Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id OAA20502 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 13 Jun 2000 14:04:29 +0100 Subject: memetic engineering in the park Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 09:01:38 -0400 x-sender: wsmith1@camail2.harvard.edu x-mailer: Claris Emailer 2.0v3, Claritas est veritas From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu> To: "memetics list" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Message-ID: <20000613130205.AAA2655@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Case Study- find the meme.
__________________________
Mob Attacks on Women in the Park Stun City
By C. J. CHIVERS and KEVIN FLYNN
One woman, a newly wed French tourist, had two gold chains snatched from
her neck as chanting men removed her skirt. Three others, teenagers from
London, were surrounded by the group of men, who sprayed them with water,
tore at their clothing and sexually abused one of them. Another woman, on
in-line skates, was pulled to the ground by her backpack by the men, who
then desperately tried to pull down her shorts.
These were among the accounts the authorities were sorting through
yesterday as they struggled to find members of a wild, cheering mob that
attacked at least seven women in Central Park on Sunday evening after the
National Puerto Rican Day Parade.
In 35 riotous minutes that terrified the victims and have perplexed
public officials and the police, the men, whose number has been estimated
variously as 15 to 25, overwhelmed and groped at women in four separate
attacks. It was a bizarre sequence of lawlessness in a park whose revival
has been emblematic of the city's rebirth.
"I never felt in my entire life that I couldn't protect myself until
then," said the skater, Peyton Bryant, 29, a kickboxing teacher who lives
in Manhattan. "I felt confused. I felt terrified. I felt traumatized."
The authorities made two arrests, charging Dave Rowe, 24, of Hempstead,
N.Y., and Tremayne Bain, 23, of Brooklyn, but they were still trying last
night to determine who else was involved. The two arrested were charged
with the second-degree robbery, first-degree sexual abuse and
second-degree aggravated sexual abuse of a British tourist.
The police said the men, as part of a larger group, had surrounded the
tourist, groped her and robbed her of $200.
The attacks came during a oppressively hot weekend in which six people
were killed and scores of others injured in crimes throughout the city.
But of all the incidents reported on a busy crime blotter, the Central
Park attacks appeared to resonate the loudest, coming as they did in
broad daylight in the city's quintessential public space.
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani moved yesterday to portray the attacks as
aberrations in a city that has otherwise experienced a remarkable decline
in crime. The mayor said the city remained safe, but noted that some
violence would inevitably occur.
"It is unrealistic to assume that police officers can be everywhere at
all times, particularly when they are dealing with a parade," he said.
Indeed, Central Park in recent years has seen a striking drop in crime, a
trend that has continued this year. There have been no murders in the
park this year. The police said yesterday that from the beginning of the
year through Sunday, there had been one fewer robbery in the park, 13
versus 14, and one fewer assault, four versus five, than for the same
period last year.
Regardless of the larger crime trends, the police acknowledged that for
the victims, the attacks Sunday evening were bizarre and horrifying
experiences, cases of young women stumbling into near riotous mobs and
finding no help from other people on the street.
The circumstances were peculiar, coming after the excitement that drew
thousands to the Puerto Rican Day Parade. The police said the people
involved in the attacks appeared to have been drawn to the area by the
parade.
And in the hours after it ended, parts of Central Park and the Upper East
Side were transformed into a mad congestion of compressed bodies. Cars --
some with shirtless, shouting men hanging from windows -- zipped in and
out of traffic.
As the temperature hovered near 90, groups of men began indiscriminately
splashing water on passers-by along the parade route's final blocks on
Fifth Avenue, using squirt guns and plastic containers of spring water to
douse the sweaty crowds. Into this area of extended confusion wandered
the young women, who were overpowered in escalating attacks.
"It seems like what happened," said one police supervisor, "was the mob
would do one bad thing, and then they would do something worse."
The first assault occurred at 6:14 p.m. near Sixth Avenue and Central
Park South when two teenagers from Long Island walked into the park and
were surrounded by a group of 15 to 20 men at Simon Bolivar Plaza, a
senior investigator said. The police said that the men rushed the women,
spraying them from plastic water bottles and squirt guns before groping
them on the outside of their clothes. The older victim, who the police
said is 18, was pushed to the ground. One attackers stole a pocketbook
from the pair, the police said, and the men moved on.
Within minutes, another attack began, apparently by the same group. The
police said that at 6:28 p.m., a couple from France on their honeymoon
were surrounded by 25 men on Center Drive near the Wollman Memorial Rink.
The attack started much like the first. The group splashed water on the
28-year-old woman, the senior official said. The men chanted, "Soak her!
Soak her!"
Then the scene turned violent, as the men pulled off her skirt and
underpants, and yanked two gold chains from her neck.
The investigator said the husband struggled to protect his wife, forcing
his way into the crowd and lying on top of her until the group backed
off. As the men gave way, the couple ran toward Central Park South, where
they met officers from the Traffic Control Division near the Whiskey Park
bar. The officers called for reinforcements.
The scene startled Rita Berlin, 26, the bar's manager, who was sitting
near the bar's window as the frightened woman was escorted into a police
truck.
She said the attack occurred just after she herself had been taunted by
men who made lurid remarks as she walked through the revelers to come to
work.
"This is the worst day I have ever seen in New York," Ms. Berlin said. "I
would rather take the subway at 4 a.m. 50 times than go through what I
did today."
At about the same time as the attack on the French couple, Ms. Bryant, on
in-line skates, turned onto Central Park South and a large group of men
grabbed at her backpack, pulled her to the ground and tried to pull down
her drawstring shorts, she said. The attack lasted as long as five
minutes, she said.
Ms. Bryant said that eventually the men gave up and left, but not before
stealing her cellular phone.
Ms. Bryant, who said the police were slow to respond to her complaint,
contacted reporters after the incident to describe the attack.
The police said the last attack occurred minutes later, at 6:48 p.m., in
the park near East 59th Street when three tourists from London
encountered about 15 men, including Mr. Bain and Mr. Rowe.
According to investigators, the women ran in different directions. The
men surrounded one of the women, tore her shirt and pulled down her
shorts, and then groped her genital area and breasts. They also snatched
her purse, which contained $200.
The police said the women were released and almost immediately located
police officers. Hundreds were on duty in the immediate area.
Accompanied by officers, they returned to the scene, where one of them
identified Mr. Bain and Mr. Rowe as two of the assailants, the police
said. The men were arrested at the scene.
Both men, who the police said had no criminal records, were charged and
held for questioning yesterday.
Sgt. Andrew McInnis said the authorities believe both men were involved
in all of the attacks.
The authorities also said they had since interviewed other witnesses and
potential suspects, and believe that the attacks were all committed by
the same group of men, some of whom were friends from Queens. A senior
police official said the French couple, who had planned to continue their
honeymoon in Washington, had postponed their travel plans to help the
investigation.
The long, wild run of violence astonished city officials, who said the
victims were describing inexplicable events. C. Virginia Fields, the
Manhattan borough president, said she could not fathom how the attacks
could take place "at some of the more populated areas of the park without
someone reporting it immediately and with no police presence in the area."
But police officials said that the parade had been adequately staffed,
and that more officers were assigned to it this year than last.
Within Central Park alone, police officials said, 950 police officers
were on duty, 120 more than in 1999. On a normal Sunday afternoon in
June, no more than 36 officers are assigned to the park, officials said.
"No one noticed the people were in trouble until the crowd had moved on,"
a senior police official said, "because each of the victims had been
surrounded."
Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
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