Emeute Twitter à Philadelphie 30 mai 2009
South Street hoping against riot repeat
June the 4th, 2009
SOUTH PHILADELPHIA. Barber shop owner Alphonso Brown witnessed part of last week’s rampage on and around South Street by a mob of youths, but he and other business owners said Thursday they are not too concerned about a repeat.
Police met with residents and shop owners in the area to reassure them there would be a « significant increase » in police presence from the 20 to 30 officers normally on patrol during the weekend. They would not say exactly how many additional officers would be on duty, but say they will also fully enforce curfew for those under 18.
Last Saturday, more than 100 youths – some as young as age 11 – descended on the area, terrorizing a gas station and carjacking a cab driver’s vehicle. They reportedly organized using social networking sites and text messaging, police said.
« It’s the same thing repeating itself, » said Brown, who owns Most Xtravagant on 11th Street between South and Bainbridge streets, adding that he remembers riots on the street when he hung out there years ago. He complained, however, that the police could have better handled the situation.
« The problem is they put these rookies out here and the rookies don’t know the signs, » Brown said.
Police denied that, and said they don’t want people taking matters into their own hands if they see someone acting rowdy.
« Just be our eyes and ears, » said Lt. Jerry McShea of the Third District.
David Hammond, executive director of the South Street Headhouse District, added, « I don’t think it’s going to be ongoing. We have to realize the majority of the kids that were here are fine. »
Twittering Teens Terrorize the City
Mon, Jun 1, 2009
A mob of tech-savvy teens tweeted their way into the same place in South Philly over the weekend and then went wild.
« It’s kind of a new dynamic that’s growing, with large groups of juveniles using the social networks to get out the word, » said Philly police Lt. Frank Vanore. « We’re not going to tolerate it. »
Hundreds of teens who coordinated through MySpace and Twitter, hijacked a taxi at 12th and South Street, assaulted and yanked a woman and passenger out of their car and vandalized a convenience store at Broad and Catharine Streets.
Most of the teens were between the ages of 14 and 17.
Police noticed the same sort of thing happening in the past few weeks. They’ve been monitoring the social networking sites, but this latest gathering was bigger — more than 100 teens — and overwhelmed law enforcement. « With a big crowd, there’s nothing you can do, » Vanore said.
A Daily News editor watched the teen mob move in different directions along South Street as some held cell phones to their ears or sent text messages.
« They were running over cars and running in front of moving cars, » the staffer said.
Some teens were caught and charged with violating the midnight curfew, Vanore told the Inquirer. But no one was arrested for the more serious violations. The plan now is to beef up the number of cops in South Philly.
Teen Vandals Hit South Philly
1 juin 2009
Philadelphia, PA – A mob of teenagers went wild in South Philadelphia last night, attacking a couple, stealing a cab, and ransacking a convenience store.
Fox 29’s Robin Taylor reports violence began on South Street and then ended up on Broad Street.
Detectives think there was something posted on the internet that sparked the violence.
It’s not unusual for teenagers to gather on South Street on a Saturday night, but neighbors say there were a lot more of them than usual and they were out-of-control.
The mob mentality took hold around 11:30 on Saturday night, when teenagers stole a Liberty Cab at 12th and South Streets and then crashed it a few blocks away.
Lt. David Bellamy of South Detectives in leading the investigation, « The cab driver was waiting for the light to change and several teenagers and young adults came over and started banging on his car, and he got out to say stop doing damage to my car, and they began beating on him and a couple of them got into the vehicle and took off. »
Not long after that, investigators say a couple was robbed at Broad and Carpenter. The scenario was much the same.
The driver was stopped at the light when as many as 50 to 100 teenagers began banging on the car. When the woman, who works for the District Attorney’s office got out, police say she was beaten and kicked, and her purse stolen. And when the man who was with her tried to help, he was also beaten.
« It makes me feel very, very unsafe, » said a woman who lives in the area where the cab crashed.
« This is the most damage I’ve seen in one night in two to three years, » said Richard Gelles, who lives on South Street.
Jason Frost, also from South Philly added, « It sounds just like a violent mob episode. I really don’t know what to make of it. »
Detectives say the teenagers moved on to the A-Plus mini-mart, at Broad and Catherine, where they ransacked the shelves and then walked out with potato chips and candy.
« We think they met on a social internet site and met up and maybe other groups of teenagers gathered along with them,” said Lt. Bellamy.
« They come from everywhere. Start trouble. It’s unfair to the people that live close to here. We like South Street fro people to enjoy ourselves, not to feel like they’re unsafe around this kind of neighborhood, » said Tameka, who didn’t want us to use her last name.
The woman, who works for the District Attorney’s office and was badly beaten, had to be rushed to the hospital for a cat-scan.
Police are taking this very seriously. And they plan to press felony charges. Right now, they’re looking thru surveillance tape trying to identify anyone who was involved.
Youths rampage in South Phila.
By DAFNEY TALES
Philadelphia Daily News
1 juin 2009
Authorities are searching for a tech-savvy mob of teens who used online social networking sites to terrorize a South Philadelphia neighborhood Saturday night, police said.
More than 100 youths arranged via unspecified Internet-based means to meet on South Street near Broad about midnight, swarming the area and leading to a melee that ended only after the mob had hijacked a taxi, pulled a woman from her car and assaulted her, and ransacked a convenience store, police said.
Several people received minor injuries, including the taxi driver and the woman, a paralegal with the District Attorney’s Office, police said.
A Daily News editor who was riding in a nearby taxi watched as the tide of youths swayed in different directions along South Street near 12th, as members of the group held cell phones to their ears or sent text messages.
« They were running over cars and running in front of moving cars, » the staffer said.
As the taxi continued south on 12th Street, he saw a Liberty cab smashed into a light pole at Fitzwater Street.
Police say that that was the cab that the mob had taken over minutes before.
The driver, who was not identified, was driving near 12th and South streets when a group approached his taxi, police said.
A confrontation ensued and the driver was pulled from the vehicle and hit repeatedly, police said.
Meanwhile, another group of males jumped into the cab and took off, hitting a car a few blocks away, injuring two people inside, and crashing the cab into the light pole.
The taxi driver was treated for minor injuries at Jefferson University Hospital.
« I heard he got it pretty bad because he refused to pick up customers, they were pretty rowdy, » said Rich Maresco, a dispatcher with the cab company who was unsuccessful in trying to reach the driver yesterday.
« He didn’t get a chance to press his emergency button. »
Maresco said that other cab drivers were also attacked – one with a stick at Broad and Christian streets – and their cabs also sustained damage.
Authorities didn’t report any other incident involving taxi drivers or their vehicles.
At one point, members of the mob flocked to the A Plus mini-mart at the Sunoco gas station at Broad and Catharine streets, according to surveillance video.
In the video, an employee is shown straightening items on racks as three teens, two boys and one girl calmly enter the store and head for the beverages section.
Moments go by and the teens continue to mill around. One of them stuffs candy into his pockets as the girl blocks him from the view of the employee, who had moved back behind the glass-encased counter.
More youths entered the store and within moments, more than 20 teens had flooded the store, knocking over racks and stuffing their pockets with stolen goods before running outside.
Jesus Fernandes, an employee who was not at the store during the looting, estimated the loss to be upwards of $3,000.
« Thank God he went inside, » he said yesterday of his co-worker. « It’s terrible. »
Nearby, a woman who police say works as a paralegal in the D.A.’s office and her passenger were pulled from her Jeep and assaulted. Police said that she was punched in the face and that her purse was stolen.
Last weekend, police reported that some members of the same group were arrested for disorderly conduct in the same area, but no arrests were reported this weekend.
During the winter months, police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore said, a smaller group believed to be involved in Saturday’s incident convened at 40th and Walnut streets on the weekends, although no serious incidents were reported.
But the crowd, through unspecified online social-networking sites, continued to communicate and, as weather conditions improved, migrated to South Philly, he said.
« It’s taken new dynamics, » Vanore said of the clan. « We’re not going to tolerate it. » He said that police will beef up patrols in that area.
D.A. employee among those assaulted
SOUTH PHILADELPHIA – May 31, 2009 (WPVI) — A series of violent attacks and vandalism broke out in South Philadelphia overnight… and police say the culprits are juveniles and young adults.
The rampage started around midnight when approximately 20-30 males attempted to cross the street at 12th and South Street. They hit a taxi cab, and when the cab driver got out to confront the men on hitting the car, police say, the juveniles began to beat the man.
While they were hitting the cab driver, another male or group of males got into the cab and took off. They hit a car a few blocks away at 12th and Fitzwater, injuring two people inside.
Other young people conducted similar attacks near Broad Street. Police say a woman who works in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office and her passenger were pulled from a Jeep and assaulted. The woman was punched and her purse was stolen.
Another person was assaulted in a nearby McDonald’s parking lot.
An A Plus mini market located at Broad and Catherine Street was also ransacked. Action News was there as store employees assessed the damage.
At least one person was hospitalized after being hit in the face and head.
Investigators say it’s possible that many of these didn’t even know each other but met online on a social networking site.
Now, Philadelphia Police are asking for your help tracking down the suspects. Anyone with any information about these attacks is asked to call Philadelphia police.
Police say social sites led to riots
31 mai 2009
Police declined to elaborate about what has been posted on the social networking sites and searches yesterday didn’t reveal any posts promoting a massive meet-up in the area Saturday night.
As he drove north on South Broad Street late Saturday, cabbie Mohammad Hollah couldn’t believe what he saw coming his way.
A huge crowd of teenagers, which Mollah estimated at about 1,000, were walking south near Catharine Street.
« I got out of there, » he said as he filled his gas tank at the Sunoco station there yesterday. » I went to the other side of town. »
Mollah’s instinct proved right as some of the migrating mass — which police believe was partly organized through online networking sites MySpace and Twitter — went on to ransack the Sunoco shop and pull two drivers from vehicles on South Street.
One group of teens attacked a female driver and her male counterpart, while another stole a cab and smashed it after a short joy ride.
« There was a smaller gathering last week, but nothing like this, » police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore said. « We’re looking into how they’re communicating over MySpace and Twitter. »
Police this week will ask the city court system to begin a night court, possibly starting next weekend, to deal with any future unruly gatherings, Vanore said yesterday, adding that more officers will also be deployed in South Philadelphia.
Marauding mob of teens on South Broad
31 mai 2009
By Andrew Maykuth
Inquirer Staff Writer
Police vowed to deploy more officers to South Philadelphia after hundreds of teens, notified through online social networks, flocked to the city early yesterday and created mayhem along South Broad Street.
« It’s kind of a new dynamic that’s growing, with large groups of juveniles’ using the social networks to get out the word, » said Lt. Frank Vanore, the department’s spokesman. « We’re not going to tolerate it. »
The spree of violence and vandalism started after a group of teens hijacked a taxi at 12th and South Streets after getting into a confrontation with the driver. They drove the vehicle into a tree at 12th and Fitzwater. Two passengers were injured slightly, police said.
Other youths pulled a woman and her passenger from an SUV and assaulted them and stole the driver’s purse. The driver is a paralegal from the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, Vanore said.
Marauding teens, most between the ages of 14 and 17, also vandalized a Sunoco convenience store at Broad and Catharine Streets, he said.
Several juveniles were charged with violating the midnight curfew, Vanore said, but none was arrested for the violent incidents.
Vanore said the teens apparently were communicating through online networks such as MySpace and Twitter. He said police were working to monitor the networks and to identify the ringleaders.
He said police had noticed groups of teens converging on the city in the last few weekends, but the gathering early yesterday was substantially larger and overwhelmed law enforcement. « With a big crowd, there’s nothing you can do, » he said.
« We’re looking at the incidents, » Vanore said. « We’re going to deploy more resources up there. »
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