August 1, 2007
YouTube Video Robber Caught
In case you missed this great Post article from Clarence Williams and Elissa Silverman this morning, be sure and read the whole thing. It's the story of Simon Mahteme, owner of LeDroit Park Market, the center of a neighborhood struggling to improve itself in the face of continuing crime and violence. Mahteme's store has been broken into ten times since October, and after this last incident, he had a customer help him place the security camera footage on YouTube. It's not clear whether police actually used the video in their investigations, but an arrest has been made in the robbery, and apparently Police Chief Cathy Lanier has seen it.
The footage of the robbers is above. It's encouraging to hear that neighborhoods like LeDroit Park are banding together to demand results from the MPD and find solutions to crime on the streets where they live. Stop by LeDroit Park Market, at 4th & T St NW, if you can and let Mahteme know you support his efforts to stay open despite all the damage and loss he's suffered this year.
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Yikes! That's freaky. I'm impressed with that guy keeping his store open after having that happen so many times. You'd pretty much just have to visit me once with hooded sweatshirts and guns to convince me I didn't *really* want to run a business after all.
Cue lawsuit from suspect for reproducing his image without consent in 3... 2... 1...
If YouTube wasn't here, the robbers wouldn't have been arrested.
Ugh I live one block from that market. A robbery in broad daylight at 2pm definitely changes my perception of the neighborhood...
This is the wave of the future. You have to embarrass the DC police into doing their jobs. Chances are pretty good they did nothing until it became clear that the press coverage would force them to do something.
It's only a matter of time before DC is like London - cameras on every corner.
I hate to say it, but I no longer fear that scenario. Maybe because I'm sick to death of year after year of seeing a totally useless MPD, court system, and such allow this violent crap to go on virtually unchecked.
So bring on the cameras, baby.
When Home Rule on 14th opened back in the '90s, they didn't take cash. Only credit or debit.
Maybe more merchants in distressed should think about doing this.
I thought this was a great article about the community efforts but I think Hillman's comment really highlights what this article should have been about and that's the fact that the residents continually have to embarrass the police and the government into doing their jobs.
To guest 6. there's no way a corner market can survive on electronic transactions. Most sales at a store like this are too small to be worth the credit card fees the merchant has to pay. Most pay a flat fee for every swipe of the card plus a percentage of the purchase amount. That would erase any profit margin for people who come in a nd just by a coke or a carton of milk.
"To guest 6. there's no way a corner market can survive on electronic transactions. Most sales at a store like this are too small to be worth the credit card fees the merchant has to pay. Most pay a flat fee for every swipe of the card plus a percentage of the purchase amount. That would erase any profit margin for people who come in a nd just by a coke or a carton of milk."
- Well, yes, in the long term you are right. But, in the short term:
1) The folks who scrounge dollars to buy smokes and singles will go elsewhere
2) A few law abiding customers who, for various reasons don't get involved, may just get pissed enough to start snitching, and
3) The place will quickly get a reputation of having no cash to steal.
Sure, it'd be painful for the proprietor to do, but so is getting pistol-whipped more often than most of us get our hair cut. Anyway, I only tossed it out as something to think about.
I live in the neighborhood and I wanted to point out a few things that didn't come through in the articles in the Post and DCist.
The only arrest and prosecution that I'm aware of relates to a series of break ins that occurred last year at the LeDroit Park Market. That guy's MO was to break into the market by breaking the glass when the store was closed.
The armed robbery shown in the video occurred long after the earlier series of break-ins, and is one of a series of armed robberies that have happened both at the LeDroit Park Market, and Windows market, which is located a few blocks away. Given the timing, and differences in the crimes, I don't think it was the same person or group that is responsible for both types of crimes.
It's not true that MPD did not respond to the crimes until after the clip was posted on Youtube. They found and caught the guy who was responsible for the break-ins long before the clip was posted, and they've been all over the neighborhood in the last few weeks trying to find the individuals responsible for the armed robberies. And they've been maintaining a visible presence in the affected stores and in the neighborhood in general. But their presence has picked up even more since the video was posted.
I know Simon, and the Abeje's who run the Windows market, personally. They are wonderful people. Just by returning to their stores are doing something incredibly courageous. My neighbors and I are trying to spend more money in the stores than usual as a way to keep them going, as their stores provide wonderful benefits to the neighborhood. I ask that those of you who live nearby, or who simply want to help out good people, to stop into their stores and buy something as a sign of solidarity. [LeDroit Market is at 4th and T, Windows is at 1st and Rhode Island].
Since I posted my comment above, I've learned that MPD made another arrest, this time for a suspect in the armed robberies.
I can't believe how long they were in there!