Reported Phone Robbery Attempt in East Lake MARTA Station Parking Lot
Decatur Metro | September 19, 2013From Decatur Police…
On 09/17/13 at approximately 12:25 am, Decatur Police responded to an attempted robbery. The victim stated at approximately 11:30 pm (09/16/13) he exited the East Lake Marta station and was walking through the parking lot to the intersection of East Lake Drive and Park Place when he noticed a male following him and trying to get closer. Upon reaching the intersection, the suspect ran up to him and repeatedly said “Give me you phone!”. The suspect held his hand in the waistband of his pants insinuating he had a weapon. The victim put his phone in his pocket and refused. The suspect withdrew his hand from his waistband, stretched out his arm and with his fingers mimicked having a gun and again demanded the phone. The victim could see the suspect did not have a gun in his hand and “bowed up” at the suspect who then turned and fled on foot back toward the East Lake Marta station. The victim continued walking home and called police. No weapon was seen. The victim was not injured. No items were taken. The suspect was described as a black male, 19-23 years old, approximately 5’6 and 140 lbs, no noticeable facial hair, hair in dreds approximately 3” long, wearing a white crew neck t-shirt, jeans and black shoes.
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“I have a gub.”
What’s “bowed up?”
“To be so angry with someone that your whole upper body becomes tense to the point where your shoulders elevate, your arms rise, and you find yourself in the face of your new adversary.”
Urban dictionary.
Thanks. I guess I just assumed it was another Southern term that I had yet to learn.
oh, and here i was imagining a violinist applying some rosin, which, if done well, can be kinda intimidating.
LOL. With my phone stolen a few days ago, I will keep your method in mind.
As someone who used to use that MARTA station a lot and has NYC subway experience, DO NOT walk with phone in hand from train to car or look like you are daydreaming or be carrying a huge, clumsy load, or wear high heels that make you wobbly or prone to tripping. Walk fast, firmly, determinedly, with keys in your fist such that you can key someone in the face if you have to, basically looking like it’d be easier to mess with another passenger, not you, kind of pre-“bowed up”. This is not because of the current crime wave, it’s standard American mass transit safe practice.
+1
Not picking on you specifically AHID, but if you read about this incident and your advice, it’s no wonder that 99% of Atlanta won’t ride Marta. Remember when we all used to laugh at Cobb and Gwinnett counties for fearing that Marta would bring crime to their communities?
The attempted robbery wasn’t on MARTA, it was outside the station. It was a situation where a person was walking alone, late at night. The problem in this case isn’t MARTA. AHID’s advice is good for everyone, anywhere.
It occurred as someone exited the Marta station and walked through the Marta parking lot. I’m not sure how this isn’t related to Marta. And AHID’s statements were specific to Marta and NYC subway environments.
But maybe we’ll have to agree to disagree.
So, say someone leaves a club in Midtown at 11:30pm and walks alone to their car to drive to their comfy, safe home in Marietta. The person is robbed of his cell phone on his way. Is it the club’s fault?
TeeRuss isn’t talking about fault. He was only referring to some peoples’ perceptions of MARTA.
OK, I’m sorry. Take the word “fault” out of what I said and the sentiment is still the same. This was a person walking late at night by himself. Crime tends to happen in places where people may be alone. Places like quiet side streets, mall parking lots, parking garages and MARTA parking lots late at night are ALL vulnerable. It’s a shame that public transit has such a negative association here. Public transit is used by all walks of life, everyday in other major cities.
Cobb and Gwinnett’s fear of MARTA had more to do with racism than anything else. I still laugh at them for that.
Not to be nasty, but just making an observation: look where Gwinnett is now. They have the very problems they thought they could avoid and had to implement public transportation anyway.
Racism? Ah yes, the word anyone throws out when all logic escapes them. Surely its the only reason to fear Marta…
Disagree with BHO’s policies? Racist.
Support entitlement reform? Racist.
Vote Republican? Racist.
Drive a car to work and don’t take public transport? Racist.
Try to look at the Zimmerman/Martin case objectively? Racist.
Read/watch Fox News? Racist.
Live in a predominantly white neighborhood in the suburbs? Racist.
That word is the last bastion of the ignorant and emotional and, given the fact that true racism is still very much alive, has lost all meaning.
Let the flaming begin.
It’s no fun aiming a flame thrower at somebody who’s already on fire.
Ha!
Maybe this will help… http://www.atlantamagazine.com/features/2012/08/01/marta-tsplost-transportation/page/1
I’m going to paraphrase Maya Angelou here: you just told us who you are. I believe you.
No you don’t know who I am because not all of those describe me; they were just examples of how easily some people are labeled. Racism is still a major issue in America, and my point was that casual overuse waters down a word that should own more power.
So you think jbgotcha is casually overusing the frame of racism? And you don’t think Cobb & Gwinnett county residents were primarily motivated by racist attitudes in their staunch resistance to participating in greater metro area public transit? Please elaborate, I’d love to hear specifics of your reasoning.
No one bears the burden to disprove that the residents of an entire county are racists. In light of the seriousness of the accusation, I’d say the burden rests squarely on the one making the charge of racism. Perhaps the willingness to use that serious charge based on sheer supposition is what SMBSLT is referring to, though he/she is of course more than capable of clarifying.
So Many Books,
Since you employed a straw man argument there, I’ll counter with anecdote. All of the racists I know (and I know quite a few; not by choice but by the accident of family) fit all of the descriptions you listed (maybe substitute “rural” for “suburb” in the one). Make of that what you will.
Brianc, I just ordered some Chinese food. I mentioned one dish that they thought only comes on a combo plate. Are you saying that EVERYONE who, like So Many Books, notices that the beliefs of the non-underdogs are often perceived to be mutually inclusive is mistaken? Et tu Strawman?
I don’t follow your argument MontyF, but the point of my post was to counter an absurd straw man argument (that people who cite racism in some instances think everyone who disagrees with them is a racist) with another fallacious argument (though at least in mine in the cited racists are real and do indeed match everything listed in SMB’s post). I think what gets under some people’s skin is discomfort with the reality that a substantial portion of the conservative political base consists of racists (or bigots, which is more accurate).
BrianC, I was addressing the fallacious aspect of your argument. Actually, the intentional nature of it went past me. Et tu…was meant lightheartedly.
And now I laugh at you. You can try to get in front of the truth, but it’s still the truth. White people get so bunched up when someone brings race into a discussion…thou dost protest too much. I worked in Lawrenceville when the debate was going on. I heard the comments from people with regularity. Sorry, but you’re wrong on this one.
And for the record, I never said ALL citizens of those counties were racist…you all decided to freak out over the introduction of the fact that racism played a role in the fear of MARTA.
Have you considered that the MARTA thing is about class rather than race?
I predict that classism will replace racism in a generation or two. It will be even harder to address because it will be subtler and more difficult to prove.
I think understanding requires an intersectional lens. Classism will not replace racism, but the two do intersect.
The two – race and class – are rather inextricable in the metro area, aren’t they?
There is classicism even within “minority” races. I know some black folks who disdain other black folks on the basis of class.
Mock if you must. But I’ve lived in the area since 1985. I was here for those Marta discussions. And yes, race was an issue. A big one.
This. Of course, not everything is about race and not everyone who opposed MARTA expansion into the suburbs was a racist. But race was a HUGE component of it and there were absolutely many people who opposed it PRIMARILY because of race. I know this because I’m freaking related to some of them. You can say that it SHOULDN’T have been about race, and that MANY people who opposed it were NOT RACIST, but you cannot say that it wasn’t still overwhelmingly about race.
And for those who want to suggest that it was really more about class than about race, I’ll just point out that I don’t recall ever hearing any white person call another lower class white person a ni**er…
+1000. I find it telling that the racism deniers have gone silent…
Noone is denying that racism was a component. But, there is also no point in arguing with you on this because you have decided that it is a fact that the primary reasonn was race, and any other reason, no mater how legitimate, was nothing more than some failed attempt at disguising racism. I also remember those discussions, and IMHO the primary reason was crime – there is/was statistical evidence that supports the position that crime follows MARTA. And, the fact is that a disproportionate percentage of the crimes people were worried about are commited by individuals from a specific subculture of the city’s population. Your logical flaw is the leap that one’s concern about crime is targeted at a specifc race when it often isn’t. And, before you jump all over me, please not the word “often” in the last sentence. There are tons of racists in this city. But, there also many who unjustly get grouped with them (ahem, by people like you who think anyone who opposed MARTA is a racist).
Interesting take. You can’t pigeonhole me any more than I can pigeonhole you. You seem determined to get in front of the argument. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=b0Ti-gkJiXc
Refusing to acknowledge the reality that race is a factor by hiding behind the fear of being grouped in the category of racist is a tactic to stop the discussion from really happening. I see you.
“Refusing to acknowledge the reality that race is a factor by hiding behind the fear of being grouped in the category of racist is a tactic…”
Seriously? Anytime someone thinks a given issue is not a case of racism they are just using a tactic to avoid a discussion?? You have to be kidding.
There’s a difference between denying racism and requiring some proof of the charge, which you have not even attempted to offer, other than gut feeling and a few posters who claim to be able to extrapolate the views of their racist relatives onto very large groups of people. All of which you are perfectly entitled to do. You may even be right. I just don’t choose to join you in that leap of faith.
No one is denying racism exist today; and it is repugnant. But it is not lurking in the darkness every time it can not be disproved.
Yes. And contrary to what some folks here seem to think, it’s not about extrapolation from a few racist relatives. All one had to do was follow to the news coverage.
Dem, et al.: It’s not worth the effort to dig through the news accounts of the era or pull the records of county commission meetings. So no, you aren’t going to get your proof.
It does disturb me that what was such an obvious issue back then is now being easily dismissed. (Ever hear of Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta?)
But the NYT article offer glimpse of what was being discussed at the time.
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/13/us/atlanta-weighing-transit-expansion.html
Race was also an issue in 1971 when Marta was being developed.
“The system’s [MARTA's] suburban critics, many of whom left Atlanta following the integration of the city’s public spaces, predicted that MARTA would expedite the racial integration of predominantly white suburbs, would lower home values, and would make suburban communities vulnerable to federal busing programs and the dispersal of public housing.”
–Toon, John D. “Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA).” New Georgia Encyclopedia. 19 August 2013.
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/business-economy/metropolitan-atlanta-rapid-transit-authority-marta
This is excellent advice in general.
Also, choose a purse with a strap long enough to be worn over your head and diagonally across your chest. Dangling it from a hand or an arm can make you an easy target. (I haven’t been mugged yet, after years of living in DC and NYC and working in downtown Atlanta. I’m sure that this helps.)
Forgot about that one. Yes! In NYC, shoulder bags were a must. I’ve gotten away without them in Atlanta but I have a friend who had someone try to pull her bag as the doors were closing on a train.
The cross body purses and bags are the only ones I’ll carry EVER because it eliminates the chance of me accidentally leaving it somewhere.
Not to mention when you’re out shopping your hands are always free.
Based on what has been happening lately all over town, AHIDs advice is sound walking anywhere at 12:30 at night. I have used East Lake station every work day for 20 years and this is the second “person on person” crime on station property that I have heard about.
Great advice AHID!! Thank you for posting
This happened at 11:30PM and Police got there at 12:25AM?
My guess is they called the Marta police, who rushed right over from the 5 points station on the very next train.
That was very funny! But it does say that the guy walked home and then called police. I like your scenario better though.
I think it says:
“The victim continued walking home and called police.”
Since he still had his phone I assume he used it to call the police right away.
Yeah, he went home first. DPD normal response time to an urgent call is less than 5 minutes.
Given a couple of carjackings in the area lately, one in the afternoon, I’m not sure that folks should fear MARTA more than other modes of travel. In peak commuting hours, you are so surrounded by other people, that you are relatively safe. At least I always felt that way. Late at night, by yourself, not so much.
I don’t think MARTA has enough police officers because everyday you’ll find people panhandling airport passengers and people selling bootleg DVDs (same crews in both cases), LOUDLY moving from car to car obviously without any fear of being busted. But the biggest thing to fear on MARTA are the unsafely overcrowded trains especially during rush hour and weekend evenings, and repeated bus breakdowns. I’m pretty convinced at this point that the 36 is where they send buses to die. For the number of people they move, I guess they do a good job overall, but I can’t be bothered to deal anymore.
I know MARTA has some undercover police so it’s difficult to judge their total numbers, but going by the visibility of uniformed officers they either don’t have enough or they are off napping somewhere-or both. One way to indirectly crack down on the behavior you mention would be to crack down on gate-jumping, which is the violation I see the most often. I’m pretty sure panhandlers aren’t tapping their Breeze card.
That said, MARTA (the train system at least) is far safer than driving.
Busting turnstile jumpers was one of the cornerstones of Mayor Giuliani’s and Commissioner Bill Bratton’s campaign to decrease crime in NYC. Pursuing small quality of life crimes would likely decrease the carjacking, robbery, and burglary occurrences around here, don’t you think?
Stop and Frisk for everyone!
I remember seeing a few years ago quite a few fare-dodgers being popped by undercover police, both at Decatur station and at Georgia State station. But I haven’t seen such an arrest in a while. When I’ve witnessed the arrests they hustle the offender out of sight as quickly as possible, presumably so as not to blow the cover. But in New York they used to line them up, in handcuffs, against the wall by the station entrance, so everyone would see them. That might have some deterrent value still.
http://www.itsmarta.com/ride-with-respect.aspx
Respectability politics…SMH.