Remember that many on r/Boston want to defund the police and also let criminals out of prisons. What could go wrong?

So the shover was released from prison? I don't see that mentioned in the article.

Yep I saw Mayor Wu personally escort the shover out of prison with a giant smile on her face and then he looked at me and winked.

remember that many here also fail to recognize that 'defund' was used to get exactly their attention, because it got ours 10 and 20 years earlier, when arts education, afterschool programs, music education, and jobs programs for youth were DEFUNDED.

I bet that criminal that you want to blame a shortage of authoritarians for ALSO didn't have anyone to show him how to do better.

You're a pinecone, get out of the way.

> fail to recognize that 'defund' was used to get exactly their attention,

No, it literally means abolish the police.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/sunday/floyd-abolish-defund-police.html

Edit:

Title "Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police"

quote from the article:

I’ve been advocating the abolition of the police for years. Regardless of your view on police power — whether you want to get rid of the police or simply to make them less violent — here’s an immediate demand we can all make: Cut the number of police in half and cut their budget in half. Fewer police officers equals fewer opportunities for them to brutalize and kill people. The idea is gaining traction in Minneapolis, Dallas, Los Angeles and other cities.

People would have you believe differently, but this is what the advocates are proposing. They'll lie about the message because that's all the activists have: is lies.

Wonder what his bail was set to.

Doesn't matter. https://www.massbailfund.org/

> You're a pinecone, get out of the way.

Also, you are most likely a criminal. The reason that you don't like the police is because you want to hurt others and get away with it.

You belong in prison.

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If you were pushed on the tracks I suspect you’d feel differently.

Lol well the police are funded and dude still got pushed on the tracks. Screw the police they did nothing to help.

> Transit police plan to charge the man, whose name was not released, with assault with the intent to murder

Damn right

Really cool that we don't have any kind of subway platform barriers that could stop something like this from happening, especially considering someone died on the third rail not even a week ago. Really would be a shame if we invested a bit in public transit to prevent stuff like this from happening

Almost like crime is better solved by addressing underlying societal issues to prevent it rather than by arresting and punishing people after the fact.

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God if only they’d banished the police then we could be living in my dream mad max world and I wouldn’t have to read your idiotic opinions.

I see you more of a Golden Youth and less of a Wez.

Given how slow the T is lately the train could have been 20 feet away and the man had 40 seconds to escape it lol

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What kind of fucked up person does that. Jesus. Glad he is ok

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LMAO what.

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To anyone who doesn’t have a NYT subscription, “policing as we know it must be abolished before it can be transformed.” The article isn’t about permanently abolishing police. Americans have actually been talking about the “bad apples” in the police force since at least Prohibition. It’s evidently not working.

>When transit police arrived, witnesses pointed to the suspect, who had boarded the train.

>The suspect “challenged the officers to a physical confrontation” when they tried to talk to him, Sullivan said.

>After de-escalating the situation, officers removed the man from the train and confirmed with witnesses and the victim that he was the alleged perpetrator.

Honestly, the dude just boarded the train and sat there?

That’s a whole new level.

are we becoming the next New York City and Toronto with subway pushes?

Car Lobby, NIMBY Suburbanities, and Libertarian Republicans all in opposition. 😒

“I disagree so you must be a criminal” lmao

Would love to see the police department de militarized and the number of officers increased with the savings.

They don't need tanks, just numbers to enforce the laws.

Can confirm, I was the shover. I also got a free Obama phone out of it, which is what I’m redditing on in between prayers to Kamala Harris

Boston does like to copy NYC trends a little later so possibly

You need a lot more infrastructure for that to work. The trains have to stop at the exact right place so the doors line up and they have to sync with the platform doors when they open and close. We'd need some more modernization of the trains and signaling before that's possible

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I'm cool with that

Or, the barrier could just be a room that restrict riders from the boarding area until the train arrives (and passengers disembark)

At this point, I'd be cool with them ripping all the hardware - rails, ties, switching, everything, even concrete in places where it needs to be repoured - out of the tunnels, and replacing it all with modern gear, one line at a time. And then they do the red line and orange line, dig another tunnel or two to connect the commuter rail between North Station and South Station. Would probably have to replace entire lines with bus service for years, while the line was being gutted and rebuilt, but it's honestly getting to that point. There is only so much you can do when you need spend half your maintenance time just getting equipment in and out of the tunnels. And maybe if we're really good, we can finally have the yellow line. As a treat.

Big-Dig-it-up, but for public transportation this time.

That would seriously slow down the boarding process

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Does NYC even have that? They didn't when I lived there 10 years ago, but haven't been back lately.

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Big Dig 2: Transit Boogaloo

You’re talking ten billion. Easy.

Probably tens of billions.

MBTA annual budget is 2.5 billion

Signal modernization is already happening. It's really not that hard to get the train to stop at a specific point. Maybe a bit of training for the drivers. Other cities even have driverless trains that can stop precisely enough for platform screen doors to work.

That poor person. The shock and his determination to get going is astounding. I honestly stay close to walls and avoid being too close to the edge. Scary humans out there.

literally my worst irrational fear

The amount of Engineering that goes into that is astronomical. On the oldest subway system in America. Not that easy.

You could also stop that from happening by the means of law enforcement.

Is Toronto really as bad as NYC?

Are you perhaps suggesting installing RFID scanners on trains so they know exactly how far they are from the platform, and then giving each train a config file so it knows it's individual braking distance at a particular speed, and then doing a single mathematical operation at runtime?

8 billion dollars and 12 years or it's a no go I'm afraid, we simply don't have the tech yet /s

No because it would be ludicrously expensive. People keep bringing it up though.

Even that might not save some of us. I am a tiny woman and I have often considered how easy it would be for someone to simply pick me up and toss me off the platform.

Lol but they never did it and he still got pushed onto the tracks though. What's your point?

If there's that many psychos pushing people on the tracks that it's really necessary, we're kind of fucked anyway.

Also a tiny lady. Yeah the fear is real.

Probably a vagrant

> Libertarian Republicans all in opposition. 😒.

Which is stupid considering the majority of subway lines in the US were built by private companies before being bought out decades later.

There is someone on the tracks on average like once a month for the last six months, maybe longer.

Was it racially motivated? I can’t tell because you didn’t accurately report on this story, Boston.com.

It should be done at some point, regardless. Also, could you elaborate on your $10bil number?

If we manage to do all that, then it will be possible to run trains without drivers and we’ll be able to run trains a lot more frequently.

Speaking long term, one of the biggest recurring costs to transit systems in expensive, modern cities like Boston is paying for operators of the system. Eliminating that when we can would be quite nice.

They are facing a crime wave on public transit similar to what NYC has been through.

https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-its-not-just-the-ttc-facing-a-crime-wave-its-the-whole-city

I thought we were more civilized. I guess “trends” spread.

They have this in New Delhi metro in India.

One of my greatest fears…

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I don’t want to sound callous but whoever that was earned themselves a Darwin award. Are you familiar with Downtown Crossing? You would literally have to jump down onto the active train tracks in order to touch the third rail. It’s nonsensical that anyone would put themselves in that position.

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He was taken to a hospital instead of jail, which means he is probably pretty seriously mentally ill.

Honestly, you should check out some very basic self defense classes in the area.

I’m a woman and I go to a local Jiu Jitsu dojo (it’s 50% women) and have learned a ton already on how to stop / seriously deter getting picked up.

Biggest one is when you feel that grab come on, widen your stance and settle your weight down low. Even tiny people are significantly harder to move. Think about a dog when having to be dragged to a bath tub. This will at the very least give you enough time to scream and/or deter the attacker some - maybe even enough to leave as they realize it wasn’t going to be as easy as they expected.

And yet airport trams all over the world make it work 24/7/365

Very Mark David Chapman of him

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I don't get this defense of not having it. I have to stop in the exact right place when I park a car too. If the trains are that hard to control they can't stop at a certain line then there's a bigger issue.

Totally get you in that and I am not a tiny lady. There are two things to consider if this ever happens to you. If you have a free hand, go for the eyes. People instinctively try to protect their eyes… it is some kind of brain stem level response so even a person who needs mental health aid will likely drop you.

The other is what my childhood PE/Health teacher taught all us little boys and girls… if you can reach the eyes, then go for the other bits (she used to shout GRAB, TWIST, and PULL!!)

Honestly, I always figured that if some dude tried to jump me, knowing that I probably am not a martial arts expert or even a journeymen boxer, I would totally go the the GTP option. A handful of dude bits being grabbed l, twisted, and pulled would also result in quick release I think.

Eye gouging is king though…

Is it really irrational, if it can and does actually happen?

>did nothing to help

Yeah except stop the lunatic from pushing more people onto the tracks. That's really not nothing. But it's fine, you can always become Batman and save the next person, right? Thank god for you.

Sounds good. T grand reopening summer of 2038.

As I said: one line at a time.

So, yeah, it probably would take a couple of decades to do all the work. But it wouldn't be a couple decades of "No trains".

Ok great. Just 5 years for the line that goes to your home. And then the next 5 years for the line that goes by your work.

And this is why I stay as close to the opposing wall as possible....if there is one.

You can suffer waiting for the line to be rebuilt, or you can suffer waiting for the line to be rebuilt. It's your choice.

Unfortunately someone who probably never had access to adequate mental health care.

I was thinking about this the other day. I’m the furthest thing from an engineer but I’m confused as to why there are no alternatives that don’t involve making the trains stop at the same place every time. Like what about a barrier that raises up from within the platform and lowers when the train pulls in? Or like a garage door style system where it pulls down in front of you and raises when the train pulls in? Having doors that open just seems like a complicated option.

This is literally a thread about someone getting pushed onto tracks smh

Also suicidal and drunk people are a thing… and accidents do just happen sometimes

Glad as well but sad the one pushed didn't spring back up onto the platform and fix the pusher with some percussive maintenance

Agreed, we need much stronger inpatient pysch units to take people like this off the street and help them. Preferably before they try to hurt others.

Thanks

They better not let him out like in NYC. It's sickening.

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Airport teams don't usually have a separate room

It's not that it's impossible, there are trains systems that do it, it's just the MBTA system isn't set up to do it automatically. Even being off by a foot would mean the doors would be too narrow and restrict the flow of people

So flippant. If you shut down a train for 5 yrs, people just don’t keep doing the same thing until it reopens. You’ll destroy countless businesses and communities, perhaps permanently. People will move, and change their behavior to not need the train. So when the train comes back, it’s a different world.

Yep, I’m basically scared anyone could pick me up and carry me off anywhere if they wanted

While we are assuming social statuses, probably an immigrant too

Even if the person were a minority, how would you even know… ?

We’re talking about a crazy person shoving ppl in front of trains. Any politics you try to put on it is wild speculation unless the perpetrator actually says that’s why they did it.

Vagrants do this stuff often. Immigrant is a social status, vagrancy is a choice.

Immigrating isn’t a choice lol?

Then make the platform doors 2-3 feet wider than the doors on the train so that if your train is a foot off the door still works. It's not that hard.

EDIT: looks like the ones in London do exactly that.

There's been a spate of murders in NYC involving people getting pushed in front of subway trains, hence the calls for platform screen doors.

The Glasgow subway is planning on installing them and they're older than the T. The London tube also has a bunch of them.

I’m not saying more safety would be bad, but what I am saying is if you go to DTX and look at where the third rail is, it is baffling that someone could have touched it without deliberately climbing down onto active train tracks and trying to cross to the other platform instead of walking around the proper way which takes all of two minutes. You can’t break into electricity’s house and then act surprised when he’s home!

ORRR maybe they fell??

I definitely needed to hear this

Thats Europe. This is America. We dont give a shit about our infrastructure enough to fund basic maintenance, let alone a whole new system-wide project

I'm not tiny, but yeah, I hear you. Wish I could take my big dog on the T with me, but he's not a certified service dog.

And design/re-fit so the system won't be drowned in sea level rise in 30 to 50 years.

A very different kind of choice, dipshit

Kind of my point dipshit

Give it a couple days til it comes out the perp is a vagrant. You dumb fuck.

I mean statistically you’re probably right. What’s it called when you JUDGE PREvious to knowing for a fact…..anyway, my dude is statistically likely to be NOT white too, amiright? You dumb fuck

My comment was meant to imply that whether they degrade service to rebuild the line while keeping it running, or they shut the line down to rebuild it faster or more completely, it's going to impact people either way. The same effects you mention will happen, regardless of which option is chosen, although if the line is kept running in some reduced capacity, there might be less of it. When the line is brought back up to full service, the world will be different either way.

Statistically, he's probably white. Another race obsessed leftist here I see.

Murder and non negligent manslaughter has 12k+ arrests fewer than half are white. Statistically the attempted murderer is non white. I’m an independent.

That gates could be 15 feet wide. It doesn't really matter as long as they're shut when the train isn't there.

Then make them ultra wide. It doesn't matter how big the gates are if they're shut when the train isn't there. Who said it had to be a perfect ratio?

This is a very specific type of murder/manslaughter. You're race obsessed. It's a leftist thing, being independent has nothing to do with it.

I see. This murder is too specific for my dept of justice stats but your internal “must be a vagrant” metric is spot on.

I’m a registered independent but that has nothing to do with anything because to you I’m actually a race obsessed leftist.

Thank god you’re here to clear things up. Otherwise the rest of us are just using facts, stats and logic.

The fact that you brought up race says enough

Well you certainly are showing you can’t say much more that’s for sure 🤣

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In Massachusetts, it is NIMBY Suburban Democrats with Libertarian Republican Governors in opposition. Both the Governor and State Legislature have been unwilling to improve the MBTA since Bill Weld.