Saturday, December 22, 2007

senseless, yet again

The pilot killed after a brawl outside Embassy bar at the Fort the other day was the brother of my high school classmate and friend. He was not even the target of the incident--and even if he was, what was so imperative, what was their grave concern that the suspects thought it fit to maul Mr. Castellano and his friend, seven to two? What is the cost of a human life? A trivial slight, a minor bump?

It's the Christmas season--it was supposed to be a night of "happy-happy" but instead, these people chose to ruin the holidays not just for the victims' families, but their own; and they have scarred the Castellano family, traumatizing the holidays for them for many a year to come, just like any monstrous cold-blooded killer's act would hound a victim's family. I only hope that Carlo's killers will be brought to justice--as it is, they are currently declaring their innocence... and their lawyer's main argument is that, hey, they were all drunk. Eh?!

The guilty should not go scot-free. Times like these, I wish we had crime scene units and procedures similar to the US. I hope that the police were able to swab the suspects' hands and clothes for evidence, and that the case will remain a high-profile one so that the criminals cannot just slink out of the picture and go unpunished.

Meanwhile, Embassy Bar seems to be a hotbed of high-profile hot-headed activity. The last time it was significantly in the news was when a male model/presidential grandson beat up another guy. I was just a tad perturbed by the bar management's statements saying that they sought justice and sympathized with the family of the victim, but anyway the incident did not happen in the immediate vicinity of their bar, but in the common parking lot... and so on. The fact of the matter remains that both victims and suspects came from their bar, and the originating incident occurred inside. And I'm sure they cannot dispute the fact that in that area, Embassy Bar is the nightspot of choice, the flagship of the Fort Strip. I'm just wondering how much a little added security, a roving guard or plainclothesman (if possible with tazer)--how much would this dent their nightly earnings? Should bars that serve alcohol have a greater responsibility to keep their patrons safe?

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