This type of crime bothers me far more than it should. Known (at least to the cognoscente) as the “Broken Bottle Scam,” some S.O.B. bumps into somebody (usually a tourist), drops a bottle of booze, and confrontationally demands $40 for a replacement.
That’s old-school New York and it’s wrong. Crap like that preys on the weak, makes people afraid of the city, and is just a bastard way to hustle for a living. Parson said he pulled the scam up to 10 times a day. Many people just give up the dough rather than get into a confrontation with a threatening man.
The story in the Post, the Daily News, and CBS.
Well Mr. Parson picked the wrong mark: a tourist (with his elderly father) who just happened to be a Swedish Navy Lt. Commander and flew back for the trial.
But poor poor Mr. Parson, I can hear liberals complain, he wasn’t hurting anybody…
…Unless you don’t pay. When Palm didn’t pay up, Parson followed him and his father into their hotel lobby and threatened them with a box cutter. .
He was found guilty and got 20 years. Twenty years?! Really? I don’t have sympathy for Mr. Parson. But 20 years?! When does sentence length become absurd? And why do I, as a New York State taxpayer, have to pay part of what will be close to a million dollars to “protect” us from him? Come on, we’re all smart people. Are you telling me there isn’t a better and cheaper way to deal with bastards like him? Can’t we just cut the guy a check for 10 grand on condition he never comes back? People, put on your thinking caps!
They should just deport violent predicate felons who are sentenced to more than 5 years in prison. Create a penal colony somewhere and outsource the workers.
20 years is just fine with me. Think of all the people he pulled that scam on and traumatized with his bullshit. I hope he rots.
I hope he rots, too. I just don't want to pay so much for his incarceration! He's not worth it.