r/Rochester • u/frytuna • Apr 23 '25
Discussion This dude just asked me for money, is this the so called "puncher"?.
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u/GrandTheftNatto Apr 23 '25
Yep, that’s the Monroe Menace.
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u/BlackIceMatters Apr 23 '25
Marcus “The Monroe Menace” Tookes.
(Despite the catchy name, it seems that East Ave around Scio/Chestnut is where he mostly hangs out).
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u/schematizer Apr 23 '25
Oh, I remember that name. Didn’t someone post here a couple years back that he walked up and grabbed their phone from their hands?
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u/thatbob Expatriate Apr 23 '25
Marcus "The East Ave around Scio/Chestnut Nut" Tookes.
No?
I'll see myself out.
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u/CPSux Apr 23 '25 edited Apr 23 '25
Yup. Stay safe /r/Rochester.
I know this thread will be locked in a couple hours, but in a way I feel like everyone keeping an eye out for him and alerting social media is the necessary pressure for officials to act. Hopefully he never harms anyone again, but the moment he does, more people will be aware and be ready to hold city leaders accountable when he’s put right back on the streets to punch people again.
Make no mistake, city leaders, cops and the media all monitor Reddit on a daily basis.
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u/RevolutionarySand230 Apr 24 '25
He has very serious mental health issues, he is living in a world much different than majority of us in his head. I am not justifying anything he has done, because he is dangerous and unfortunately is the result of a very, very broken system on many levels.
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u/Whispy_tomato Apr 24 '25
Any one of us could slip into psychosis randomly and you could be one of “the dangerous ones” so keep that in mind. No one deserves to be locked up, they deserve help.
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u/Some-Pride-7911 Apr 24 '25
Sadly true of a lot of mentally ill, but the dangerous ones should be kept locked up imo
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u/I_HEART_HATERS Apr 24 '25
The system needs to lock him up because he is unfit to live an independent life and must be a warden of the state
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u/Beardo1329 Apr 24 '25
I’m sure when the cops actually do anything there will be rioting in the streets….
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u/PitifulGuidance2324 Apr 23 '25 edited Apr 23 '25
everyone of concern should contact the mayor at info @ cityofrochester.gov
if enough people do it, it will be hard to ignore
UPDATE: I wrote the mayor regarding this issue and i will do so as often as this happens.
let’s see if it’s worthwhile
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u/harveywhippleman Apr 23 '25
Sidenote: what a beautiful mural!
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u/NL121 Apr 23 '25
Justin Suarez is the artist. @aerosolkingdom on Instagram, he does really cool shit. Formerly known as MrPrvrt which you can see on the bottom right of the mural.
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Apr 23 '25
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u/start_select Apr 23 '25
Edit: he also has a history of punching women talking on the phone on the sidewalk and then stealing their phones.
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He attacks random people. He tried to attack me at a bar once. I was walking out the door and he was walking at me, maybe 4-5ft to the side on a parallel path.
As we got close he swerved right at me trying really hard to collide to the point of us almost head butting. I moved like a ballerina going “what the f***” around him while he almost took a swing. Then he aggressively rushed me a couple times but I just didn’t react besides going “can I help you?” And he moved along.
Then a bunch of people at the bar informed me that I somehow just dodged a random assault.
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u/Subject_Role1352 Apr 23 '25
What you're describing is assault. If he had hit you, it would have been battery.
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u/whiskeyandtea Apr 23 '25
In a common law tort sense, yes, but under NY criminal law it's an assault when there's an injury.
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Apr 23 '25
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u/Subject_Role1352 Apr 24 '25
Under NYS law, what he did is called Menacing. Specifically 3rd degree menacing, which is a Class B misdemeanor. So you're incorrect.
I don't know if this person contacted the police or not after their encounter.
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u/rootb33r North Winton Village Apr 24 '25
I think that's an incredibly disingenuous strawman. There's no law made where the lawmakers say "hmm, ok people, today we're going to write a statute that favors criminals!"
It's a complex intersection of a number of factors, and NYS appears to often lean towards an approach that has more humanity, reform, and trust in the way they have the systems set up. I'm not saying it's always the right way, but it's not "looking out for criminals' best interests."
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Apr 24 '25
Hah! I ole’d that mf in front of salingers one night and he went head first into pavement. Got up and immediately went after a lady who was with a big (6’5 250lbs) dude. Truly no survival instinct or regard for his own life.
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u/Standard__Condition Apr 23 '25
He’s approaching stopped cars at the light in front of 711 as of a few minutes ago.
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u/scigs6 Apr 23 '25
Looks like he is wearing a hospital band on his wrist. Honestly hope this dude gets help or he might end up missing.
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u/ricknardo Apr 23 '25
Look at the calluses on dude’s knuckles. Someone needs to ring this motherfuckers bell
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u/SpleenLessPunk Apr 23 '25
Look at the dudes knuckles.
That’s a key indicator that either the person trains in fighting of some sort, maybe martial arts or the like, and has built up calluses on his main knuckles.
Looks like that dudes been punching things for a long time.
If this is the Puncher, I don’t really know about his story and I just hope all of you try and stay safe out there. Remember situational awareness.
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u/Beginning-Yogurt3146 Apr 23 '25
All of these assholes who punch people for no reason should be in jail, like bro wtf
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u/Illustrious_Use_7284 Apr 24 '25
I have a better solution, we all form a big group and go find them…the rest is history!
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u/Beginning-Yogurt3146 Apr 24 '25
Yea totally
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u/Illustrious_Use_7284 Apr 24 '25
Yeah obviously not a great solution, but in my head it seems like it would do the trick 😅
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Apr 23 '25
The smoke shop on Monroe near Poster Art sells Pepper Spray. Just an FYI. You can also order it from any sporting goods store or Amazon.
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u/jarhead90 19th Ward Apr 23 '25
I don't think Amazon will ship pepper spray to NY. Police uniform stores sell pepper spray.
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u/UsernamesSuck33 South Wedge Apr 24 '25
They won’t. I’ve tried.
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u/jarhead90 19th Ward Apr 24 '25
Yeah it definitely sucks. I wanted to get a particular brand of pepper spray I used to carry, then I found out they wouldn't ship it. I was able to find it through another company and they shipped it right to my door.
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u/IntelligentBear4541 Apr 23 '25
If so, saw him on Monroe near McDonalds today. I’ll say that I do feel bad. Clearly he needs help, and I hope he gets to the point in five years where he can look back on this time with a lesson. Unfortunately, he’ll just have to continue getting an ass beating at this time.
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u/Impressive_Change958 Apr 24 '25
You feel bad for someone who is physically attacking numerous people and could potentially kill them if they are physically frail? I hope in five years he is rotting in prison where he belongs.
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u/IntelligentBear4541 Apr 24 '25
Imagine if you were the one doing this and had your face all over the internet. You would want compassion too.
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u/woolybear14623 Apr 23 '25
It goes way back to Reagan's kinder/ gentler society. He closed all the mental health facilities with no alternative. Well...actually there was an alternative but it was kept secret from the public. Close mental health facilities but build for profit prisons, the prison owner will reap billions and funnel a large portion back to Republican campaigns. The mentally ill, now living on the street will fall afoul of the law and end up in prison thereby tax dollars will fund Republican elections. Today families struggle to get any help for family members suffering breaks with reality, it's near impossible to get meaningful treatment.
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u/jeffplaysmoog Apr 23 '25
Sooo many awful things in today’s world can be traced back to that bastard Reagan!
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u/woolybear14623 Apr 23 '25
Edit: I have family and friends that have tried to get help for family members in crisis. One an elderly parent living in an unheated apartment in winter was told " yeah, she's fine she can live on her own" another with a teen on the spectrum who was suicidal we can only hold him 48 hours, there are no facilities !
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u/CrowdedSeder Henrietta Apr 24 '25 edited Apr 24 '25
First of all, I voted for Carter and then Mondale. Blaming Reagan for closing down the mental asylum is a bit simplistic. They were already starting to close them down as early as the mid 60s. The problem was institutions that held people against their will. Some of them were perfectly mentally fine, but we’re forced into horrific conditions due to politics and personality. People were drugged, shackled and sometimes tortured. The problem was where to put the truly ill people. Ronald Reagan just had the audacity to act like he didn’t give a damn, because he didn’t. LBJ and Nixon didn’t care either, but they didn’t come out and say it.
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u/StimulisRK Apr 24 '25
For-profit/private prisons are only 8% of the total US prison population. Not doubting anything you said, but I recently learned that stat, I was under the impression that it was much higher.
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u/schoh99 Apr 24 '25
I'm actually quite surprised by this. I'm not defending them, but the way people who are strongly against them talk you would think it's more like 60-70 percent.
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u/PitifulGuidance2324 Apr 23 '25
where in the city was this?
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u/-emkay- Apr 23 '25
This is by Monroe/Meigs corner
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Apr 23 '25
I was on Monroe Ave. less than an hour ago and he was there at the intersection of Monroe and Goodman. Keep ya head on a swivel, and donate money to places that allocate it, not strangers.
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u/cuteintern Apr 23 '25 edited Apr 23 '25
As a backup, since this is the clearest picture of him that I have seen to date. https://imgur.com/a/TtV4JP9
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u/KirbyJones82 Apr 24 '25
Quick question are you allowed to punch the puncher back ? Asking for a friend.
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u/picklehippy Apr 23 '25
I think he lives in the building near the corner. I saw him there a couple weeks ago and he went inside the building. He never bothered me
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u/Himbosupremeus Apr 23 '25
I moved outta roch a few years ago, who is the "Puncher"
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u/gremlinsbuttcrack Apr 23 '25
It's kind of self explanatory. It's a person whose punching people. His name is Marcus tookes and he has assaulted numerous people. He has committed crimes in numerous states and sightings of him are noted as a word of caution because he is a dangerous individual that should not be engaged with for any reason and people should steer physically clear of. An interaction with him does not mean you will get punched, but it's the frequent outcome and he is known to bait people closer to his in order to punch them. He tried it with my partner the day before last. Asked for money, when he declined he asked my partners name, when partner repeated he didn't have anything for him he asked to pet our dog. Is it possible he simply wanted to pet the dog? Sure. Given his track record though the moment he got close he would have punched the shit out of him. And he doesn't discriminate who he assaults.
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u/stringersaffliction Displaced Rochesterian Apr 23 '25
I’m down in that area now. I’ll remember to stop and say hello lol. He’ll know who I am.
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Apr 23 '25
So hear me out. If I was asking for money, first thing I would do is go to the nearest library, log into Reddit, and tell people that there’s a guy asking for money who will punch you if you say no.
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u/Strugglebutts Apr 23 '25
So glad this guy is out on the street after 10+ violent offenses. Good thing we aren’t allowed to defend ourselves in NY, otherwise, someone may have been hurt.
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u/36Taylor36 Apr 24 '25
Pretty funny a speedy ticket today is worse than his 10+ violent offenses. Joke state
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u/kompletist Apr 24 '25
Just in the context of this post, your first reaction to someone asking for money is to…shoot them?
Pardon me, I gotta run out back and drop a nuclear bomb on the hornets nest in my backyard.
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u/Commodore_Shiplap Apr 24 '25
Just want to point out that "defend ourselves" doesn't equate to "shoot them."
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u/schoh99 Apr 24 '25
Where did OP say anything about shooting?
Also you know damn well the issue isn't that he's asking for money. Take your bad-faith strawman outta here.
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u/FrickinLazerBeams Apr 23 '25
we aren’t allowed to defend ourselves in NY,
You could avoid the weirdo political nonsense and you'd sound like a much more serious person.
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Apr 24 '25
If he’s punching everyone he sees someone is bound to eventually shoot him. And nothing of value will be lost
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u/OkLoad3078 Apr 23 '25
ugh yeah, he used to frequent the hotel on union until the cops got called on him enough time
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u/TakeTheCannoli3714 Apr 24 '25
Just saw him coming out of the Sunoco on Monroe as I was pulling in. Went to Speedway instead. Then he went past Bruegger’s as I was picking up my lunch. Thanks to this post I knew exactly who to look out for.
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u/Own-Citron1875 Apr 24 '25
Just because there seem to be a lot of "lock up the mentally ill" advocates commenting here: https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ps.51.5.616. If you want to do a deep dive, search "Mental Institutions & Community Care".
I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on this topic, and only know about it because my spouse is (a psychologist, and one of a dying breed that specializes in severe mental disorders). As noted by others, those Nurse Ratched run "Mental Institutions" (ie, getting someone "institutionalized") were shut down years ago. Sounds like a lot of folks here are wishing they still existed - they should probably be reminded that they were shut down for many reasons, and that at the time, many of the country's mentally ill were housed here (including those with clinical depression and the "disease" of homosexuality). I'm sure there were more scientific/clinical reasons at the time, but realistically, this is just where we put people who weren't seen as "normal" and whom we didn't want to deal with.
In the late part of the twentieth century, these institutions started being shut down. Mental health was advancing, and it was found that "Community Care" was far more helpful in helping mentally ill individuals. Institutions were expensive, and the theory was that putting the same money into a structure of community care had better outcomes. Unfortunately, after the institutions were closed, the funding for community care never really materialized - which is where we are now. Those with severe mental illness are left on the streets; they end up in emergency rooms, which provide temporary care, then they end right back on the streets to start all over again. The revolving door...
And with the current administration potentially cutting care to Medicaid, this already shaky system will just get worse. But hey, since you all want to NIMBY away this problem, just keep voting for Trump. I'm sure the Nazi solution is much cheaper, and will immediately eliminate all of society's problems.
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u/ImpatientMinivan Apr 24 '25
I'm definitely not trying to stick up for Trump here, but democrats have not done anything to solve the issue either.
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u/Own-Citron1875 Apr 24 '25
When was the last time you saw this even being discussed as an issue? Most people don't even know why we have de-institutionalized the mentally ill. It's not a Red/Blue issue. It's a societal issue, and something that we as a society would prefer to ignore. We, including everyone posting comments here, have failed this community as a whole.
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u/Substantial-Cycle527 Apr 24 '25
It's wasn't a red/blue issue until you brought up Trump and Nazis.
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u/SirsBrattyFox1997 Webster Apr 23 '25
Well HE looks punchable. Imagine that the rochester puncher looks punchable
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u/Scary-Alternative967 Apr 23 '25
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u/BlackIceMatters Apr 23 '25
Be careful what you wish for. He’s been getting A LOT of attention on here lately.
Back when I lived in NYC there was an eerily similar situation where a bad apple was causing trouble in the neighborhood I lived in. It got to a point where the perp was getting a lot of attention in the neighborhood subreddit (very similar to now) and then one day he got SERIOUSLY tuned up. He didn’t come around after that.
I’m not advocating for it, but I’m not gonna be shocked if Marcus ends up on the wrong end of some vigilante justice in the near future.
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u/Kiritowerty Apr 23 '25
Guy assaults and robs a plethora of random people up without consequence.
Now why would we have empathy for him?
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u/BlackIceMatters Apr 23 '25
You can not have empathy for him while not wanting him to get beaten to death or shot and killed - which there’d be a non-zero chance of happening with that kind of justice.
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u/cuteintern Apr 23 '25
Can only find a stitch, but watch the guy on the right: https://youtube.com/shorts/gruU3JhXYr0
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Apr 23 '25
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u/DoofusIdiot Apr 23 '25
Minding my business, one called me the new F word at a red light when I didn’t make the contact.
I thought to myself, I’m never going to give you money with that attitude
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u/hopgeek Apr 24 '25
He looks normal enough. And then you see the hospital bracelets on his wrist and wonder what is going on with him. Id worry that he punch the wrong person some point.
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Apr 24 '25
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Apr 24 '25
People are downvoting this like the guy doesn't walk around punching women in the face and robbing people.
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u/Impressive_Change958 Apr 24 '25 edited Apr 24 '25
It's absolutely insane. Some of us have very thin necks and might die or end up paralyzed if we got punched. How has he gotten away with assaulting probably dozens of people over the course of a year or more without being put in prison? Something URGENTLY NEEDS to be done about this and anyone defending him or downvoting these posts has a severe mental illness. They know who he is, he's easy to find, so LOCK HIM THE FUCK UP!!!!!
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u/AWOLian 19th Ward Apr 23 '25
All this time I thought you all were scared of some big, wild, dude. I’ve seen him many times around Javas. Spoke a couple times. Told him I don’t have money for him. He can’t weigh more than like 130lbs. Yell at him loud enough and he’ll prob blow away. I’m sure there is a strong/healthy person here who could hit him back or scream him down. JFC.
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u/Impressive_Change958 Apr 24 '25
This is a very short-sighted thing to say. Many Rochester residents are smaller and weaker than he is, so just because you aren't doesn't mean that other people don't have a reason to be concerned.
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Apr 23 '25
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Apr 23 '25
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u/RelsircTheGrey Apr 23 '25
What? He owes a fair fistfight to an aggressive hobo? Screw that. Setting side that the dude might have a knife and you don't know til you know.
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u/Illustrious_Use_7284 Apr 24 '25
Bro better not run into me when I’m out on my walk, I got my knucks
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Apr 24 '25
Why hasn’t he been eliminated from the gene pool?
He’s known to assault people and is a danger to the public. Lock him away, honestly what does it take to get scum like this off our streets?
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Apr 24 '25
Ahh the Rochester sub, where if you’re not b a bleeding heart liberal you get downvoted to oblivion.
If my words are too harsh, why not adopt this cretinous slug and let him look after your newborn child while you’re at work.
He’s worth saving!
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u/kompletist Apr 24 '25
You just replied to yourself over a downvote? I didn’t do it btw but for real, I hope you’re ok.
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u/Yohoho-ABottleOfRum Apr 24 '25
I wish that dude would come up to me and try to punch me. I would be theast face that dude ever saw.
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u/Impressive_Change958 Apr 24 '25
I am planning to put up a petition on change.org to implore the city government to take some much-needed action regarding this person. It is completely absurd and inexcusable that he is not in prison and we need to make the city of Rochester do their job and keep its population safe.
Can anyone provide some more information about this? How long has be been punching people for? How many people has he assaulted? Has anyone been seriously injured by him? Has he been arrested or charged with any crime yet? Where does he tend to hang out and when? I'd like to include all of this info in the petition.
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u/schoh99 Apr 24 '25
Do petitions from change.org ever initiate any sort of actual change, or is it just another place for some feel-good virtue signaling?
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Apr 23 '25
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u/RollinThundaga Apr 23 '25
This post isn't normalization of the general ocurrence, it's identification of the specific individual for the safety of OP and others.
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u/kevan Apr 23 '25
random homeless people
This isn't a random homeless person. This is a guy who randomly punches people who don't give him money.
vast majority of the homeless population is harmless and just trying to survive, and shouldn't be demonized
That's why he's the only one in the photo.
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u/Jascraft22 Apr 23 '25
OP didn't know that for sure, hence the question in the post title.
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u/NathanielRochester Apr 23 '25
The moderators would have summarily deleted this post if the photo depicted someone other than the serial assaulter.
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u/montibbalt Apr 23 '25
Everyone wants money, what makes you think they're homeless?
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Apr 23 '25
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u/montibbalt Apr 23 '25
Again, what in this picture makes you think they're down bad? Anyone can ask you for money on the street regardless of where they live. If you put your thumb on the title and showed me this picture I'd say it just looks like some guy in public, not "wow you really took a photo of a homeless guy for the internet"
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u/DustinnDodgee Apr 23 '25
Two things I took from your comments on this post, and please, correct me if I'm wrong: 1) you've never lived in the city, or any "rough" city. 2) you're privileged enough to be able to just give out money to any person begging on the street.
Actually, a 3rd thing I took for your comments: 3) you're under 18 and don't know how the real world works. Which is okay, I didn't either at 16.
Edit- corrected spelling.
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u/a_cute_epic_axis Expatriate Apr 23 '25
Honestly I don't really care - if they're down bad enough to be begging on the street I have empathy for them
Yah, you would, until you actually went downtown and then got punched in the face and lost a few teeth.
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u/DustinnDodgee Apr 23 '25
Lol right, this is clearly somebody who's never lived in the city whether it's Rochester or elsewhere.
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u/Conscious-Law7071 Apr 23 '25
Yes