Sareth “Tony” Kim was a founding member of the Providence Street Boys gang. He now works for the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence. (Photo: The Providence Journal / Kris Craig)Monday, May 5, 2008
By W. Zachary Malinowski
Journal Staff Writer
The Providence Journal (Rhode Island, USA)
PROVIDENCE — A streetworker for the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence was stabbed and attacked with a baseball bat early yesterday as he tried to break up a disturbance that may have been gang-related outside a downtown nightclub.
Sareth “Tony” Kim, 32, was taken to Rhode Island Hospital with head injuries and a stab wound to his shoulder. Three men who were with Kim — Sokha Chea, 27, Ray Min, 16, and Steven Ormerod, no age available — all suffered severe cuts and other injuries. Min, who is Kim’s nephew, was stabbed in the right arm and chest as he tried to protect his uncle, the police said.
Police Maj. Stephen Campbell said that police have four Fall River men in custody on disorderly-conduct charges. They also may face additional counts of felony assault for the attacks on Kim, Chea, Min and Ormerod, he said.
They are expected to be arraigned today in District Court.
Yesterday afternoon, Police Chief Dean Esserman stood with about a dozen streetworkers at a news conference outside the hospital building where Kim is recovering. He referred to the wounded streetworker as a “colleague” and “hero” who is committed to making the city’s streets safer.
The police are investigating the possibility that the attack may be related to a continuing feud between two gangs — the Providence Street Boys and the Original Bloods, of Fall River. Kim, a founding member of the Providence Street Boys, has said that he left the gang after he was convicted of killing a man and sent to prison more than 10 years ago.
Two months ago, Tony Kim was prominently featured in a Sunday Journal investigation into gang violence in Providence. Kim, who had fled war-torn Cambodia with his family in the 1970s, had a traumatic childhood and, by his early teens, had started running with gangs in the West End of Providence. In prison, he earned his graduate equivalency diploma — GED — underwent anger management and vowed to turn his life around.
A few years ago, Teny Gross, executive director of the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, hired Kim as a streetworker to resolve disputes between warring gangs. He felt that his ethnic background and experiences as a gang leader gave him instant credibility on the street.
As a streetworker, Kim has developed a reputation as an effective peacemaker who has repeatedly placed himself in harm’s way.
Gross said that he visited Kim in the hospital and believes that he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He said that it’s his understanding that Kim, who did not know his attackers, tried to defuse the violence — even though he was not working at the time.
“A streetworker is never off,” Gross said. “We are role models and we have to act a certain way and that’s what [Tony Kim] did. He was trying to talk to these guys.”
Gross said that Kim and his girlfriend, who have a baby and rarely go out, decided to meet several of the Providence Street Boys at Level 2, a nightclub at 101 Richmond St. At 1:55 a.m., the police said, they received a call reporting a disturbance in the club.
Two officers, who were on patrol in the area for the 2 a.m. closings of the clubs, responded to the call.
Once they arrived, they found Kim and the other three men beaten and stabbed in a parking lot near the intersection of Clifford and Dorrance streets. The police saw four men run from the disturbance and jump into a beige Nissan Maxima with Massachusetts plates. One of the men, police said, was toting an aluminum baseball bat. The police said that Kim and the other three victims were sliced with “razor-type knives.”
Several witnesses told the police that the four men in the car were the assailants, police said. They were charged with disorderly conduct and turned over to detectives. The police said that they all admitted that they had been in the nightclub, but they refused to provide the investigators with any additional information.
Gross, of the nonviolence institute, said the streetworkers have been shaken by yesterday’s stabbings, but they will continue to combat violence. He said that Kim is talking and he is on the way to recovery.
“We ended up fairly lucky,” he said. “It was a close call. We will continue to do the important work we do in the city.”
bmalinow@projo.com
Sareth “Tony” Kim, 32, was taken to Rhode Island Hospital with head injuries and a stab wound to his shoulder. Three men who were with Kim — Sokha Chea, 27, Ray Min, 16, and Steven Ormerod, no age available — all suffered severe cuts and other injuries. Min, who is Kim’s nephew, was stabbed in the right arm and chest as he tried to protect his uncle, the police said.
Police Maj. Stephen Campbell said that police have four Fall River men in custody on disorderly-conduct charges. They also may face additional counts of felony assault for the attacks on Kim, Chea, Min and Ormerod, he said.
They are expected to be arraigned today in District Court.
Yesterday afternoon, Police Chief Dean Esserman stood with about a dozen streetworkers at a news conference outside the hospital building where Kim is recovering. He referred to the wounded streetworker as a “colleague” and “hero” who is committed to making the city’s streets safer.
The police are investigating the possibility that the attack may be related to a continuing feud between two gangs — the Providence Street Boys and the Original Bloods, of Fall River. Kim, a founding member of the Providence Street Boys, has said that he left the gang after he was convicted of killing a man and sent to prison more than 10 years ago.
Two months ago, Tony Kim was prominently featured in a Sunday Journal investigation into gang violence in Providence. Kim, who had fled war-torn Cambodia with his family in the 1970s, had a traumatic childhood and, by his early teens, had started running with gangs in the West End of Providence. In prison, he earned his graduate equivalency diploma — GED — underwent anger management and vowed to turn his life around.
A few years ago, Teny Gross, executive director of the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, hired Kim as a streetworker to resolve disputes between warring gangs. He felt that his ethnic background and experiences as a gang leader gave him instant credibility on the street.
As a streetworker, Kim has developed a reputation as an effective peacemaker who has repeatedly placed himself in harm’s way.
Gross said that he visited Kim in the hospital and believes that he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He said that it’s his understanding that Kim, who did not know his attackers, tried to defuse the violence — even though he was not working at the time.
“A streetworker is never off,” Gross said. “We are role models and we have to act a certain way and that’s what [Tony Kim] did. He was trying to talk to these guys.”
Gross said that Kim and his girlfriend, who have a baby and rarely go out, decided to meet several of the Providence Street Boys at Level 2, a nightclub at 101 Richmond St. At 1:55 a.m., the police said, they received a call reporting a disturbance in the club.
Two officers, who were on patrol in the area for the 2 a.m. closings of the clubs, responded to the call.
Once they arrived, they found Kim and the other three men beaten and stabbed in a parking lot near the intersection of Clifford and Dorrance streets. The police saw four men run from the disturbance and jump into a beige Nissan Maxima with Massachusetts plates. One of the men, police said, was toting an aluminum baseball bat. The police said that Kim and the other three victims were sliced with “razor-type knives.”
Several witnesses told the police that the four men in the car were the assailants, police said. They were charged with disorderly conduct and turned over to detectives. The police said that they all admitted that they had been in the nightclub, but they refused to provide the investigators with any additional information.
Gross, of the nonviolence institute, said the streetworkers have been shaken by yesterday’s stabbings, but they will continue to combat violence. He said that Kim is talking and he is on the way to recovery.
“We ended up fairly lucky,” he said. “It was a close call. We will continue to do the important work we do in the city.”
bmalinow@projo.com
2 comments:
Oh shut the fuck up; we don't want such uncivilized society for Cambodia.
Vote CPP and everyone wins.
Vote SRP and everyone will be back to year-zero.
NO, you shut the fuckup mother fucker such an annoying.
vote for CPP my ass. dump head.
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