I thought there would already be a discussion on this already, but was unable to find anything using the search function. Anyway, this is another messed up story that happened not far from where I live. Although I haven't been to that particular Super America in recent months, I used to stop there frequently when I was a rent-a-cop. It sickens me that there are people like this out there, but I know all to well that there are more of them than any of us want to imagine. The victim (who is extremely lucky to be alive) told these punk kids to stop harassing a store clerk. They must have taken offense and decided they would try to beat him to death. It wouldn't surprise me if their reasoning for the assault (should be attempted murder, in my opinion) was because he "disrespected" them.
http://www.twincities.com/ci_15213897
http://www.twincities.com/ci_15230791
http://www.twincities.com/ci_15223681
http://www.twincities.com/ci_15228999
Some highlights...
The baseball-bat beating of a St. Paul man last week may have been payback for his being a Good Samaritan, his girlfriend said Wednesday.
Edwin Daniel, 39, had stood up to a group of young men harassing female clerks at a St. Paul gas station a few days before the attack. The same men went back to the downtown store and "ambushed" Daniel, beating him with baseball bats, said Tiffany Richardson.
Daniel spent a week at Regions Hospital and was released Tuesday. His skull was fractured, he had a concussion and a brain injury, said Richardson, speaking for Daniel because he can barely talk. His vocal cords weren't injured, but the part of the brain that affects speech may have been damaged, she said.
"This obviously is a serious case of a good guy trying to do right and what happened here is inexcusable," said Sgt. Paul Schnell, police spokesman.
On May 21, Daniel saw the group of men harassing two female clerks and customers, Richardson said. He escorted the group from the store and they threatened him, she said. A police report was filed.
Early on May 25, Daniel was back at the station. "They ambushed him inside the store," Richardson said. "Two were blocking the door and two came at him with bats. They got him into a corner and started beating him with the bats. They knocked him out."
Police were called, but the suspects were gone. Paramedics took Daniel to the hospital. The extent of his brain damage is still being determined, Richardson said. "There's a long road of occupational, speech therapy ahead," she said.
Here's a shot of the victim after being released from the hospital:
Prosecutors charged a man today in the baseball bat beating of a good Samaritan in St. Paul.
Ahmed Farah Hirsi, 22, turned himself into police Thursday. No one else is in custody, and police are following up on leads today, a police spokesman said.
The criminal complaint charging Hirsi, of St. Paul, with second-degree assault gives this information about the attack on Edwin Daniel, 39:
Police were called to the downtown SuperAmerica on May 25 about six men assaulting a man. Officers found Daniel bleeding on the ground.
The suspects had fled in two vehicles. Police watched the store surveillance video and talked to witnesses.
Witnesses said Daniel is well known to staff at the SuperAmerica at 296 E. Seventh St. because he fuels his work van regularly at the store. Daniel is an airport shuttle driver for the Crowne Plaza.
When Daniel was outside the store, "one of the suspects pulled out what appeared to be a metal pipe or bat and chased him inside the store," the complaint said. The others followed, cornered Daniel and assaulted him.
Witnesses said "the assault was unprovoked with 'bats flying through the air,' " the complaint said.
Surveillance camera still frame:
This is the subhuman dirtbag that wisely turned himself in:
Sidebar: Do you think if the victim had been carrying he could've stopped the attack?
