True Crime Thread

magerette

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Seems like we spend a lot of time discussing the morals and ethics of law enforcement issues and/or criminal behavior around the world, so I'm starting a thread for that sort of speculation and discussion here.

I'll kick it off with this appalling incident from China:
2 China Wal-Mart workers arrested after death
(Despite the wording, this is not about a posthumous arrest of two Wal-Mart employees, but about a group of workers beating to death a woman they claimed was a shoplifter. )

BEIJING – Two employees of a Wal-Mart store in eastern China were arrested after a woman was beaten outside the store on suspicion of being a shoplifter and died, a state-owned newspaper reported Tuesday.

The China Daily said Yu Xiaochun died 500 yards (meters) from the store in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province.

Local police said in a notice posted on their Web site that the 37-year old Yu was going home Aug. 30 when she was surrounded by five Wal-Mart employees — four men and one woman, all in their 20s — who accused her of shoplifting.

The police report said one of the men requested a receipt. But after Yu handed it over, she took it back, saying no one was wearing a Wal-Mart uniform and she didn't believe they worked there.

The report said they fought and Yu fell to the ground and was taken to a hospital, where she died Sept. 2.

Whether the woman was guilty or innocent of shoplifting, if reported correctly and all the facts are in order, this seems like a case of worker loyalty/vigilante justice gone totally awry.

Please feel free to use this thread to discuss this or any other such incidents.
 
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The strangest true crime thing going on around here is definitely the Arctic Sea piracy incident. In a small nutshell, a small freighter named Arctic Sea, owned and manned by a Russian company, carrying a load of lumber for a Finnish company, and bound for Morocco got boarded and seized by some pirates just off the coast of... Sweden. After that, everything becomes very unclear; the only thing that's known for certain is that a couple of weeks later it was seized by the Russian navy somewhere around the Azores, the hijackers were apprehended, and the crew was taken back home... and slapped with a gag order.

Rumors are wild. Some sources say the ship was carrying a load of contraband missiles bound for Iran, but the Mossad got wind of it and orchestrated the whole thing. Others say that it was just a commercial dispute resolved in the usual Russian way. One Russian commentator suggested that this was Sweden taking revenge for losing to Russia in the battle of Poltava in 1709. A Russian journalist behind the rocket story just left the country after having gotten some ominous phone calls. And the Russian officials are strenuously denying that there was anything on board the ship but lumber.

Personally, I think any of these theories is as good as any other. Even the Swedish vengeance one. :p
 
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Of course, why wouldn't we take the chance to strike back at the Russians when we get the chance?!
 
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That sounds like something out of one of those military/spy action novels that are so popular these days. In one of those, a criminal mastermind, a rogue government, or a wealthy, sociopathic industrialist with a super secret army of mercenaries would be behind it all, in an attempt to take over the world.

The real explanation, while no doubt mysterious, is probably much more prosaic (as in Hanlon's Razor.) At least I hope so.
 
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Yep, that sounds fishy alright.

This is the first one that came to mind when I saw this thread:

Star Tribune said:
Police were called to the 800 block of 98th Lane NE. because a 31-year-old-man reported to police that a 30-year-old woman threw a hamburger at him and then hit him. The woman admitted to throwing the hamburger and said she hit him because he shoved her. Both parties decided not to press charges.
 
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Personally, I think any of these theories is as good as any other. Even the Swedish vengeance one.

Indeed we finally got the change to strike back at those russians :D :D :D

Seriously though I doubt the ship just had lumber on it. The way it all happend makes me suspect it has to be a gouverment organization behind it.
 
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A "Stupid Pirate" story, from BBC news:
Pirates hit navy ship in error
A group of Somali pirates has been captured after attacking a French navy ship by mistake, apparently thinking it was a harmless cargo vessel...But the command and supply ship, the Somme, repelled the attack and chased the pirates, capturing five of them.

Admiral Prazuck told French TV station La Chaine Info the pirates seemed to be surprised that the navy ship fought back.

"Once they realised they were facing a ship that was responding and was heading towards them, they stopped shooting and attempted to flee," he said.
 
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I don't think it's all that easy to tell the difference between a command and supply vessel and a freighter... at night. Which is when the attack took place.

Command and supply ships are essentially gray-painted freighters with some relatively light arms and uprated engines.

BCR-Somme_624886a.jpg


Now, about the time when they charged a frigate...

french-navy-floreal-class-small-patrol-frigate-f732-e28093-the-nivose.jpg
 
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Yes, but as hardened seadogs and so forth, shouldn't they be able to tell one kind of ship from another? I mean, even I can see the difference in those two vessels—the whole profile is different, and they have conspicuously different gadget-y things all over them, not to mention the helicopter. Or is the second one the frigate you were referring to?

I say they were at least high, or getting their ship info from comic books. ;)
 
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Yeah, the frigate thing is a bit inexplicable. You'd think the gun on the prow deck and the combat helicopter on the poop one would be a bit of a giveaway.

The first ship, though, is the Somme — and other than the paint job and the number on the bow, it does look pretty much like a freighter. Not at all easy to recognize by the profile.
 
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Imagine the outcry if his name turned out to be Mohammed, though.
 
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Yes, after 9/11 it seems like you're only a terrorist if you're a BMWB.
 
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Imagine the outcry if his name turned out to be Mohammed, though.

If his name was Mohammed he could have intentionally pushed a shopping cart into a car at the Walmart parking lot and had a SWAT team with dogs and helicopters descend upon him ...
 
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100319/ap_on_re_us/us_police_booby_traps

We had a lively discussion on police and their supposed victims a while back. Everyone was terribly concerned about various criminals being treated poorly and wanted to hold the police to a higher standard. It's just part of the job to let criminals abuse you, right? So, bleeding hearts, how do we feel about this situation? Do you have to check under your car for bombs in the morning? Think these guys have perhaps earned some sliver of the benefit of the doubt?
 
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