Riot In Riverside! July 4th 2008! riot brings mayhem.

[Eazy E]

Does anyone have any photos or videos to post?

NotNow, is there a video camera side by side with the searchlight on the police helicopter?

You know what? I can't believe it has taken me this long to remember, but there is a camera up at the top of the theatre building, installed by the guy who wants to put them downtown.
I assume there is absolutely no way to get this footage, but there IS a camera that probably got a LOT Of this.

[Eazy E]

Well now I feel as though its time to call the emergency rooms.

Several people in Five Points last night swore that there were actual shooting victims.

Those people are wrong.

[Eazy E]

I think most people who hang out in Five Points assume that they (the alternative kids) have the official disapproval of the city, and that if anything this major happened and it was their fault, there would be hell to pay.

Which I think is partially true and partially paranoid assumption.

Everyone wanted to really make sure that I knew it wasnt 'local' kids who had caused the mayhem.

I think a lot of frequenters and business owners want people to realize that, no, the regulars weren't responsible for this. 5 Points is already unfairly maligned by Ortegans and Avondalers as 'dangerous' or 'run down', based on their perceptions that it's the same place it was in 1993.  Everyone is stressing that it wasn't the 'local' kids, because it wasn't and we are tired of seeing the neighborhood continually mischaracterized, and know that this event will only lead to more of that unless we all point out that it was because of a crowd and demographic that does not come to 5 Points all that often.
Plus, to be truthful, you can chalk it all up to the crowd-- nothing like this ever takes place, and then bam! you put a bunch of dumb, violent kids in there and look what happens.

[Ernest Street]

Well, I got pulled over randomly about 8:45 pm on Margaret st on my Mountain bike by an officer hoping to find some warrants on me...why else would you pull over a bicycle on the sidewalk.?  I was so tempted to say" Don't taze me Bro!" When I mentioned the riot he waved me off saying he wasn't on duty that night.

[Eazy E]

Well, I got pulled over randomly about 8:45 pm on my Mountain bike by an officer hoping to find some warrants on me...why else would you pull over a bicycle on the sidewalk.?  I was so tempted to say" Don't taze me Bro!"

I actually got stopped several times that night on my bike because I didn't have a flashing light.  Given it being the 4th, and all the craziness that goes with that, I totally understood being pulled over.  Did you have a light? If not, that is probably why.

[fpj]

Does anyone have any photos or videos to post?

NotNow, is there a video camera side by side with the searchlight on the police helicopter?

You know what? I can't believe it has taken me this long to remember, but there is a camera up at the top of the theatre building, installed by the guy who wants to put them downtown.
I assume there is absolutely no way to get this footage, but there IS a camera that probably got a LOT Of this.

That camera was removed a couple weeks ago...

[Ernest Street]

I got pulled over last night.(monday) I have a headlight, but the taillight fell off. Even though I knew my record was ok, It's unnerving when they walk off with your ID..

[NotNow]

Does anyone have any photos or videos to post?

NotNow, is there a video camera side by side with the searchlight on the police helicopter?

There are cameras onboard, but they are not normally recorded unless they are downlinked.  This is not done for normal patrol and I am sure that there was no down link for this.

[02roadking]

A comment at UJ

Travis Says: 07/08/2008 11:27 am
I still think everything was being blown way out of proportion. I was working at St. Vincent’s that night and absolutely nothing came in through the ER related to this sort of thing. Actually it was a lot more quiet than the last few 4th’s I’ve worked there.

When they’d have the parties and shit at the hall across from Shantytown, the kids would always get unruly and it wasn’t on the news either. We can try and be all PC about it but guess what? These type of shows draw in a bad crowd and shit always happens. Always. If it had been an actual riot, there’d be pics and vids of it everywhere. Everyone has a camera or phone now. The business owners around there aren’t going to say shit because then they’ll have to defend themselves against claims of racism and that the kids there were just looking to have a good time and that the lack of venue space led to “disenfranchisement and some physical manifestations of their urban plight”. I wouldn’t want to have to deal with that bullshit either.

[Driven1]

It seems pretty orwellian that there are several people who are frantically trying to call it anything besides a riot because they are afraid of charges of racism.
That seems in and of itself pretty weird.

i agree...EazyE had this to report yesterday I believe...i think there was some racism there...

One 5 Points regular went to move his car, parked right in front of the line, and several 15 year olds began harassing him, calling him "whitey" and saying they were going to "shoot his punk ass". Unfortunately, in Jacksonville at this time, we have a demographic that respects nothing but violence and money, and that has no parental oversight or control being exercised-- it's the same crap that made me quit teaching. I would chalk this fight/riot up to our city's inability to instill in poor kids that violence isn't the answer and money isn't the be-all end-all of everything.  And, unfortunately, the kind of rap that this is-- the worst, crappiest, most unintelligent, and uncreative kind-- only fuels this by making every song about cars, drugs, violence and hoes.

[thebrokenforum]

Stephen, it's all good.

--

I'd just like to point out that this story and the way it's being reported and mulled over is very similar to how ancient history was created. You have numerous and different versions of the story that eventually get collected by an authority who then edits the story to their liking and then prints it. We may never know exactly what happened but there sure are some strong opinions about it - mostly by people who weren't there!

[downtownparks]

Who said it didn't happen? All I have seen is a few who commented on "citizen reporting" and the potential for folly.

[Downtown Dweller]

Wasn't there, but I would be willing to bet the police did not just tell the "black people" to get the hell outta dodge, especially when looking at the reports posted here, if there was gun fire, and they brought tear gas they would have been telling everyone to get out. Or maybe they just wanted the white people to get shot and gassed, this in and of itself would point out the cops were not being racists against the blacks, they gave them fair warning to get out before they got gassed, I guess their real intent was to gas the unsuspecting white folks since they did not ask them to leave? I think some just like to try and make everything racial.

[Driven1]

Wasn't there, but I would be willing to bet the police did not just tell the "black people" to get the hell outta dodge, especially when looking at the reports posted here, if there was gun fire, and they brought tear gas they would have been telling everyone to get out. Or maybe they just wanted the white people to get shot and gassed, this in and of itself would point out the cops were not being racists against the blacks, they gave them fair warning to get out before they got gassed, I guess their real intent was to gas the unsuspecting white folks since they did not ask them to leave? I think some just like to try and make everything racial.

LOL - NO!!!  you are WRONG DowntownDweller!  The cops here are racist and HATE black people.  Even the black cops hate black people.  Sheriff Rutherford makes them promise two things when they sign on...

1) they will uphold the law
2) they will hate black people

[Eazy E]

Does anyone have any photos or videos to post?

That camera was removed a couple weeks ago...

I don't think so.  It was there 2 weeks ago when I noticed it. I am talking the upper NW corner, WAY up above Boger's shoes.