arnisador
02-23-2008, 11:42 PM
I made a brief post about this here (http://www.fmatalk.com/showthread.php?p=21073#post21073) after seeing it on MT. Tonight I read the actual story (yes, I had bought that day's NY Times and set it aside in my newspaper pile because work was such a crunch at the time):
Robbery of Transit Worker Turns Into Knife Fight, Killing One (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/12/nyregion/12stab.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=leandro+ventura&st=nyt&oref=slogin)
A New York City Transit (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/new_york_city_transit/index.html?inline=nyt-org) worker walking home after a late shift, three suspected muggers armed with a curved knife and a bystander whose role was unclear converged on a rainy street in Upper Manhattan late Thursday in a blood-soaked encounter that left the bystander stabbed to death and two others — including the transit worker — hospitalized.
Hours after the midnight attack at 139th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, detectives were still trying to reconstruct what had happened.
As of late Friday, investigators said, one thing was clear: It appeared that the transit worker, Maurice Parks, 39, a subway motorman, was a victim who decided to fight back. He told investigators he was attacked in 1994, and fought back that time, too.
[...]
One of the muggers pulled a knife, and Mr. Parks pulled one too, the police said.
The conductor apparently carried the knife — a straight blade held in a sheath — for just this reason, so he could defend himself, one law enforcement official said. Who stabbed whom first remained unclear Friday, though Mr. Parks told investigators that he was wounded first. Mr. Parks, who lives in that neighborhood, was stabbed in the abdomen and slashed in the hands; Mr. Byas was stabbed in the chest, back and leg; and one other man involved, Hector Cruz, 21, was stabbed twice in the abdomen, the police said.
[...]
Two knives were recovered as evidence — the folding knife with a curved blade and the knife that Mr. Parks was believed to have pulled from his pocket. Detectives were seeking a third assailant and were checking video cameras of nearby stores.
[...]
Officials said it was not likely that he would be charged criminally.
In New York, it is legal for someone to carry a knife as long as it is not among those types defined by state law as illegal, like a switchblade.
I'm wondering if the "folding knife with a curved blade" was a folding kerambit?
His first serious self-defense altercation:
Killing in Harlem Confrontation Was the Second for a Transit Worker (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E07E5DC1731F930A25752C0A96E9C8B 63&scp=3&sq=leandro+ventura&st=nyt)
On Thursday, Mr. Parks, who had studied martial arts for self-defense, and one of his attackers ended up with stab wounds. And Flonarza M. Byas, 28, who was stabbed several times by Mr. Parks, died. Mr. Parks has not been charged with a crime.
He became a transit worker in 1997, three years after the Queens attack. A police official could not provide the details of that encounter, but said that Mr. Parks was initially arrested and charged with homicide. Those charges were dropped after it was determined that the killing was an act of self-defense, the police said.
Another story makes it sound as if the attacker in that case was not in fact killed (ah yes, correction here (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E01EFD81539F936A25752C0A96E9C8B 63&scp=5&sq=%22Maurice+Parks%22&st=nyt)):
Transit Worker Fought Back Before, Wounding a Man (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/nyregion/15melee.html?scp=4&sq=leandro+ventura&st=nyt)
The city transit worker at the center of last week’s bloody melee on a Harlem street fought off a gunman who tried to rob him in Queens 14 years ago, a struggle that left the attacker shot and wounded, officials said on Monday.
[...]
In the 1994 case, Mr. Parks was charged with attempted murder, officials said, and the man he shot, Marcus Meyers, was charged with attempted robbery.
The cases against Mr. Parks and Mr. Meyers were presented before grand juries in Queens but each was dismissed, officials said. The cases were sealed, so many of the details of what occurred — such as whether Mr. Parks disarmed Mr. Meyers and shot him, or whether the gun went off during the struggle — remained unclear on Monday.
[...]
Mr. Parks is a black belt in a branch of jujitsu known as VSK jujitsu, according to David Herbert, 50, who uses the jujitsu title of Shihan and said he had trained as a classmate of Mr. Parks for six years.
Shihan Herbert said Mr. Parks had trained under Soke Davis, an instructor, who is also known as “Lil John.” Shihan Herbert said that Mr. Parks had been expected to show up on Saturday at a seminar given by Mr. Davis at the World Martial Arts Center in Brooklyn.
The martial art style's home page is here (http://www.vskjiujitsu.com/). It derives from the styles of Florendo Visitation and Moses Powell.
An essay inspired by the incident that discusses the ways in which NYC residents prepare for self-defense:
When Crime Was Always on Our Minds (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/nyregion/14defense.html?scp=2&sq=leandro+ventura&st=nyt)
Robbery of Transit Worker Turns Into Knife Fight, Killing One (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/12/nyregion/12stab.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=leandro+ventura&st=nyt&oref=slogin)
A New York City Transit (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/new_york_city_transit/index.html?inline=nyt-org) worker walking home after a late shift, three suspected muggers armed with a curved knife and a bystander whose role was unclear converged on a rainy street in Upper Manhattan late Thursday in a blood-soaked encounter that left the bystander stabbed to death and two others — including the transit worker — hospitalized.
Hours after the midnight attack at 139th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, detectives were still trying to reconstruct what had happened.
As of late Friday, investigators said, one thing was clear: It appeared that the transit worker, Maurice Parks, 39, a subway motorman, was a victim who decided to fight back. He told investigators he was attacked in 1994, and fought back that time, too.
[...]
One of the muggers pulled a knife, and Mr. Parks pulled one too, the police said.
The conductor apparently carried the knife — a straight blade held in a sheath — for just this reason, so he could defend himself, one law enforcement official said. Who stabbed whom first remained unclear Friday, though Mr. Parks told investigators that he was wounded first. Mr. Parks, who lives in that neighborhood, was stabbed in the abdomen and slashed in the hands; Mr. Byas was stabbed in the chest, back and leg; and one other man involved, Hector Cruz, 21, was stabbed twice in the abdomen, the police said.
[...]
Two knives were recovered as evidence — the folding knife with a curved blade and the knife that Mr. Parks was believed to have pulled from his pocket. Detectives were seeking a third assailant and were checking video cameras of nearby stores.
[...]
Officials said it was not likely that he would be charged criminally.
In New York, it is legal for someone to carry a knife as long as it is not among those types defined by state law as illegal, like a switchblade.
I'm wondering if the "folding knife with a curved blade" was a folding kerambit?
His first serious self-defense altercation:
Killing in Harlem Confrontation Was the Second for a Transit Worker (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E07E5DC1731F930A25752C0A96E9C8B 63&scp=3&sq=leandro+ventura&st=nyt)
On Thursday, Mr. Parks, who had studied martial arts for self-defense, and one of his attackers ended up with stab wounds. And Flonarza M. Byas, 28, who was stabbed several times by Mr. Parks, died. Mr. Parks has not been charged with a crime.
He became a transit worker in 1997, three years after the Queens attack. A police official could not provide the details of that encounter, but said that Mr. Parks was initially arrested and charged with homicide. Those charges were dropped after it was determined that the killing was an act of self-defense, the police said.
Another story makes it sound as if the attacker in that case was not in fact killed (ah yes, correction here (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E01EFD81539F936A25752C0A96E9C8B 63&scp=5&sq=%22Maurice+Parks%22&st=nyt)):
Transit Worker Fought Back Before, Wounding a Man (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/nyregion/15melee.html?scp=4&sq=leandro+ventura&st=nyt)
The city transit worker at the center of last week’s bloody melee on a Harlem street fought off a gunman who tried to rob him in Queens 14 years ago, a struggle that left the attacker shot and wounded, officials said on Monday.
[...]
In the 1994 case, Mr. Parks was charged with attempted murder, officials said, and the man he shot, Marcus Meyers, was charged with attempted robbery.
The cases against Mr. Parks and Mr. Meyers were presented before grand juries in Queens but each was dismissed, officials said. The cases were sealed, so many of the details of what occurred — such as whether Mr. Parks disarmed Mr. Meyers and shot him, or whether the gun went off during the struggle — remained unclear on Monday.
[...]
Mr. Parks is a black belt in a branch of jujitsu known as VSK jujitsu, according to David Herbert, 50, who uses the jujitsu title of Shihan and said he had trained as a classmate of Mr. Parks for six years.
Shihan Herbert said Mr. Parks had trained under Soke Davis, an instructor, who is also known as “Lil John.” Shihan Herbert said that Mr. Parks had been expected to show up on Saturday at a seminar given by Mr. Davis at the World Martial Arts Center in Brooklyn.
The martial art style's home page is here (http://www.vskjiujitsu.com/). It derives from the styles of Florendo Visitation and Moses Powell.
An essay inspired by the incident that discusses the ways in which NYC residents prepare for self-defense:
When Crime Was Always on Our Minds (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/nyregion/14defense.html?scp=2&sq=leandro+ventura&st=nyt)