I remember reading Colonel Chaco's thread about his hike where he was nearly assaulted by some rowdies in North Carolina:http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=34757
This has to be the saddest story I've ever read on any hiking forum. How any one could beat up a hiker is beyond me.
I hope this lowlife gets caught and sent to jail asap.
David
I too hope that he reported the crime. If crimes, especially violent ones like this and the one last year outside Damascus go unreported and unprosecuted, it will only embolden bullies who perceive that hikers are easy pickins' because they're too timid to report to authorities and face the perpetrators.
I'm confident that law enforcement personnel along the AT corridor will do their utmost to solve the crime; the Damascus police's investigation was outstanding.
Agreed. The second saddest aspect of this affair, after reading some of
the history of that region, is that potential newcomers will be discouraged,
or just decide to find another "safer" pastime.
If so motivated by the past, this sort of thing rises above a random
assault and becomes a targeted hate crime, at the very least, and could
be considered domestic terrorism, as harsh or extreme as that sounds.
Let's hope this gets nipped here and now, before the potential for an area
feud becomes real.
The last thing needed on the trail are untrained people carrying firearms for protection, shooting at noises in the night.Better that these crimes be reported to the authorities. Hopefully, capture and successful prosecution would add a deterrant.
But , what if it were you assaulted while on a thru, they catch the perpetrator(s) and prosecute. are you taking time off the trail(or later, from work) to go to trial?I think this might be part of the reason crimes go unreported.
It's time we pull some random land owner out of his house and beat him brutally. I'll bring the pitchforks. Who's bringing the torches?
Seriously though, sucks for Nature Boy, especially if he did nothing whatsoever to instigate this event. I still have to wonder if he's entirely innocent, especially since he hasn't filed a criminal report, not that that warrants the type of beating he got...maybe.
Ill bring the feathers, who'll bring the tar?
No, you shouldn't be. This kind of thing is so rare on the AT that even one single mostly unverified account gets this much attention. For all we know the person who was all about setting records and being the fastest just wanted a face-saving excuse to go home, or some some personal business was at play...a completely random night-time assault of that nature without a robbery or other motive is extremely unlikely ANYPLACE, especially someplace like the trail. Statistically speaking, you're far safer on the trail than you are right now in your home reading this. Predators go for easy prey...they lurk in malls and parking lots, they don't hike 40 miles into the woods in the hopes of finding the perfect victim (which the kind of people hikers tend to be aren't even when off the trail). And brains are better weapons than guns, and there is no place on earth you NEED a gun if you have a brain. That doesn't mean don't bring one, it just means your gun is useless anyway if you don't have the requisite intellect to get by without it.