I opened the Arlington county crime report mailing just now, trying against hope to catch up with my backlog of mail, and this was the first entry.
ASSAULT BY MOB-ARREST 08/25/08, 2300 block of N. 11th Street. On August 25, at 3 pm, the victim was walking and was attacked by eight unknown men. Victim suffered minor injuries to his face. Police apprehended one suspect. Cain Guevara, 19, of Arlington, was charged with Assault by Mob, and was held on a $3,000 bond.
Glad they picked up 12.5% of the assailants, but I was just fascinated by the fact that there’s a crime called “assault by mob.” My second thought was “how many people do you need to keep your group down to in order to not be a mob?” If one of them had stayed home with a head cold would they just have been plain vanilla assailants? Turns out two can be a mob:
Any collection of people, assembled for the purpose and with the intention of committing an assault or a battery upon any person or an act of violence as defined in § 19.2-297.1, without authority of law, shall be deemed a “mob.”
Interesting stuff, I think. I’m not sure what the point is; both simple assault and assault by mob are class 1 misdemeanors, so it’s not as if the law makes it more serious by classification.
image “2002 War Protest by choofly”
Well I used to say something in my profile about not quite being a “tinker, tailor, soldier, or spy” but Tom stole that for our about us page, so I guess I’ll have to find another way to express that I am a man of many interests.
Hmm, guess I just did.
My tastes run the gamut from sophomoric to Shakespeare and in my “professional” life I’ve sold things, served beer, written software, and carried heavy objects… sometimes at the same place. It’s that range of loves and activities that makes it so easy for me to love DC – we’ve got it all.
Hahaha. I just recently stated subscribing to the Arlington crime report emails. This one jumped out at me too. I immediately googled the address. This isn’t out in a way sketchy part of Arlington – it’s just a few blocks south of Clarendon Blvd.
the mob law is a way to also charge people who may be associated with the assailants but not active in the violence. So if your buddies start attacking people, it’s best to try to stop them simply because you could be charged by just being there. Oh, yeah – you should probably stop them anyway because it’s the right thing to do and then start hanging around in a different crowd because your buddies are douche bags.