Violent confrontation between panhandler and business man caught on video

[Liberal_in_LA]

OK
DENVER -- It was an ugly scene that played out at one of Denver's busiest places, at one of the busiest times of day. A man leaving work from a downtown office was assaulted by a panhandler who was part of a group of "travelers" who police say regularly congregate on the 16th Street Mall.

&quot The panhandler) was saying something like, 'Internet yuppie scum’ at the office worker,” said Stephen Garcia, who walked up on the assault and soon got involved.

Garcia said he has walked the 16th Street Mall most afternoons since it opened but had never been forced to confront violence until last week.

"This is the first time I'd seen somebody engage with a person just trying to go home," Garcia said.

Video of the incident shows Garcia step in as the businessman was surrounded. As the man who initiated the assault steps toward him again, Garcia gives him a shove telling him to stay back.

That’s when several other travelers get involved, exchanging shoves and punches with Garcia. The video shows a security guard looked on but failed to do much, allowing the incident to continue until a Denver police officer arrived.

"The police seemed to think that we just wanted to walk away and forget about it,” Garcia said.

http://kdvr.com/2016/06/21/violent-confrontation-on-16th-street-mall-caught-on-video/

[woolldog]

1. If those "travelers" were black, riot police would've been called in

and teargas launched. Instead these scumbags get away with assault and other crimes.

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. Very segegated homeless. Black and brown hang out at a bus stop blocks away, outside the

Nicer area. Yes, I doubt they would be allowed to attack and go on their way

[PatrickforO]

2. While I am heartily sorry for anyone poor and homeless,

aggressive panhandling on the 16th Street Mall is not OK. When you yell something like 'internet yuppie scum' at some poor schmuck just trying to make his way home after working a day for the Man, that isn't OK. We need to help these folks, but they cannot accost commuters.

[Recursion]

4. IDK if I feel "sorry" for the backpacker types

This isn't (presumably) a case of somebody with untreated mental illness or another disability, other than the "disability" of being an entitled shitgibbon. I don't know. I remember when I was in Allston there were always kids there in the summer who just sat on the corner and aggressively demanded money because they were "making a trip to San Francisco to record an album" (never mind that they were twenty yards from one of the best independent studios on the east coast, which rented out session time for remarkably cheap for indie acts, nor the fact that they had said the same thing the past two summers.) I was couch-surfing at the time because I couldn't afford both an apartment and tuition, but they still threw stuff at me when I walked by them.

For that matter I have no particular reason to believe the panhandlers in this video are homeless.

[cwydro]

5. What nasty, ugly people.

One day they'll pick the wrong person to jump on.