Thursday, April 25, 2013 11:47 PM
Tonight, after the Winnipeg Jets game, I was assaulted in downtown Winnipeg walking to my car.
I parked on Carlton right at Broadway. As I crossed St. Mary’s, there were two Habs fans in front of me. They passed two guys, one wearing a Jets jersey, who yelled something like “Habs suck” at them. The Habs fans answered back with “See you in the playoffs” – which is normal sports fan banter.
The two Jets fans took exception though, and began walking behind the Habs fans, taunting them. I was in step with these two, who seemed drunk, for a while until they quickened their pace to catch up with the Habs fans.
Eventually they did, at the corner of York and Carlton. The Jets fans were getting in the face of the Habs fans, and those guys were definitely not looking for any trouble or trying to instigate anything. Then the pushing started – and I don’t mean a little shove, I mean the Jets guys were being very antagonistic and abusive. This had obviously gone too far, so I shouted at the Jets fans – “Knock if off or I’m going to call the cops!”.
This got the attention of the taller of the two, who looked at me as if *I* was nuts. I started walking with the Habs fans. I jokingly asked them if they were from around here, because if not I was going to apologize because Winnipeg wasn’t normally like this.
Then I was on the ground.
I got up, wrapping my head around the fact that this drunk Jets fan had just pushed me to the ground. He said something, I’m not sure what…can’t remember, but the next thing I knew he threw a punch, swinging his arm in an arc so that his fist caught me behind my left ear. I was stunned. Had I *actually* just been assaulted leaving a Jets game?! This couldn’t be real.
But then they turned their focus on the Habs fans again. I watched in horror as the guy who had just punched me threw a vicious punch that knocked one of the guys out – at least I’m pretty sure since he fell to the ground and as we helped him up later he was very woozy.
By this time some people had stepped in to break things up, and the two drunk Jets fans left. The Habs fans were alright – although the one guy is going to have a sore jaw tomorrow.
I tried to take a photo, but the supposedly reliable Nokia camera on my Windows Phone took this…
The guy in the middle, he’s the tall Jets fan that was throwing punches. He was with a shorter little douchebag in a signed Enstrom jersey.
So that’s what happened. Now…some thoughts on this new life experience.
Where the Hell were the Winnipeg Police?!
So a sporting event with tens of thousands of people, most of whom have had at least a few beers in them, isn’t reason enough to have a larger police presence throughout the downtown?! Thanks Winnipeg Police.
Where the Hell were the Winnpeggers?!
I am so disappointed with my city tonight. Roads packed with cars, streets packed with people, yet…
NOBODY stepped in to try and stop this except for 1 or 2 other guys.
NOBODY pulled over to offer help. And the one woman in a vehicle who I asked to call the police, not sure what happened to her – I guess it was easier just to continue on home. Same goes for all the others driving by.
These two guys had done *NOTHING* wrong – they were just walking back from a hockey game when they were mugged – plain and simple, this was a mugging. And everyone just stood back and watched it happen. We’re a city of fucking cowards.
Speaking of Cowards….
Downtown Winnipeg has a bad reputation, and there are stereotypes that go with that. Let me point out that the tall guy throwing punches was Caucasian, seemed clean cut, with a quality brown leather jacket. This was not a gang member, this was not a street thug. This was a drunk 20-something who was looking for a reason to go off on someone.
Who are these people? Who believes that its ok to assault someone? It’s assholes like these that destroy all the good work done by those trying to change our city’s image for the better.
What If…
What if I had one of my daughters with me, and she had seen her dad assaulted – or worse, what if she had gotten hurt somehow? What if one of them had a weapon? What if things, as they were, escalated way out of hand? What if I had thrown myself at this idiot and hurt him – would then *I* be on the receiving end of our legal system that coddles the criminal and persecutes the victim?
I’m still processing this. I’m not trying to be a martyr here – I got shoved down and I took a punch. The Habs fan that got knocked out had it way worse than me, and there are others in our city that are the victims of much more violent crimes. But still – walking downtown with crowds of people all around, I was the victim of an physical assault. Maybe Winnipeg does deserve the reputation it has.