Secrets of the City

That first story is incredibly sad. Earnell Luster’s relatives seem like a wonderful, graceful group of people.

Can’t say the same for the women he rescued, who apparently didn’t even call 911.

I once stepped in when I saw a man beating a woman. He went to his car and got a hammer, which he then used to try to beat me to death.

Someone who is already being crazy violent is capable of turning it on whoever is nearby. It’s why I always carry a cell phone with me now, within easy reach; your first step should always be to call 911. I once saw a girl getting beaten by a group of thugs outside my window in Omaha, and I called 911, and then yelled out the window that the police were on their way. The beating stopped immediately and the thugs scattered.

Pepper Foam.

I once pushed a kid (about 16 years old) away from a woman whom I had just seen him knock down. I then called the police on my cell phone, who came and then threatened to charge me with assault.

Just received a press release from Lt. Ameila Huffman of the MPD on the death of Luster, with the following appended as a result of our questions:

Subject: Press release regarding the beatring death of Earnell Luster

Attached is the information regarding the beating death of Earnell Luster.

I have received several inquiries for the year to date homicide stats. These statistics describe the information available from homicide reports for the period between 1/1/2007 and 03/05/2007.

· This was the tenth Minneapolis homicide in 2007.

· As of this date last year (3/5/2006), there had been 8 homicides in Minneapolis.

· The victims in the 2007 homicides have been one white male, one Native American male, and eight black males.

· The youngest victim in 2007 was 19 years old while the oldest was 53 at the time of his death.

· Eight of the ten 2007 homicides have occurred in the 4th Precinct while the remaining two occurred in the 3rd Precinct.

· Nine of the ten deaths have caused by gunshot wounds while the tenth death was the result of blunt force.

That is horribly, horribly depressing.

TBar,

Thanks for the stats. It really is depressing and messed up, but sadly not surprising.

We could use more Earnell Lusters in this world.

Stories like this make me think, why am I against the death penalty again…?

A bit more information on Mitchell Osterloh is available here.

there’s some kind of a conspiracy going on at the county because that webpage doesn’t say that he’s black, mike!

There should be extra punishment for people who kill or wound good Samaritans.
That’s just pure evil.
Earnell Luster is a true hero – a word that gets bandied around way too much, but, in this case, it’s true.

What happened to Mr. Luster was horrible. I wasn’t there so I’m not judging when I wonder aloud, with three people there (Mr. Luster and the two women) couldn’t they have collectively restrained this guy? Maybe not. I just have visions of old movies where a man comes to the rescue of a woman and then as he’s getting beaten in her stead she stands there watching, screaming, and making no effort to assist her rescuer.

Well, in fairness, they were being helped to their feet and trying to get their bearing while Mr. Luster was knocked to the ground and beaten in the head. That can all happen very quickly.

Damn. On a Thursday night, he’s “really, really drunk” at 9:30, so his brother and his sister are taking him to . . . the liquor store? And they know he gets into fights when he’s drunk?

Evolution works too slowly.
.