Mel took the words right out of my mouth. Does Audrey resemble the gal in photo? I can’t find her post, but who would speak poorly of a dead man who just tried to do the right thing? I’m sure it was the mans instinct that made him react. People with values/morals have that type of instinct and reflex reactions and this man should be commended. I wonder about Audrey; would she have held the door for them?

Mr. Kreutz is a hero to me!

Since the crime occurred (it looks like) after school would have let out, I wonder if anyone is checking out the nearest high school(s) for the perps?

I hope we get these dirt bags and that they don’t have family members feeling sorry for them and helping them out.

It would be nice if all vehicles had an “universal” lincense plate as a permanent part of the front and back of the vehicles.This will help apperhand the ones who is involved with stolen vehicles and criminal actvities.Also,if the police pull over vehicles that have bogus/unautorised dealers plates,Illinois temp tags and plates etc. this would cut down on crime.I guess the police officers time is better spent at QT’s or 7-11 gulping on coffee and eating donuts.

Starbucks needs to get rid of tip jars. They’re greedy and encourage this kind of crime to happen. Now, some kind person has lost his life over it!

The sad reality is, the cops can do nothing in crimes like this unless they happen to stumble into one while it is happening. The only way to get “justice” from crimes like swiping a tip jar, breaking into your car/home, assault in a bar/club/store, theft of a bike/purse or anything that doesn’t involve a large amount of cash or the death or serious injury of someone is to handle it yourself.
This is scary because most people are not equipped for these types of confrontations and most think “this is something the police can handle”. The police are powerless to help you, they can only do a “follow-up” and maybe, just maybe, they will find the perp if they pick him/her up for something else and find out they match other crimes (but I guess that doesn’t work if they committed a crime out-of-town it seems). Unless there is a cop standing next to you when you are mugged, you are on your own. I wonder if many people don’t even report these minor crimes because they know nothing will happen.
I’m not dissing the cops, they do a great job handing out speeding tickets on long stretches of deserted highway and always show up for their court dates. The cops are usually short-handed and have to concentrate on larger crimes than this, leaving the population largely to fend for itself. the deterrent to crime that cops provide is that they will “investigate” and if they can find some way to link a crime to you, then you’re in for some inconvienance.
So, long story short, buy a gun, or learn to run real fast.

The real question would be what would the police have done if the person who was killed was slightly injured and the thieves got away? Absolutely nothing!

And then we wonder why the level of crime keeps increasing. Laws are not enforced. Jails are not really needed. All criminals should just be caned (like in Singapore, the country with the lowest crime rate in the world), and then criminals should be released and told that the next time a similar crime occurs, the damage will be doubled. No need to have the taxpayer pay for these criminals food, water, clothing, and shelter, including free cable TV.

Crime does pay! Did you hear what I said? Look at what our Government leaders are doing and getting away with!!! And then we wonder why others are doing crime as well. It’s just that I wasn’t brought up that way, which is why I wouldn’t do the crimes.

Look, it’s sad when somebody dies, but my argument is that 1. Tipping for counter service is stupid, and 2. chasing a guy stealing tips and getting run over doesn’t make you a good samaritan. Now, the nurse that helped this guy is the good samaritan, but somehow there’s no story about her, or all of the brothers who get shot down in their prime every night.

If the crime just happened in front of me, I would probably chase after them, but think that i would have stopped at the car and got the license and vehicle description instead of grabbing onto the car.

We don’t know the full circumstances and don’t know if Mr.Kreutz perhaps thought the teen was stealing the cash register or what, and this prompted him into action. Also, since it was a ‘tip’ jar with probably no more than $10.00 in it, perhaps the teens were thinking that it would be a ‘joke’ to take this, and weren’t thinking of the consequences. If the girl walked in and paid $5.00 or whatever for a cup of coffee, I don’t know what the male was thinking in taking the nominal amount in the tip jar.

Sorry to hear Mr.Kreutz passed away. I feel sorry for all involved. A man dies, and two teens will have to live with this guilt, plus jail time once they are caught. For less than $10.00, those teens threw their lives away.

I shoveled my neighbor’s driveway yesterday. that is about as heroic as I get nowadays. Everyone in this country seems so… “every man/woman/child for themselves” and then you throw this conceal and carry BS into the mix. you never know when someone might have a gun??? This is about community and the loss of community… I have one experience with the “conceal and carry” involving my former roommate… who purchased his first firearm almost immediately after the conceal and carry law was passed… you can read the blog of my former downstairs neighbors to see how that turned out.
right here…
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=52831097&blogID=107946845
I thought that this Conceal and Carry was supposed to make us safer. It seems like every week there is some new violent story. and that is just in Dogtown. At least when I am shoveling snow I can use the shovel as protection from the bullets.

God Bless some other country.

Petey, you’re just plain wrong. Tips are a way to show how happy you are with the service you received. The better the service the better the tip. So good servers make good money. Take that away and you take away the incentive to do well. It will be like getting served by a bunch of McD employees. Keep the TIPS. They make more that way. Or would you like to pay 20% more for your meals to cover what the server would have made?

Strict gun laws have done so well in DC and New York and lets not forget Jamaica! Gun crime has more than doubled for our friends accross the pond in the UK after the ban. Want more, I have a whole list. Simply put, gun bans doen’t work and either do restrictive gun laws. Use a little more logic and a little less knee jerk.