing something, Will, but where in that quote does the Mayor specifically support the mob action? He says he doesn't condone this sort of thing, but he understands the reasons behind the anger and correctly notes that it's a good thing that our society is so outraged by such a horrific act on a child.— Vandy
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- Will, you are cowardly, not Mayor Nutter and I think he is a horrible mayor. WHat if your daughter were raped? Would you satnd there with your stupid coffee mug and quote Karl Marx?— Dr. Michael
- I find the Mayor's comments disappointing. My understanding of him was that he was a man of reason. He should have condemned, in no uncertain terms, this vigilantism. What if your daughter were raped? Yes, that's a fine question. But what if your son was unfairly accused and beaten to critical condition. Better a thousand guilty men go free than one innocent man be treated with such cruelty. Those with the fists and sticks and 2x4s had no facts upon which to base such violence against another. This is not something any of us should condone. Violence begets violence. Civilization is dying before our very eyes.— Valerie Ross
- Hey Will, out of curiosity -- do you condemn rape?— 700Level
- Unbelievable, do you people know that one mob BEAT UP THE WRONG MAN?? The Mayor SHOULD have said that mob violence will NOT be condoned and anyone caught participating in assaulting citizens WILL BE CHARGED!!! God help any one of you if you're unfortunate enough to resemble someone SUSPECTED of wrongdoing. I was taught that an individual was INNOCENT before being proved GUILTY. If thats no longer the case make the announcement and we can make the adjustment to life under mob justice.— ClarkU
- Will, find a tall building and jump.— OMIGODEAGLES
- Innocent until proven guilty in a court of Law... not according to Street Justice... I applaud the self policing...— Sillies
- This city is plauged with people who look the other way when they see a crime. I have no problem with people stepping up to protect their city and in fact we need more of it, but let the police do their jobs. Taking the law into your own hands should be punished and is a slippery slope that this city should not tolerate. Mayor Nutter stinks, he has little backbone and wouldnt even stand up for the police in the wake of the violence that had been committed against them. This city is in dire need of some strong leadership and Im afraid if we keep electing these knuckleheads we may never see a great Philadelphia again.— vandal
- Cowardly? C'mon, man, that isn't exactly a cowardly stance. The nature of the crime is (the rape, not the beating) is such that people get heated and emotions stir. In a city where police officers get shot, gangs of teens attack people every few months, and the homicide rate stays steady near the top of the country, what should the mayor say? People are angry, many view the beating as a good thing (no matter what actually is right or wrong), and with the summer coming on, Mr. Nutter doesn't really need to go on the offensive. It might appear he's trying to protect a child-raper, which is probably not something your average politician would like to project. Cut the guy a break. Maybe he felt if it was his daughter, he would have taken each and every one of those attackers to the bar and bought them drinks all night long...
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
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