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
That was the scene on Goffe Street near the intersection of County Street around The 49-year-old man was Brooks MacQuarrie of Wallingford, a service technician at 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."
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.
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:
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 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, 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.
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.
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:
"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.
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.
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.