Upadate on the Bleeding Blighter
Mme Metro informs me that she heard on last night's radio that police are still looking for the guy who assaulted the fella I took to hospital.
When I took him there, I'd thought he might possibly not have been stabbed at all. Perhaps the kid had been wearing a big-ass ring or something.
Nope. Police say Johnnie was stabbed five times. "Non-life-threatening" wounds all, apparently. An odd term to use if you ask me. The report said that Johnnie claimed to have asked the kid for a cigarette. I don't really believe that, but it's possible.
What I don't get is the girls with him. Perhaps they like his badass mojo? Maybe they're scared to speak out? Or maybe ... what?
I don't really care one way or the other. Eventually he'll self-identify to the cops. Unfortunately it seems not beyond the bounds of possibility that the little monster will do so by stabbing someone else--possibly his playmates.
I've always suspected that this sort of thing is what gives rise to religious faith. Not a conviction of our own justness--I doubt I'd have done anything different had a friend of mine stabbed someone in my youth--but a desire to know that though you couldn't identify them in a crowd, though you'll never spot them on the street, they're going to get it, but good.
I generally follow the wisdom of Terry Pratchett on the subject: "There's no justice, there's just us."
posted by Metro @ 10:02 am
8 Comments:
Five stab wounds for a cigarette? Nice. What does a joint get you these days?
Just wonderin', darling
Freddie Mercury
Or maybe he was their pimp. Or maybe they were literally and cliche'dly raised badly? There are people in the world who are just evil, who are merely evil. If you asked them, they'd probably say "Well I didn't stab him!" and they would probably think that was enough.
And it bears noting that "non-life-threatening" wounds only remain so as long as you get to the hospital. People can bleed out from non-life-threatening wounds.
Have you ever read The Choirboys? Terrific book. In it, a character says "It's not evil. I haven't enough dignity to be evil".
And yes, I felt that the term should be amended to "Not life-threatening with prompt and proper care". Had we come along ten minutes later I'd imagine things might have wound up differently regardless of whether the assault continued or not.
Freddie, I read in the paper that getting someone's knees to bend the wrong way takes about $50-$5000, depending on how competently you want it done.
Quite honestly, I've had people offer to kneecap my ex-roomie for free. It would cost fifty to have him offed. The difference between that and street price is what you call social capital.
The story is in the paper today...a week later.
Prompt, n'est-ce pas?
According to the editor who phoned me yesterday, the RCMP only released the story yesterday.
"Non-life-threatening" always gives me the willies. It includes, and is not limited to, quadriplegia, blindness and severed limbs. You aren't going to die, but you might wish to.
Hope the victim recovers.
Know what you mean about divine justice, it's always comforting.
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