So... random rant thread. Maybe I'm posting this to see if people think I did the right thing or if I should of handled it differently.

I generally dislike the homeless... they're a blight on an otherwise nice city. But I generally ignore them, they generally crap and piss and litter on the streets I have to walk.

Yesterday, after dropping the gf off at the apt and parking the car, I'm walking up the street and see her at the corner, with her dog (a small ****-zu, emphasis on the "****")... waving me over in a panic of sorts. I run up. Apparently some homeless guy stomped (literally went out of his way to walk over to and stomp down on) her dog. She's scared and angry... (I found out later she had immediately kicked him in the nuts and had continued to kick/hit him until some passerby's had told her to stop)....

She points him out and I chase after him a bit... Not too big a guy, maybe 6', 200lbs... clearly a bit mentally unstable, snot running out of his nose, sweaty... screaming something about not f@cking dogs and not being into bestiality... I don't bother running too fast, partially because I'm having a little fun having him on the run... partially because I'm hoping while he blindly runs across streets he might get hit by one of the cars. But it has the added advantage of taking us deeper into the tenderloin, so fewer people who might interfere on the streets. Basically, I catch him after a block, throw him around a little, let him run another block, catch him, throw him around a bit, let him run deeper and deeper into the TL. We basically end up in the very center of the TL, we end up stopped in the middle of an... interesting area... couple drug dealers on the streets, some users, a number of porch-sitters... I hit him a bit more, some woman wants me to stop... some other guy tells her to shut the f*ck up and butt out... I stopped when the guy was on the ground whining and some drug dealer was yelling that he was trying to do business here and didn't want the cops.

Anyway, I walk back up the street home. Clean all the **** off of me from this disgusting bit of human detritus... But I'm not sure I did the right thing. I mean, I really feel like I should have stomped on him when he was on the ground, I really don't feel like I hit him enough times to teach him a proper lesson. What if he didn't learn anything from this? What if he comes back up to our neighborhood? The gf will literally mace him and then beat him the instant she sees him... and she won't be as gentle as I was... And what if he comes up to our neighborhood and the gf doesn't see him? What if he attacks some of our neighbor's dogs?

No gun yet eh?

Sounds to me like you gave a guy( with nothing to lose) a reason to hate you.

I'd watch my back.


To say you handled it poorly is an understatement.

And I would also evaluate your opinion of homeless.

You're a smart guy victor... Watch the recent vice documentary on YouTube about the mentally ill in prison systems in Baltimore(?)... I think Baltimore .. May change you're perception a bit, may not...

Don't listen to the pansy-assed ney-sayers.

Is assault a felony where you live ?

What kind of crap hole does your GF live in?

If he's mental, I don't think it makes a difference, he won't remember the details. As far as "payback" for the lady I guess........the risk of catching an infectious disease from him? Not worth it.

So how would you have handled it differently?

Would you have let the guy walk after that?

As for my opinion of the homeless... one can have the luxury of caring for them when one doesn't have to deal with the destruction they cause on a daily basis.

Sounds like your girlfriend had it well in hand. But I'm sure she's glad she had you to try to run and catch a guy who'd been kicked in the jewels and beat his azz....again. This is too funny....you were nearly bested in a foot race by a recently pummeled, mentally ill, homeless dude...and then tell people about it????? I think I'd have kept that part to myself.

The rational part of me understands that the mentally ill are not completely responsible for their actions and the systems are not in place to properly care for them. However, we have actively deconstructed the existing institutions that were supposed to care for them. If we are not going to care for them properly, and we are going to put them out on the street, while still acknowledging that they are not completely responsible for their actions... well that's just acknowledging that bad things will happen. The only option at that point is to simply put them down.

You know what that homeless guy is saying today?

"one can have the luxury of caring for fn dogs when one doesn't have to deal with the destruction they cause on a daily basis"

No matter how irritated you were, your actions seem pointless. Clearly this was someone with a psychological illness. The only potential value I see to your actions is your girl friend expected you to act in some manner. Buy the girl friend some pepper spray for future encounters.

Dude... he wasn't going to get away. I was having some fun.
Part of the reason I'm posting this is I don't see any other option. Wondering if others see a different possible approach.

He had already run away from the gf. She had the dog with her which was limping... so she wanted some pay-back, and admittedly, I was a bit pissed that someone would attack an innocent animal. I didn't at the time see any other option, and I don't really see any other option but to do what was done. The chasing part was for my own entertainment... I jogged, he ran.

If you had a gun you could have knee capped him. A baseball bat is conspicuous to carry.

The dog causes no destruction. It stays indoors, the gf picks up its sh#t.

The homeless in our neighborhood are a different case. They don't pick up their sh$t (I'm not kidding, there is a map tracking how much human sh$t is left on the streets of SF, and I live on the border of sh%tsville.) They tip trash cans over and leave it strewn everywhere. They jam parking meters daily to be able to take the quarters out. They trash cars for no purpose... This is the 4th incident involving the gf (she does now keep mace in the pocket of the jacket she normally uses now). But the others have been relatively "harmless"... yelling, or shoving her.

http://mochimachine.org/wasteland/ 

for those interested in a map of sh$t

Get her a real dog,I know my dogs would've handled it themselves!

If you had said he was a Muslim, this place would be high-fiving you right now.

So you beat-up a homeless guy over a dog? Nice! What/s next… going to roll some **** after last-call too?