Man Stabbed on X2 Bus at 11th and H Street, NE Around 6pm Last Night

by Prince Of Petworth January 31, 2013 at 10:30 am 48 Comments

“The assault happened near the intersection of 11th and H streets just before 6 p.m, said Officer Hugh Carew, a D.C. police spokesman. Police found the wounded man conscious and breathing, and he was taken to a hospital in serious condition.”

anon

According to that map the driver was probably stabbed by irate passengers, because they were WAY off route!!
- dude
  
  Clearly, you don’t know what the X2 bus route is…
  - anony
    
    Ah, nuts, PoP already fixed it. Earlier map was for Adams Mill Rd.
    - Prince Of Petworth
      
      Sorry the map hasn’t changed.
      - anon
        
        Then you’ve got yourself a glitch PoP. The map was showing the location of the rental from the apartment post on Belmont when it first went up (not Adams Mill, my mistake). FYI.
      - Anonymous
        
        errr, it was probably your glitch, most likely the map somehow being cached in your browser from the other post
      - textdoc
        
        I’ve had this happen before on my browser. I assumed it was a glitch on the PoP website end of things; it usually seemed to get “fixed” within a short while.
Anonymous

this is really sad, if you can’t feel safe on a bus during rush hour….

Oh, I meant to post, dc crime rate has declined so much since the 80s, watch your surroundings, victim was probably drunk, white earbuds, etc
- Mike
  
  Geez… talk about blaming the victim! He was probably wearing a short skirt too.
  - Anonymous
    
    poor guy. Still, more men should wear short skirts!
    - anonymous
      
      Let’s not go crazy. People with big asses and fat thighs shouldn’t wear short skirts–regardless of gender!
- thomsenite
  
  Have you been on the X2? I never felt particularly safe. I’ll stick to my NW buses thankyouverymuch!
- msmaryedith
  
  Haha, thank you!!
  
  I would be tempted to post “this makes me feel unsafe in my neighborhood,” but I recently replied to another frustrating crime post saying “sometimes it’s so hard for me not to hate this town.” A bunch of a-hole anonymous commenters retorted with a medley of “because DC is the ONLY city where there’s crime, jesus” and “move to the suburbs/if you don’t like the city, leave” responses.
  
  So instead, I guess I’ll just say “whatever, don’t ride the X2 if you can’t brave a little opportunistic stabbing! or move to Vienna!”
  - thomsenite
    
    I think most people would just differentiate between not being street smart enough not to leave visible luggage in a car on a city street vs the fear of getting stabbed on a city bus. I don’t lumping it all under crime makes a lot of sense.
    - msmaryedith
      
      I am completely aware that it’s not the same thing. But often when I (or anyone else on here) bemoan crime in this town, there is someone (generally an “Anonymous”) quick to make some sort of “well, don’t be so stupid as to walk in X area at night” or “the victim shouldn’t have been doing X” or “clearly the victim somehow set themselves up for it” sort of reply.
      
      That guy COULD have had a suitcase visible in the car, but none of us knew that for sure (it could have been in the trunk).
      
      But I think that when I make a statement about how much I hate crime in DC or my neighborhood, I should not have a bunch of anonymous comments telling me to move away.
      - thomsenite
        
        But you just compared the two in your previous post. Which leads me to think that you don’t actually understand the difference between someone who doesn’t have basic city street smarts to concerns about a potentially knife wielding maniac.
      - Anonymous
        
        If you are not a criminal, I do not want you to move away.
        If you have the expectation of safety, you are the kind of person we need in DC
      - msmaryedith
        
        I was laughing at the response Anonymous wrote at 10:46 am–because often people would make some sort of “well the victim must have deserved it” response. And if I say “this makes me feel unsafe on my bus line,” there is someone on here likely to tell me to move away if I don’t like it.
      - StevenT
        
        I was the anonymous poster who suggested moving to the suburbs. A little mean, I’ll admit. I simply thought your comment about hating this city b/c someone’s car window got smashed was a little oversensitive (and to be clear, the incident in this post is completely different and much more concerning than what I was getting at Tuesday). Listen, I’m 25 years old and have been mugged once (in Baltimore (I think the police refer to it as robbery by fear, they did the ole hand in the hoodie pocket trick)) and have had my car stolen once in College Park (note: suburb, albeit a little unsavory at times) . While I too expect more from my police force, the fact of the matter is, city living can be a little rough around the edges sometimes.
  - Anonymous
    
    Thanks, I feel the same way about these commenters. I have lived in and around DC since 1974, and they all talk like I’m some rube from Mayberry.
  - Anonymous
    
    wow, still holding onto some defensiveness from the other post, huh? I think there’s a big difference between an “I hate this town” comment about something as pedestrian as a car break-in (and I say this as someone whose car has been broken into), and a comment lamenting crime after a bus stabbing.
    
    please understand, dc residents are sick of transplants coming in and bitching about how awful it is, doing nothing, and then leaving. so when you posted about hating dc because someone’s car got broken into, it pisses us off.
    - Anonymous
      
      I see your point, but at the same time: 1) not everyone who expresses an opinion that the level of crime in DC is something we (a broad “we,” as in us PoP readers, police, government, etc.) should just tolerate or brush off (or treat like it’s an inevitability of all urban living, everywhere or some sort of urban-cred badge of honor) is necessarily a transplant; and 2) why are “DC residents” sick of “transplants” complaining about crime, doing nothing, and then leaving…when the very response to concerns/complaints raised about crime is basically “quit complaining, crime happens [ie, no point in trying to do anything about it], and leave if you don’t like it.”
  - Anonymous
    
    It’s funny, msmaryedith, I feel as though I see two recurring comment-section themes on here (PoP overall, not this thread) constantly:
    
    1) Jaded dismissals of crime concerns, along the lines of “get over it, this is DC, that’s what living in a big city is about, move to the suburbs if you don’t like it” etc. etc.
    
    and….
    
    2) Aggrieved hand-wringing at the mere whiff of possibility that a new housing development might be comprised of–or located in close proximity to (ditto this for commercial development)–affordable housing, supportive housing, “Section 8 people,” people on Medicaid, and of course, everyone’s favorite bogeymen, “thugs.”
    
    Somehow, people love invoking the “this is DC, and if you dont’ like it, leave” sentiment when it relates to #1, but for #2…not so much. Huh.
anon

i dont have to take the X2 for a commute, but I walk along part of route that it takes and have seen numerous fights spill out into the street that started inside the bus. my heart goes out to those non-trashy people that have to ride that route daily.
Anonymous

Officer Hugh Carew sounds very Dr. Suess. Makes the story less horrifying
T

As a matter of fact, though, there’s a big difference between a guy randomly stabbing a bus passenger and two people who already know each other getting in a fight that happens to be on a bus. Hopefully the cops will soon clarify what it is that happened here.
- Anonymous
  
  Very true, 6 pm on a weeknight is still a little disheartening, especially on a city bus with at least a dozen witnesses
  - JenDC
    
    Would the X2 have picked up any of the hundreds (more? IDK) of passengers left stranded by the green line shutdown last night?
DMV Red

That line, even in the middle of the day, is a nightmare. I’ve ridden it several times, the last few were the most memorable.

3 times ago; Drunk and potentially homeless man gets on bus, tries to sit on my lap, I offer him my seat, he promptly pees himself, and puddles the seat beside him, as well. 2 pm on a Saturday.

2 times ago; Older woman clearly out of sorts, sitting across from me in the front of the bus, decides it’s the perfect time to lift up her dress and expose her genitals, and point at them, repeatedly, most vigorously. Again, afternoon on a Saturday.

Last, and hopefully final time; Bunch of dudes milling around the Florida Ave. CVS get on, prompted start cat calling women out the window, argue with the bus driver when asked to leave, start fighting with each other, and snatch a purse on the way off the bus, about two blocks later. Noon on a Sunday.

I’m not saying that’s the worse line ever, but three successive trips of craziness, and now this, I’m just not shocked, at all.
- Anonymous
  
  What a nightmare!
- Anonymous
  
  Where does the X2 cross Florida avenue?
  - Anonymous
    
    Maybe he’s thinking the x3, which goes down Florida at rush hour
  - gdopplerxt
    
    At the intersection of H street and Florida avenue. See the map above.
jim_ed

Sounds about right for the X2. I ride the 70 and 79 now, and the difference in rider behavior is like night and day.

Although I do miss watching people on the X2 pull out their cell phones to record fights while yelling “World Star Hip Hop!” That was always good for a laugh.
Nolo

That line is terrible. Please see my related post regarding the new Giant on H and 4th, something along the lines of “change can’t come soon enough.” It really can’t.
valentina

The X2 is a pretty scary bus line. I try to avoid it like the plague.
Anonymous

I ride the X2 everyday to and from work – I’ve never had any issues. Either I’m really lucky or maybe growing up taking DC buses has desensitized me a bit to the craziness.
- kaylee
  
  I ride it daily, as well, and have never had issues, either (beyond the occasional random crazy people). I’ve found the 90/92/93 to be worse in terms of fights and have also seen occasional random crazy people on a few other lines (42, S2).
  - WalbridgeGuy
    
    To each his own, I guess. I’ve ridden the 42 bus daily for nearly 7 years and aside from once watching an unhinged yuppy confront Donald Rumsfeld, I’ve never had a bad experience.
- Anonymous
  
  Yeah, same, though it is sad that this happening on this bus did not surprise me. I used to ride the X2 home every day and trouble really only ever stemmed from rowdy youths picking on each other and impatient teen moms yanking their children around. I wonder how the bus crowds will shake out once the streetcar is operating (if we ever get to that point!)
novatnik

I’m selling T-shirts “I survived the X@ bus”

Pretty sorry state of affairs that something like this is considered normal public transportation. Put a mercenary who’s between conflicts on each bus.
Anonymous

I ride the X2 on occasion and have never witnessed any sort of incident. Either I’m just lucky, or I’ve been sticking to the less stabby segment of the route.
wasonh

Let me guess – no witnesses?

I used to ride the X2 ALL the time. I guess I became inured to the craziness because it never seemed that bad.
- Rich
  
  Have ridden it at least as often as the most vocal complainers, always at night going to H Street. It seems to get different cohorts of riders entering/departing along the line. Sketchier crowd than the 42 or the 50s, but frankly, there’s a lot that comes with living in or visiting newly hip neighborhoods and expecting Mayberry suggests its time to go somewhere else.
  - manimal
    
    i think it’s quite acceptable to expect decency in your everyday life. the whole, oh you’re a decent person you should move somewhere else is such a weakass bullshit thing to say. that attitude makes the world a worse place.
X2 Veteran

http://youtu.be/qgsg8XZ76YM
- jsmiz
  
  Yeah, I take the X2 to work every day and video basically sums up my average experience
  If the X1 comes first I take that…it runs almost the same route but I feel everyone is just so polite and quiet.
- manimal
  
  charming. reminds me of the violent dude on inauguration night…. maybe somebody slipped something in her drink though…..
  it is so sad what bus drivers have to deal with.

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