VIOLENCE ON OUR MAIN STREET: Young man found down on sidewalk...

HYANNIS – At about 1:15AM, Squad cars in the downtown area rushed to back up Lieutenant John Murphy of the Barnstable Police Street Crimes Unit (SCU) when he reported a fight on Main Street in front of Colombo’s Cafe.

A young man was down on the sidewalk bleeding after some type of violent blow to the head. It appeared he may have initially lost consciousness, but that has not been officially confirmed.

Witnesses at the scene were very vocal and one of the bystanders was taken into custody for Disorderly Conduct.

Hyannis Rescue responded and the victim was transported to CCH.

At this point, it remains uncertain who actually hit the young man. The incident remains under investigation.

HN NOTE: As the summer season continues to unfold, police are tied up more and more with large bar crowds. The SCU and patrol forces are visible in the downtown area, but their resources are stretched thin to say the least. Barnstable needs to take immediate action to bolster our police with this new set of challenges brought on by the summer months. What happens now is that the police focus their energies on the Main Street area, particularly around last call, 1:00AM. This normally (by stroke of luck) works out to some degree, but throw in another major incident (which wouldn’t be unusual) during that time frame and the town is left vulnerable. Which means other areas of town are left under-patrolled (Yes, even your neighbor… and especially your neighborhood…) . In short, we need more SCUs and we need more visible patrols in all areas during that time frame. (HN would also like to see Hyannis remain open 24/7, but that perhaps is a cause for another day. In the meantime, we need to bolster what our police force is doing right now…) We need law and order. Right now, we have a vocal minority of thugs who believe they run this town… and up to this point, I would tend to agree with them. Why? Because we, the citizens of the Town of Barnstable allow them to run the streets and get away with it. The violence and illegal activity in the Main Street area needs to stop. We also need real leadership in town hall that will aggressively address this, and we need it now. The sidewalks and public spaces in Barnstable should belong to the citizens, not the punks and thugs.

The following video highlights tonight’s scene and aforementioned sentiment… press play and pay close attention… WARNING: The video contains strong language and the results of street violence. It may be disturbing for some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised…

[Press play… Select HD from the settings and enlarge player for best quality…]