footsniffa
04-09-2003, 7:30 AM
this is horribLe.. i shouLdn't find any amusement in this.. but i can't heLp chuckLe at the description of the victim.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Retarded man was placed in violent neighborhood
April 9, 2003
Associated Press
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Ricky Whistnant thought he was a crime fighter. The burly, 39-year-old mentally retarded man dressed like Batman and shouted at drug dealers from the sidewalk outside his cinderblock and brick apartment building.
He was beaten to death Saturday, police said, by three teens who pelted him with soda bottles and kicked him even after he had tumbled to the ground.
Neighbors said they wondered for months why social workers would have placed a mentally retarded man alone in the city's most crime-ridden neighborhood.
"I don't know why he was here," said Hugo Nunez, who lives across the hall and said he befriended Whistnant. "This could have been avoided."
Whistnant found plenty of people to yell at in the Barry Square neighborhood, where residents say drug dealers take over at sundown.
"He'd stand right out front and scream, `You're gonna stop all this drug dealing!"' Nunez said. "He was wise enough to know what was going on."
But not smart enough to avoid confronting the dealers, his friends and family said.
"This was probably all too much for him," said Sam Nieves, who used to find the 300-pound man slumped in the hallway, sobbing because he had been picked on by passers-by.
"He might have been 39 years old, but his mind was like a 10-year-old, said Nieves, who lives down the hall and used to cut Whistnant's hair.
The Elliott Street apartment building sits in the middle of a neighborhood that led the city in 2002 in overall crime, auto theft, property crime and burglary. It was No. 2 for rape.
Connecticut Department of Mental Retardation officials have asked Northampton, Mass.-based Community Enterprises, the social services agency which placed Whistnant in the building, whether he should have been there.
"When he was moved here, we got information about this neighborhood and my mother called Community Enterprises and expressed that she did not want him here," Whistnant's sister April said. "He could've been placed in a safer neighborhood, in a more protected environment."
Karen Lachapelle, chairwoman of the Community Enterprise board of directors, said she hopes her organization can straighten out the controversy, but said specifics about the matter will come later.
"We do need to get this thing straightened out," said She said she learned of the death Tuesday and said the group will release more information soon.
James D. McGaughey, director of the state Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities, said he's considering opening an investigation into whether Whistnant was improperly placed or did not get the support he needed.
Property manager Michael Grant said social workers visited the building with Whistnant and were present when he signed the lease. He said it wasn't up to him to determine whether Whistnant would be a good fit.
"I'm not a social worker," he said. "I'm a property manager."
Family members said they also want to know why Whistnant was placed there. But they said they won't begin pressing for answers until after the funeral, which has not yet been scheduled.
City records show a litany of building code violations at the Elliott Street property, including one from December for water damage and cracks to the walls and ceilings that officials said has not been corrected.
In 1999 and 2000, building officials repeatedly identified the building as a source of rodent infestation. Polaroid pictures show mounds of garbage piled high against a rusted chain link fence.
In 1998, property owner Max Javit wrote the mayor, begging for help.
"The drug problem has reached such proportions on the street during the day and evening that we are losing tenants and having difficulty recruiting new ones," he said.
Most of the apartments in the buildings rented in 2001 for between $400 and $500 dollars, according to city records.
About 10 percent of the 92 units at 22 Elliott Street are paid for with various rent subsidies, Grant said, but Whistnant was the only tenant placed there by DMR.
State Sen. Catherine Cook of Mystic, an advocate on behalf of the mentally retarded, said Community Enterprises' decision would be reviewed, but she said the organization has a solid track record.
"It was not the Department of Mental Retardation who killed this man," she said. "It was three punks."
The teens were charged with assault on a mentally retarded person but may face more serious charges once an autopsy is complete.
Neighbors said they've seen teens running wild, and said Whistnant would have been a target even if he had not confronted drug dealers.
"The young kids have just taken over. They just set up shop here," Nunez said. "I feel that in my heart, whoever his people are, they should not have let him come in here. He had no business being placed here."
http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/statewire/hc-09014351.apds.m0889.bc-ct--retaapr09.story
----------------------------------------------------------------
Retarded man was placed in violent neighborhood
April 9, 2003
Associated Press
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Ricky Whistnant thought he was a crime fighter. The burly, 39-year-old mentally retarded man dressed like Batman and shouted at drug dealers from the sidewalk outside his cinderblock and brick apartment building.
He was beaten to death Saturday, police said, by three teens who pelted him with soda bottles and kicked him even after he had tumbled to the ground.
Neighbors said they wondered for months why social workers would have placed a mentally retarded man alone in the city's most crime-ridden neighborhood.
"I don't know why he was here," said Hugo Nunez, who lives across the hall and said he befriended Whistnant. "This could have been avoided."
Whistnant found plenty of people to yell at in the Barry Square neighborhood, where residents say drug dealers take over at sundown.
"He'd stand right out front and scream, `You're gonna stop all this drug dealing!"' Nunez said. "He was wise enough to know what was going on."
But not smart enough to avoid confronting the dealers, his friends and family said.
"This was probably all too much for him," said Sam Nieves, who used to find the 300-pound man slumped in the hallway, sobbing because he had been picked on by passers-by.
"He might have been 39 years old, but his mind was like a 10-year-old, said Nieves, who lives down the hall and used to cut Whistnant's hair.
The Elliott Street apartment building sits in the middle of a neighborhood that led the city in 2002 in overall crime, auto theft, property crime and burglary. It was No. 2 for rape.
Connecticut Department of Mental Retardation officials have asked Northampton, Mass.-based Community Enterprises, the social services agency which placed Whistnant in the building, whether he should have been there.
"When he was moved here, we got information about this neighborhood and my mother called Community Enterprises and expressed that she did not want him here," Whistnant's sister April said. "He could've been placed in a safer neighborhood, in a more protected environment."
Karen Lachapelle, chairwoman of the Community Enterprise board of directors, said she hopes her organization can straighten out the controversy, but said specifics about the matter will come later.
"We do need to get this thing straightened out," said She said she learned of the death Tuesday and said the group will release more information soon.
James D. McGaughey, director of the state Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities, said he's considering opening an investigation into whether Whistnant was improperly placed or did not get the support he needed.
Property manager Michael Grant said social workers visited the building with Whistnant and were present when he signed the lease. He said it wasn't up to him to determine whether Whistnant would be a good fit.
"I'm not a social worker," he said. "I'm a property manager."
Family members said they also want to know why Whistnant was placed there. But they said they won't begin pressing for answers until after the funeral, which has not yet been scheduled.
City records show a litany of building code violations at the Elliott Street property, including one from December for water damage and cracks to the walls and ceilings that officials said has not been corrected.
In 1999 and 2000, building officials repeatedly identified the building as a source of rodent infestation. Polaroid pictures show mounds of garbage piled high against a rusted chain link fence.
In 1998, property owner Max Javit wrote the mayor, begging for help.
"The drug problem has reached such proportions on the street during the day and evening that we are losing tenants and having difficulty recruiting new ones," he said.
Most of the apartments in the buildings rented in 2001 for between $400 and $500 dollars, according to city records.
About 10 percent of the 92 units at 22 Elliott Street are paid for with various rent subsidies, Grant said, but Whistnant was the only tenant placed there by DMR.
State Sen. Catherine Cook of Mystic, an advocate on behalf of the mentally retarded, said Community Enterprises' decision would be reviewed, but she said the organization has a solid track record.
"It was not the Department of Mental Retardation who killed this man," she said. "It was three punks."
The teens were charged with assault on a mentally retarded person but may face more serious charges once an autopsy is complete.
Neighbors said they've seen teens running wild, and said Whistnant would have been a target even if he had not confronted drug dealers.
"The young kids have just taken over. They just set up shop here," Nunez said. "I feel that in my heart, whoever his people are, they should not have let him come in here. He had no business being placed here."
http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/statewire/hc-09014351.apds.m0889.bc-ct--retaapr09.story