Fact Check

New Haven Motor Scooter Beating

Rumor: Photograph shows a service technician who was dragged off a motor scooter and beaten by a mob of 'Trayvon crazed thugs.'

Published July 26, 2013

Claim:

Claim:   Photograph shows a service technician who was dragged off a motor scooter and beaten by a mob of "Trayvon crazed thugs."


REAL PHOTOGRAPH; INACCURATE DESCRIPTION


Examples:   [Collected via Facebook, July 2013]


This is the owner of a New Haven, Connecticut motorsports shop. He was out test driving a motor scooter that his mechanics had repaired when a mob of black Trayvon crazed thugs pulled him off of the scooter and beat him to a pulp.

He was so severely beaten by the racist thugs that he has no memory of the attack. Luckily there were witnesses and police are pursuing leads. Media is reporting the attackers as only 'youths'.

Where is the outrage and 24-hour none stop coverage ... of course there is none ... we need to share it so people see the media bias.

(Chances of "hate crime" charges - 0%)




 

Origins:   The man shown in the above photograph is 49-year-old Brooks MacQuarrie of Wallingford, Connecticut, a service technician at New Haven Power Sports who was involved in some kind of mishap while riding a motor scooter on the afternoon of 19 July 2013. Initially, the New Haven Independent reported that several black teenage boys had run up to him, pushed him off the scooter, assaulted him, and stolen the scooter, leaving him lying in the roadway bleeding and severely injured:



Early rush-hour stopped in both directions. A disoriented 49-year-old man collapsed in the middle of the street, bathed in blood. Women rushed to his aid. One called for somebody to give her a shirt to help stanch the blood. Another asked the bloodied man if he could remember his name. Someone called for an ambulance.

That was the scene on Goffe Street near the intersection of County Street around 4 p.m. Friday afternoon.

The 49-year-old man was Brooks MacQuarrie of Wallingford, a service technician at New Haven Power Sports on Whalley Avenue, according to the store's website. MacQuarrie had finished repairing a "candy-apple" scooter at his shop, then took it for a test drive. On Goffe, according to witnesses, up to a half-dozen teen-aged boys rushed at him, "pushed him from the moving scooter, assaulted him and fled with the scooter, leaving him bleeding in the road." The above photo shows the scene as women came to his aid.

MacQuarrie "suffered significant fractures to his head, ribs and arm," according to Hartman. He couldn't remember much when the cops interviewed him, beyond having been rushed at by the "gang of teens." He was taken by ambulance for treatment to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where his condition was listed as "guarded but stable."


But in a follow-up story the next day, the Independent reported that evidence was contradictory and it was unclear whether MacQuarrie was actually the victim of a vehicular accident, a beating, a scooterjacking, a crime of opportunity, or some combination of those events:



Maybe a gang of teens did attack the 49-year-old man left bloodied in the street after a scooter robbery. Or maybe a car hit him first. The evidence so far fails to support either theory, according to police — though the victim's coworkers are convinced a beating did take place.

MacQuarrie had just finished repairing a "candy-apple" scooter when he took it out for a test drive. He turned onto Orchard, then onto Goffe.

What happened next is the mystery.

MacQuarrie ended up barely conscious and bathed in blood in the middle of the street. Traffic stopped. Several women raced to help him. One called for a shirt to wipe the blood. One spoke with him. Someone called 911.

And some young people rode off with the scooter.

The initial report to the police came in as a pedestrian struck, presumably by a vehicle.

Sgt. Max Joyner rushed to the scene. He spoke to three women, two of whom said they were nurses who tried to help the

victim.

"They said all they saw was a crowd. People started walking away. They saw two black males standing over a white male. They couldn't say they witnessed a scooter jacking. They saw a commotion. They couldn't see the details."

Based on initial accounts, police reported that a gang of teens had rushed MacQuarrie, "pushed him from the moving scooter, assaulted him and fled with the scooter, leaving him bleeding in the road."

"I was 30 seconds down the street. I pulled right up. And I can't tell you what happened," Joyner said. Usually, in a pedestrian-struck case, he'll see skid marks on the street or other physical evidence. Not in this case.

Detectives joined the investigation. So far no witnesses have reported seeing the whole episode, according to Sgt. Robert Lawlor Jr., the head of the robbery and burglary unit. No witnesses actually saw MacQuarrie get pushed off the scooter. Someone reported seeing two vehicles speed away, a green car and a dark-colored Acura. Someone reported that young men were yelling, "Get him off the bike! Get him off the bike!"

For his part, MacQuarrie remembers a young man on a bicycle coming at him with an "angry look" in his eye, according to coworker Green. He remembers trying to avoid eye contact with the person. He remembers getting hit on the back of the head. After that, he remembers nothing of the incident.

A report from doctors at the hospital has further complicated the picture, Sgt. Lawlor said.

They called the extent of MacQuarrie's injuries "inconsistent" with a quick beating, too severe. However, no physical evidence at the scene pointed to a prior collision between the scooter and a car, either. Police found a four-inch piece of plastic near the scene, but that wasn't conclusive, according to Lawlor.

Was the theft of the scooter a "crime of opportunity?" Lawlor asked.

"As of right this second, there's no proof of a mob beating. It's very unclear what occurred. They either pushed him off the bike and beat him, which there's no evidence of; or a car hit him. There's no evidence of this either."

Police are interviewing MacQuarrie again. They recovered the scooter Friday night: Two undercover cops spotted two young men riding it near the Hamden shopping plaza on Dixwell Avenue and followed them into Newhallville. When other cops arrived, the young men ditched the scooter and fled.


Despite the online circulation of this photograph with such accompanying titles as "Man beaten in New Haven, CT as justice for Treyvon" and "Man beaten by black Trayvon crazed thugs," no one involved in this case stated or suggested that the incident's perpetrators had any "Justice for Trayvon" Martin motivation:



Police currently have two theories as to what happened that led to MacQuarrie's injuries: The teens either attacked him or they stole the scooter after an accident.

"Thus far, there is nothing — nothing at all — to suggest it was [racially motivated]," police spokesman Officer David Hartman said in a release.

Doctors said MacQuarrie's serious injuries weren't consistent with a quick beat down, according to Sgt. Robert Lawlor Jr., head of the Robbery/Burglary Unit.


Last updated:   30 March 2015


Sources:




    Bass, Paul.   "Power Sports Tech Bloodied."

    New Haven Independent.   22 July 2013.

    Bass, Paul.   "Tech's Bloodying Turns Into a Mystery."

    New Haven Independent.   23 July 2013.

    Scinto, Rich.   "New Haven Scooter Attack Mystery Draws Unfounded Theories on Web."

    New Haven Register.   30 July 2013.


David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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