Tag Short Cut

Originally posted: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/10/11/new-york-city-superheroes-react-to-arrest-of-crime-fighter-phoenix-jones/
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – New York’s burgeoning amateur “superhero” community take notice: Don’t try breaking up a fight in Seattle.
The Big Apple is home to countless comic book superheros – and a few self-styled “real” ones.
The New York Initiative is a group of folks who wear costumes and say their goals are patrolling for criminals, public security, humanitarian outreach and more.
Their mission statement, found on their Facebook page, says “We are individuals organized towards achieving peacekeeping objectives and humanitarian missions. This will translate into a variety of non-monetary services as unfolding events demand. Our primary goal will always be to help those in the most need to the highest ethical standard and to the maximum effect.”
News of the arrest of one of their costumed colleagues in Seattle – a man who guys by the name Phoenix Jones – has their Facebook page humming.
The arrest came after a confrontation that was caught on video and is embedded below.
Phoenix Jones Stops Assault from Ryan McNamee on Vimeo.
Jones, whose real name is Benjamin Fodor, allegedly used pepper spray on four people. They say they were dancing in the streets; Jones says they were fighting and tried to break it up.
His actions have prompted a response within New York’s superhero community.
“I believe he acted inappropriately in this instance,” Chris Pollak, aka Dark Guardian, told CBSNewYork.  The Dark Guardian was featured in a documentary on real life superheroes, and he was seen rousting alleged drug dealers in Washington Square Park.
“He rushed into a situation and reacted with very poor judgement. He maced a group of people who were not attacking him. He was not acting in self defense and the police have rightfully charged him with assault,” Pollak said.
He added that he hopes Phoenix Jones’ actions don’t reflect on the superhero movement.
“This is an example of what not to do as a community crime-fighter. It should be a priority to deescalate situations and work hand in hand with the police to garner the smartest and safest outcome. I stand with the police and want everyone to know he is not a true reflection on what others like myself do in our communities to help,” Pollak said.
Reaction on the Intiative’s Facebook page was also intense.
“That’s what happens when you react the way he did,” self-styled hero Short Cut wrote. “Despite popular belief, you do not fight fire with fire. You are supposed to cool things down.”
“I’m pretty sure he just screwed it up for everyone,” wrote Jack Cero, another self-styled hero. “They now have precedent if his conviction goes through, and what’s more is that his charges will be double due to his body armor and mask.”
However, fan response on Jones’ Facebook page has been pretty massive, with scores of folks leaving messages of support.

Originally posted: http://gothamist.com/2011/05/12/real-life_superheroes_now_patrollin.php
By Ben Yakas

Between the NY Press cover story last year, the documentary Superheroes and the book, “Heroes in the Night: Inside the Real Life Superhero Movement,” the group of real-life superheroes known as the New York Initiative have been getting a lot of press lately. Though we have yet to see them in person ourselves, the BBC followed them around recently on one of their missions, and it sounded mighty…real: “Tonight, NYI members are patrolling the notorious South Bronx projects, looking for troublemakers and their victims.”
The group, which includes costumed members Zero, Short Cut, Samaritan Prime, Battlestar, Nitro and Deaths Head, arm themselves with weapons (including a long metal torch that can be used as a club), and they have “martial arts trainers and practitioners on the team.” They gave the BBC an idea of the kinds of cases they’ve handled: We find drunks fighting out, domestic abuse, a robbery, anything like that…I stopped a rape once. A couple of guys were taking a drunk girl home with them. They were talking about all the stuff they were going to do to her. I came up and I told them to get away from her,” said Deaths Head Moth.
The BBC seem kind of clueless about their origins—they say at one point, “Crime fighting Hollywood film Kick-Ass is based on them,” which is not true, seeing as how the movie is based on the comic series…but perhaps they meant that the real-life superheroes were inspired by the film. The Brooklyn-based group released a statement on intent on Craigslist late last year, in which they vowed to protect sex workers from the Long Island Serial Killer, but on their regularly-updated Facebook page, they say that they’ve also been patrolling the West Village for muggers.
The group has called their exploits like “a community block watch or safety patrol,” but police haven’t been as supportive of their antics: “Block watch? Naw, fuhgetabout that. You’ll get shot. The guys in this neighborhood, they’ll shoot you and no one will tell us who did it. There’s a strong ‘no snitching’ rule out here,” one officer told NY Press. At least none of them are dressed up like Batman:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKv3b9Oi4xA