True Crime Tuesday: Intervention Edition

You’re on a train.

You’ve got your earbuds in – perhaps you’re listening to some quality audio fiction – when you notice a trio of fellows in what appears to be a standoff.

You de-bud and hear heated words exchanged. It’s clearly a situation of two-on-one, but these are able bodied young men with fists raised, and you’re tired. Still, you begin to stand – because someone needs to say something, right?

That’s when the guy with the sword shows up.

[youtube_sc url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRMNwq3ehFc#!]

Despite the initial report, Phoenix police say the incident involving a guy with a Samurai sword on the Metro Light Rail was reported, and it’s under investigation.

Phoenix police Sergeant Steve Martos says the incident appears to have occurred around 2 a.m. on October 13, […] “The incident is currently under investigation and the suspects have not been located,” Martos says. “It appears the individual with the sword helped to stop the fight.”

Indeed, the folks fighting just happened to find their exit at the next stop after that sword was pulled. – The Phoenix News Times Blog

Our next crime is a brief tale of a different sort of intervention:

Shena Hardin, 32, was caught on a cellphone camera as her car swerved onto the sidewalk to get around a bus picking up and dropping off children on East 38th Street in Cleveland. The bus driver was recording and police were ready because Hardin allegedly passed the bus on the sidewalk on a regular basis, Fox 8 reports.

She originally pleaded not guilty to charges of not stopping for a school bus and reckless operation of a vehicle but was convicted Monday, Fox 8 reports.

She received a $250 fine and a 30-day licence suspension, according to the report.

The judge also ordered Hardin to stand on a street near where the offence took place for an hour a day next Tuesday and Wednesday wearing a sign that reads: Only an idiot drives on the sidewalk to avoid a school bus.“

[youtube_sc url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48lxqgdo8iw]