I see a man tackled and then both held and beaten by a group of four men. I'm afraid. I watch, horrified as someone says that the man being held had just thrown a woman into a glass window--he was beating her. I see two or three men 'confront' the guy and then another who grabs him around the head/neck and throws him to the ground because he was running from the other men. What's disturbing to me is that the man who first caught him didn't know a thing about what had happened just moments before but I think he saw a native looking man running from some white guys and assumed the right to grab him and throw him roughly to the ground. I am standing on the corner and I ask an old italian man what happened; he tells me in broken english, and then goes over to pick up the umbrella the man had dropped. It's red--the sort that folds up into itself. He asks me if I want it. No, I say. He says, it's nice. I don't know what to do or say so I walk over to see what is happening with the man on the ground and the four men over him. I stand there and I see a man who is standing off to the side pick up his foot and kick the guy in the head. I can't believe it. Of course the man being held is struggling--it's inhuman to expect otherwise. I yell, hey don't kick him and all the sudden the men surrounding the guy start yelling at me to shut up and go away. there's a blonde woman on her cell phone dialing 911. Others come up and ask if they should call the police. the woman yells, i've got 911. I'm afraid that the conflict is turning into a mob about 20 people are milling around. my voice has broken the silence and other voices tell the men to stop beating the guy. we yell, hold him, just don't kick him. one of the men, the one who first grabbed the guy and who i've seen punch him in the face repeatedly, starts to come over my way, in the direction of the discontents, the yellers, the monitors. he's angry. he doesn't think we have the right to tell him what to do. another blonde woman, pretty, middle class, has been yelling at us that the violence the men are using is necessary. we've stated our position. holding yes, kicking no. she grabs the guy on his way over to beat us presummably. now, he's left the woman beater guy to come over to us. he's pumped on testosterone. he wants to beat more people I think. I'm scared but also annoyed at the woman for defending their excessive use of force. She comes over after the police arrive and tells us that she's sorry. she didn't see the guys kicking him in the head or kneeing him. she says that she doesn't feel sorry for the guy. she saw what he did to his girlfriend. i do feel sorry for him. i do feel like those men shouldn't be beating him. i tell her that two wrongs don't make a right. there's such a thing as excessive force. they don't have the right to beat him. she concedes, apologizes. I tell her they could kick him so hard he'd have cerebral fluid leaking out his ear. i'm glad the police are here. the two men who crossed the line the most leave the 'scene' quickly but walk back and forth a few times but don't talk to the police. the other two men do though. I don't though I want to. I think of my brother alot. I think of how he died. it was horrific. this is horrific. he's ok. he can't seem to sit up to talk to the police officer who asks him where his girlfriend is, where he lives, is he ok, does he have a car in the area, does he want to sit up, what's his address, where would she go. she's gone, nowhere to be seen. I hate this. I hate this so much. a riot could have broken out. i'm afraid and i feel so sad, desolate, without consolation. i want to be held, soothed, told that it's ok--but i know that it is not.