Minority Teens Help Mugged Woman, Jailed

[ism]

An elderly woman was mugged in the Chinatown district of Seattle. On the ground, she called for help, and two friends came to her aid. They gathered her packages and beads that had fallen loose from her broken necklace. A third friend tried to chase the man down.

An eyewitness watched the scene and followed the teens to take down their license plate numbers. Later, police arrested the Yi Ming Lin, Rico Ford, and Ken Woo, all 18, for attempted theft.

Two months after this incident, the prosecutor dropped all charges against the teens.

The elderly victim, who does not speak English, was unable initially to tell police what happened. The decision to drop charges came after the victim was twice interviewed by police and prosecutors and twice said the young men weren't involved.

"We felt there were problems and decided to drop the charges in the interest of justice," said prosecutor spokesman Dan Donohoe.

The young men's attorney, Jeff Smith, said they never should have been arrested.

"There's an obvious prejudice against teen boys of color," Smith said. "It was an inadequate and hasty investigation based on one statement taken from one person at the scene."

The three teens are friends from Rainier Beach High School, where Lin and Woo are seniors and Ford is a recent graduate.

The three teens said they are planning to file a wrongful-arrest lawsuit against the Seattle Police Department to repay some of the $11,000 raised by their friends, teachers and family members to fight the case.

The teens said the experience won't stop them from helping someone else out again, but it has made them think twice.

"It really struck me pretty hard," said Ford.

"All those things about prejudice you read in history class. It struck me when this happened," he said. "This is really real."


full article @ Seattle Times (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001774430_3boys25m.html)

[nonamerasian]

I've known people where similar things happened, although not recently.

It's rather unfortunate, but it weighs on my mind as I'm sure it does others. If I stop and help, will I find myself in trouble?

It's a shame. I'm glad the charges were dropped.

[Green_Circle]

There was a true story about a Korean guy who was falsely or mistakenly ID'd to have been in a shooting in Chinatown. He was sent to life in prison for murder. While there he was the target of a White prison gang called the Aryan Brotherhood. To defend himself he was forced to kill one of the Aryans when they tried to murder him which made his first case for mistaken identity all the more tougher. Well after a few years he finally won the appeals and a movie was made about him which I forgot the name of.

[Fireblade]

There was a true story about a Korean guy who was falsely or mistakenly ID'd to have been in a shooting in Chinatown. He was sent to life in prison for murder. While there he was the target of a White prison gang called the Aryan Brotherhood. To defend himself he was forced to kill one of the Aryans when they tried to murder him which made his first case for mistaken identity all the more tougher. Well after a few years he finally won the appeals and a movie was made about him which I forgot the name of.

Please let me know what the name of this movie is. I would like to see it.

[Green_Circle]

I forgot since it was a few yrs ago. The guy who played the playboy in the movie with Sean Connery was the same guy who played the Korean who got sent to jail for the Chinatown murder in that movie(if I recall correctly).

[ModernLogic]

I forgot since it was a few yrs ago. The guy who played the playboy in the movie with Sean Connery was the same guy who played the Korean who got sent to jail for the Chinatown murder in that movie(if I recall correctly).

True Believer.

[Hanuman]

No good deed goes unpunished. That's crazy that it took so long for the truth to come out. Why didn't the police get an interpreter for the woman that was mugged? Or was she so frazzled from the robbing that she wasn't sure what happened?

[amietron]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2001774151.jpg

2 chinese kids and a black kid, eh?

[mr. x]

^-- the middle guy looks kidna blasian

anyway yeah guys are lucky the woman didnt die or go into a coma

[>:^|]

What astounds me is that these teens apparently spent a couple of nights in jail before being released.

I once saw a woman struggling to lift a shopping cart into a bus so I simply picked up the cart and placed it in the bus for her. When she started screaming that she was being robbed, I was actually looking around for the robber before I realized she meant me. :eek:

[mr. x]

What astounds me is that these teens apparently spent a couple of nights in jail before being released.

I once saw a woman struggling to lift a shopping cart into a bus so I simply picked up the cart and placed it in the bus for her. When she started screaming that she was being robbed, I was actually looking around for the robber before I realized she meant me. :eek:

what the, why'd she want to do that in the first place? homeless?

[>:^|]

full story at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/01/eveningnews/main591072.shtml

The shock grew when the three were held for trial with bail that appeared to be "color coded": $10,000 for Yi Ming, $20,000 for Ken, and $25,000 for Rico.

Check out the bail for these three guys
I guess it's not really a surprise
The one highest in the pack
Is the guy that is black
Racial reasons are what we surmise.

mr. x: a shopping cart like little old ladies use to tote their stuff home, not the kind from the store

[dragonlord]

full story at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/01/eveningnews/main591072.shtml



Check out the bail for these three guys
I guess it's not really a surprise
The one highest in the pack
Is the guy that is black
Racial reasons are what we surmise.

mr. x: a shopping cart like little old ladies use to tote their stuff home, not the kind from the store

I'm assuming Ken's the darker Asian guy. For that he gets an extra 10k slapped on his bail amount. Crazy Haoles!

[tommyhtown]

From the cbsnews link:

The boys have received neither an apology nor any refund for thousands in legal fees.

That's fucked up.

[sandra]

There was a true story about a Korean guy who was falsely or mistakenly ID'd to have been in a shooting in Chinatown. He was sent to life in prison for murder. While there he was the target of a White prison gang called the Aryan Brotherhood. To defend himself he was forced to kill one of the Aryans when they tried to murder him which made his first case for mistaken identity all the more tougher. Well after a few years he finally won the appeals and a movie was made about him which I forgot the name of.

Chol Soo Lee.

do a google search on all the articles written about his story by K.W. Lee. it was korean journalist k.w. lee that brought attention to his case and eventually got him out.

he's back in again, btw.

[Blue dice]

What's retarded is this "language barrier" could have easily been solved with a translater. It's not hard to find someone who can translate in a city like Seattle. This is just another example of police department incompetence in carrying out a thorough investigation. I'm sure people who live around California know all about sloppy and controversial police depts. I'm sure the PD know they screwed up and they're doing their best to cover it up.

[hooligan]

What's retarded is this "language barrier" could have easily been solved with a translater. It's not hard to find someone who can translate in a city like Seattle. This is just another example of police department incompetence in carrying out a thorough investigation. I'm sure people who live around California know all about sloppy and controversial police depts. I'm sure the PD know they screwed up and they're doing their best to cover it up.
yeah for real. fuck THAT, hire a lawyer and get those legal fees covered. talk about police incompentence.

[bluemonq]

Chol Soo Lee.
...
he's back in again, btw.
for what?

[bluemonq]

I guess you can't really tell in the pic, but he's really tall.

everybody look outside at a stop sign. he *is* pretty tall.