Maybe Fort Lauderdale should have made
the list of meanest cities
Police say they will seek murder charges against the attackers who beat a homeless man to death and are suspected in two similar attacks a few hours later.
The first attack was caught on a surveillance video from Florida Atlantic University before dawn Thursday. It shows two men chasing and beating a man who had been sleeping on a bench.
Norris Gaynor, 45, was beaten about 90 minutes later in a chillingly similar attack. He had been sleeping on a secluded park bench near the Broward Center for Performing Arts, police said. He died from his injuries at a hospital.
An advocate for the homeless said beating homeless people is quite common in the area. "It's one of the shameful secrets we have, the beating of homeless for sport," said Marti Forman, CEO of the Cooperative Feeding Program. "It's a recreation thing, it's an initiation for gangs and fraternities. I see it in the kitchen in the mornings, people coming in with their black eyes and broken teeth."
Watch the video here and read the South Florida Sun-Sentinel article here.
posted by Jacqueline Dowd @ 2:31 PM
2 Comments:
You probably already know, but if not - both this story and the Sarasota story were in today's Orlando Sentinel (1-14-06). Working in the transportation industry, I've always thought the design of modern day bus benches was mean. They are intentionally made wavy or curved so that no one can lay on them. Not that people should be laying on them in the first place, but it seems wrong to address the symptom of a problem (people sleeping on benches) instead of the problem itself (the fact that people have nowhere else to sleep!)
I'm an Orlando Sentinel alumnus and it's a kick to be able to say I beat the Sentinel on two stories this week!
Jackie
Post a Comment
<< Home