Street Justice -- Dark or Light?

This pieces of news via news.com.au sets Desi's mind on a whirlwind tour of what modern society has to face when one steps out of the door into open, shared space.

Death often lurks for the unwary -- or the young, innocent ones like your four-year-old child.
I am very afraid for my children' generation -- whether back home in NegaraKu or venturing abroad. Broadly the potency is the same. As they say, the difference is often a matter of degree. Whether you hold one or not, it doesn't matter. Whether you agree or disagree, it's still a matter of difference in degrees.

Substitute Austin (be it in USA, Europe or Down Under) with a local dateline like Seremban, Ipoh or Johor Bharu, this foreign incident could have happened right in front of Malaysian eyes.

The question arises then: IS IT JUSTIFIED FOR CITIZENS TO TAKE THE LAW INTO THEIR HANDS?

Angry crowd kills man after car hits child
June 21, 2007 06:51am


'Two or three people' attacked man
Man's friend hit child with car
Tennessee drag-racer 'devastated' - ex-wife

A TEXAS man was beaten to death by enraged onlookers after the car in which he was riding struck a four-year-old girl, said police in Austin.

Investigators believe David Rivas Morales, 40, was beaten by two or three men on Tuesday night after the girl was struck in the car park of an apartment building, said an Austin police commander.

People watched attack

About two dozen people watched the fatal assault.

The girl was treated at an Austin hospital and released.

The men initially attacked the driver of the car but turned on Mr Morales after he got out of the vehicle to try to stop the assault, said Commander Harold Piatt of the Austin police homicide unit.

No weapon

"There was no weapon, it appears he was beaten with hands and feet," Cdr Piatt said.

The driver was able to leave the area in his car and was cooperating with homicide detectives.

Mr Morales' sister, Margaret Morales, said her brother's killing was a "nightmare."

"You see it done somewhere else in other towns, but you never, never, think it could happen to you, that it would be one of your family members," she said.

While Mr Morales is Hispanic and his attackers were black, police said they don't believe the attack was racially motivated.

"This wasn't a hate crime," Cdr Piatt said. "This wasn't a racist crime. There is absolutely no reason to think race had anything to do with this."

Tennessee drag-racer 'in hiding'

The mob attack comes only a few days after Australian-born Troy Critchley lost control of his drag car during a parade and ploughed into a crowd of onlookers, killing six people and injuring at least 23 others.

Associated Press reported that Critchley's ex-wife said he had gone into hiding.

"He's not holding up real well,'' said Paige Jackson Critchley. "He's a good person. I'm sure he's terribly devastated by the accident.''

Ms Jackson Critchley said she had spoken with her ex-husband after the accident, AP reported.

Critchley, a 36-year-old Queenslander, is being investigated by Tennessee authorities after his high-performance Corvette crashed during a "burnout", spinning into a crowd unprotected by safety barriers.

The drag car driver gave a blood sample to authorities after the event, but results of drug and alcohol tests have not yet been released, according to AP.

- With wires

DESIDERATA: EON light years ago, in a land far far away -- okay this blardy writHer exaggerates, maybe 1-1/2-decades back! and it's in a typical city in USA -- there was a Judge doing duty in dalylight hours. But at night he hnuts after those accused brought to his court who got away free, despite being clearly guilty of alleged offence. This Judge riding his huge bike ( you call him a biker then just beause he drives a BIG one, so what do you call small riders like Desi on Honda cxub?) wreaks his own justice as he sees it in the dusk, okay, my favourite phrase -- IN THE STEAL OF THE NIGHT.

I am sure many fellow Malaysians had wished that such a Justice existed in NegaraKu, for I venture an educated guess that almost 90 percent of my mates would agree that "many" criminals in Malaysia got away because they could bend the system. they could afford million-buck lawyers, who could afford to holiday with the judges in broad daylight (Okay even at night but captured by camera, hence caught with their pants down!)

I even have fellow bloggers overseas, when V: for VENDETTA was hot on the big screens months back, wishing Malaysians could have a replicate of such a character to take us out of our present woes.

I still prefer the Three Musketeers plus D*Art. Okay, this is my prejudice for three Other reasons. Anak Merdeka, Howsy and Maverick, w'ear art thou?

I don't mind Zorro either, as long as mGf Bernrad Khoo bringeth Catherine Zeta-Jones to the partee. Lake Beaut Harbour, anywan?