WEBVTT 1 00:00:34.439 --> 00:00:37.799 They have a gang with Sippy's young kids. With that, 2 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:51.000 I to seeing each other in the ninety nineties. The 3 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:55.159 line between fox Chase and Abington wasn't just a municipal boundary. 4 00:00:55.479 --> 00:00:58.759 It was a dividing line between two worlds. On one side, 5 00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:01.799 you had Fox Chase, a tight knit neighborhood in northeast 6 00:01:01.799 --> 00:01:06.000 Philadelphia with row homes, Catholic parishes, and corner bars where 7 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:09.840 everybody knew your uncle. On the other, Abington Township was 8 00:01:09.879 --> 00:01:13.760 a leafy stretch of Montgomery County suburbia with bigger houses, 9 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:17.000 cleaner streets, and schools that seemed to have more funding 10 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:20.079 and more rules. To kids growing up in fox Chase, 11 00:01:20.200 --> 00:01:23.239 Abington might as well have been a foreign country. The 12 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:25.680 joke about how you could smell the suburbs as second 13 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:29.599 you cross the city line at Cheltenham Avenue. But underneath 14 00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:32.120 the jokes was tension, the kind that could flare up 15 00:01:32.120 --> 00:01:34.319 at the back parking lot of the Willow Grove Mall, 16 00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:37.280 or after a Sunday night party when someone from the 17 00:01:37.319 --> 00:01:42.400 other side showed up uninvited. The rivalry wasn't just about territory. 18 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:47.159 It was about pride, class, and reputation. Foxchase kids grew 19 00:01:47.239 --> 00:01:50.120 up with a certain edge. Most came from working class 20 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:54.040 families where toughness was a virtue and loyalty wasn't optional. 21 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:57.280 Many had older brothers who fought the same fights, hung 22 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:00.319 out at the same pizza rays and playgrounds, and down 23 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:03.920 stories about brawls in the Holy Redeemer parking lot. A 24 00:02:03.959 --> 00:02:06.560 lot of fox Chase was considered more middle class, but 25 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:09.639 compared to Abington, even these parts were seen as rougher. 26 00:02:10.439 --> 00:02:14.080 Kids from Abington, especially those around Rosslyn and the High School, 27 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:17.360 were seen by fox Chase tains as soft, more privileged, 28 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:21.520 and more sheltered. But in Abington's eyes, the Foxchase crowd 29 00:02:21.960 --> 00:02:26.000 was wild, unpredictable, and always looking to prove something. It 30 00:02:26.039 --> 00:02:29.240 didn't take much to spark a fight. A sideways glance 31 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:31.919 at a bus stop, somebody flirting with the wrong girl 32 00:02:31.960 --> 00:02:35.319 at a party, a shove in a skill hallway, or 33 00:02:35.319 --> 00:02:39.280 a rumor passed down through friends of friends. Sometimes the 34 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:43.759 fights were planned somewhere impromptu, and then one winter night 35 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:47.960 in ninety ninety four, something snapped. That night, a group 36 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:51.919 of teenagers from Abington grammed into a car, gripping baseball 37 00:02:51.960 --> 00:02:55.719 bats with numb fingers and tight jaws. Their breath fogged 38 00:02:55.800 --> 00:03:00.159 up the windows as they drove into fox Chase. They 39 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:18.879 weren't looking to talk. They were looking for blood. Eddie 40 00:03:18.919 --> 00:03:21.800 Pollock was a sixteen year old senior a Cardinal Dockerty 41 00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:24.719 High School in fox Chase. By all coins, he was 42 00:03:24.759 --> 00:03:26.800 the kind of kid that every parent hoped their child 43 00:03:26.840 --> 00:03:29.919 would be friends with, the kind of teenager who still 44 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:32.599 said please and thank you, who showed up to Sunday 45 00:03:32.680 --> 00:03:36.319 Mass without complaint. He had come from a family steped 46 00:03:36.360 --> 00:03:39.840 in tradition. His father, John and older sister had both 47 00:03:39.879 --> 00:03:43.599 walked the same hallways at Dockerty. His younger brother, Billy, 48 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:46.280 who was fourteen years old, had only just started as 49 00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:49.479 freshman year there. It was the kind of family where 50 00:03:49.479 --> 00:03:51.759 dinner was at the same time every night, and where 51 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:55.639 sports weren't just played, they were earned. Eddie wasn't the 52 00:03:55.719 --> 00:03:58.800 kind of kid who coasted on natural talent. When he 53 00:03:58.840 --> 00:04:01.639 wanted to join the wrestling he didn't just show up. 54 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:05.479 He trained. He filled plastic grocery bags with canned goods, 55 00:04:05.800 --> 00:04:09.000 and then ran laps around the neighborhood a church. He 56 00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:11.159 was an older boy with a sharp wit and a 57 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:15.639 grin that made even the grumpiest parishioners laugh. During a 58 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:19.439 service project delivering fruit baskets to the elderly, Eddie dropped 59 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:22.160 a full container of strawberries into the church parking lot 60 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:25.439 without missing a bait. He scooped them back up, brushed 61 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:27.040 them off, and then turned to the priest with a 62 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:30.319 grin and said, a little motor oil. Never heard anybody 63 00:04:31.079 --> 00:04:34.519 that was just Edie. Earnest, funny, and unpolished in all 64 00:04:34.519 --> 00:04:37.720 the right ways. He had a softness to him as well, 65 00:04:37.879 --> 00:04:41.199 especially when it came to animals. It wasn't uncommon for 66 00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:43.160 him to come home cradling a bird with a broken 67 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:45.879 wing or leading a limping stray dog by the collar. 68 00:04:46.839 --> 00:04:48.319 He had a big heart that didn't know how to 69 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:51.959 turn away from something that was in pain. Weekends were sacred, 70 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:54.600 and not just for mass If you were looking for 71 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:57.279 Eddie on a Saturday afternoon, you would probably find him 72 00:04:57.279 --> 00:05:01.079 at Foxchase Wreck simply known as the Wreck. It was 73 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:04.079 the heartbeat of the neighborhood, where local boys shot hoops, 74 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:07.079 swapped stories, and tried to act a little older than 75 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:11.319 they were. Eddie wasn't the best basketball player. His friends 76 00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:13.600 loved to tease him about that, but he didn't care. 77 00:05:14.279 --> 00:05:16.680 He loved the game and just loved being there. At 78 00:05:16.680 --> 00:05:19.600 home games, he had a favorite spot, a large boxy 79 00:05:19.639 --> 00:05:22.920 seating section above the east basket called the Looney Bin. 80 00:05:23.959 --> 00:05:26.319 From here Eddie would shout down they guse friends on 81 00:05:26.360 --> 00:05:31.399 the court and hackle them withinside jokes. One friend, Sharon Donohue, 82 00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:34.199 put it simply, he was a nice guy, not like 83 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:37.600 the other boys. He was friends with everyone, and it 84 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:41.480 was true. Eddie wasn't flashy, he wasn't loud, He wasn't 85 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:43.759 the kind of teenager one would expect to end up 86 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:47.360 in headlines. He was just a good kid, the kind 87 00:05:47.399 --> 00:05:50.480 who made people feel like they belonged, the kind who 88 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:54.639 brought humor to Sunday mornings and tenderness to broken winged birds, 89 00:05:55.519 --> 00:05:57.879 The kind who should have had so much more time. 90 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:10.519 It was Friday night, the eleventh of November nineteen ninety 91 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:14.480 four in Fox Chase. That meant friend's fast food and curfews. 92 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:18.519 For Eddie Polock, it meant what it always meant, sticking 93 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:21.519 close to home, hanging out at the wreck, maybe grabbing 94 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:24.240 something to eat, and making it back home before eleven 95 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:27.560 thirty pm. He liked to end his nights the same way. 96 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:31.120 Every weekend, playing Poe with his dad in the basement, 97 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:34.879 eating pizza, just the two of them. That night, Eddie 98 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:36.800 was with his younger brother Billy, and a group of 99 00:06:36.839 --> 00:06:40.439 their friends. Their mother, Kathy, had offered to cook dinner, 100 00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:44.680 but the boys had other plans. McDonald's was calling. Kathy 101 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:46.920 handed each of them five dollars and dropped them off 102 00:06:46.920 --> 00:06:50.279 at a friend's house. From there, they made the familiar 103 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:53.199 walk to the Fox Chase Wrecks Center, just across the 104 00:06:53.240 --> 00:06:57.040 train tracks up Rockwell Avenue. It was just a typical 105 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:00.839 Friday night. After the wreck, they headed to work to McDonald's. 106 00:07:01.839 --> 00:07:07.160 But that night something fell off. The sound came first, tires, 107 00:07:07.160 --> 00:07:12.600 screeching engines, roaring headlights cutting across the parking lot like searchlights. 108 00:07:13.480 --> 00:07:16.800 Then came the people. Car slammed to a stop and 109 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:20.800 doors burst open. Dozens of teenagers poured out of the cars, 110 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:24.680 and then dozens turned into scores. There were maybe seventy 111 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:29.040 of them. They spilled into the parking lot in waves, yelling, pacing, 112 00:07:29.079 --> 00:07:33.360 and circling. The air crackled with something meaner and angrier. 113 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:37.600 They weren't there for fries or milkshakes. They were there 114 00:07:37.639 --> 00:07:44.079 for a fight. They were there for blood. The feud 115 00:07:44.079 --> 00:07:47.360 between fox Chase and Abington wasn't new. It had been 116 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:50.480 burning for decades, passed down from one class of teenagers 117 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:54.240 to the next like an ugly family heirloom. The border 118 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:57.639 between the two towns wasn't just asphalt and signage. It 119 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:03.040 was tribal, and sometimes that tribe turned toxic. Police Inspector 120 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:05.839 John Norris put it bluntly when he said, in the 121 00:08:05.879 --> 00:08:08.600 old days you would have seen fistfights. There was a 122 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:12.639 terf psychology the northwest. But that's all over the northeast. 123 00:08:13.720 --> 00:08:17.560 Except it wasn't over, not really. The tension had been 124 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:20.920 simmering and all it really needed was a spark. That 125 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:24.360 spark came a weak earlier. It started with a car 126 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:28.120 ride to Abington. Girls Diana and Jessica, were driving behind 127 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:31.519 a car of their male friends. The boys pulled into 128 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:34.360 the McDonald's parking lot across from the wreck, and the 129 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:38.200 girls followed. At first, it was just to stop for food. 130 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:40.840 A few minutes later, a couple of fox Chase boys 131 00:08:40.840 --> 00:08:44.440 walked through the lot, flanked by the two girls. One 132 00:08:44.440 --> 00:08:47.039 of them locked eyes with somebody from the Abington car. 133 00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:50.600 What are you looking at? He said? Nothing? Man, Why 134 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:54.000 don't you keep walking? Came the reply, But it didn't 135 00:08:54.120 --> 00:08:56.879 end there. Do you want to fight? Come on, we'll 136 00:08:56.919 --> 00:08:59.279 take it back to the wreck. I'll fuck you up, 137 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:03.559 then I'll spit on your girl. The tone shifted. The 138 00:09:03.559 --> 00:09:06.159 girls who had been with the Fox Chase boys peeled away, 139 00:09:07.320 --> 00:09:10.840 and Diana and Jessica suddenly found themselves alone and outnumbered. 140 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:14.960 The parking lot filled in fast. Dinnah said it was 141 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:18.360 like they appeared from nowhere. There were thirty kids, maybe more. 142 00:09:19.159 --> 00:09:21.879 She said. The boys we were with just took off. 143 00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:25.919 They left us there. It was chaos. Diana said that 144 00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:29.159 they were shoved, harassed, screamed that they were spit on. 145 00:09:29.879 --> 00:09:33.559 Somebody hurled soda into their car. The two girls made 146 00:09:33.559 --> 00:09:36.480 it back to their car and sped off. They went 147 00:09:36.519 --> 00:09:38.960 home to Abington and told their friends what had happened, 148 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:41.399 but by the time the story made its way through 149 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:46.639 the hallways of Abington Heights, it had changed. Rumors spread 150 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:51.000 that the girls had been raped. Nobody could say by who, when, 151 00:09:51.480 --> 00:09:53.679 or of it actually happened, but the rumor didn't need 152 00:09:53.720 --> 00:09:57.120 details for it to stick. By the next weekend, the 153 00:09:57.159 --> 00:10:01.080 boys at Abington were organizing. They start joking about renting 154 00:10:01.080 --> 00:10:04.200 a U haul to head into the city. They weren't 155 00:10:04.200 --> 00:10:08.360 going to wait for another chance encounter. So on Friday night, 156 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:11.919 November eleventh, the same night that Eddie Pollock was out 157 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:15.360 with his friends, three cars left the Willow Grove Park 158 00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:19.320 mall loaded with boys. They weren't just coming to talk, 159 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:23.360 they were armed with baseball bats. On the way, more 160 00:10:23.399 --> 00:10:28.480 cars joined in, one filled with girls, including Jessica and Diana. 161 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:32.399 The destination wasn't random. They were heading to the place 162 00:10:32.440 --> 00:10:46.279 where it all began, Fox Chase McDonald's. Eddie and a 163 00:10:46.279 --> 00:10:48.360 few of his friends and brother were still in the 164 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:52.759 McDonald's parking lot when the Abington teenagers arrived. They stormed 165 00:10:52.759 --> 00:10:55.759 out of their vehicles. There were dozens of them, most 166 00:10:55.799 --> 00:11:00.600 wielding baseball bats. Some had bottles, some more steal too boots, 167 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:07.080 some just had fists clenched tight. The screaming started, first slurs, threats, 168 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:11.960 demands to fight, and then came the smashing. Car windows shattered, 169 00:11:12.519 --> 00:11:17.039 tires screeched again as cars repositioned. A group of fox 170 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:20.840 Chase teenagers hanging out nearby, and before they could react, 171 00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:25.679 the violence erupted. A melli broke out, punches, flu bats, swung, 172 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:28.799 people ran. People who witnessed it said that it was 173 00:11:28.840 --> 00:11:35.200 like a rioth. 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They 203 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:26.080 weren't part of whatever grudge had boiled over. They were 204 00:13:26.120 --> 00:13:29.080 just there, caught in the middle. But the fight was 205 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:32.960 everywhere now. Fox Chase teens tried to escape on foot. 206 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:38.080 Abington teens gave chase by car, swerving up straights, hopping curbs, 207 00:13:38.120 --> 00:13:42.039 prowling for targets, Eddie and his younger brother Billy, and 208 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:44.759 their friend Sean decided to get out of there and 209 00:13:44.799 --> 00:13:47.759 walk home. They got through the parking lot of Saint 210 00:13:47.799 --> 00:13:53.159 Cecelia's Church. It was a familiar place, quiet and usually safe, 211 00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:57.320 but not tonight. As they crossed the lot, five cars 212 00:13:57.320 --> 00:14:01.120 pulled in behind them. In formation slung open, and teenage 213 00:14:01.159 --> 00:14:05.279 boys poured out, brandishing baseball bats. They turned on Eddie 214 00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:08.519 and his friends. They took off on foot, but Eddie 215 00:14:08.519 --> 00:14:12.679 was at the back. One bat swung hard towards his head. 216 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:16.559 He arched his back and narrowly dodged it, but then 217 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:20.240 Eddie's foot caught on something and he tripped over. He 218 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:23.559 hit the ground hard. Within seconds, they were on him. 219 00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:27.320 Eddie was punched and kicked from every angle. He tried 220 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:30.559 to shield himself, curling in to himself, but it didn't matter. 221 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:34.320 They struck him with bats again and again. Some of 222 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:38.039 them wore steel toad boots and used them. Sharon Donahue 223 00:14:38.120 --> 00:14:41.200 saw it all happen. She knew Edie. They'd worked near 224 00:14:41.240 --> 00:14:45.200 each other at the Huntington Valley shopping center. Eddie cooked 225 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:48.279 at Boston Chicken with her uncle. Sharen worked part time 226 00:14:48.279 --> 00:14:51.480 at Woolworth's. She and her friend Terry had been hanging 227 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:54.759 out when they heard the yelling, then the screaming. Then 228 00:14:54.759 --> 00:14:59.320 they saw the crowd. Sharon started shouting, pleading, begging them 229 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:02.720 to stop. She watched on in horror as Eddie was 230 00:15:02.759 --> 00:15:05.159 lifted by his arms and legs and swung back and 231 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:08.120 forth like a rag doll. He was then held up 232 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:10.720 in place as bats connected with his head and torso 233 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:13.840 they dropped him to the ground, but they kept going. 234 00:15:14.840 --> 00:15:17.879 The sound was horrific. The crack of the bat on 235 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:23.200 Eddie's bones then came the silence. The attackers fled, rushing 236 00:15:23.240 --> 00:15:25.559 back to their cars and speeding off into the night. 237 00:15:26.600 --> 00:15:29.840 Sharon ran to Eddie's side. She dropped her knees and 238 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:33.399 cradled his head in her lap. His face was covered 239 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:36.240 in blood. One eye was shut and the other was 240 00:15:36.360 --> 00:15:41.039 rolling uncontrollably. He wasn't speaking, he wasn't moving, but he 241 00:15:41.080 --> 00:15:45.799 was still breathing. Sharon recalled, he was breathing kind of weird, 242 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:47.440 but I thought he was going to be all right. 243 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:50.120 That's what I kept telling him, It's going to be 244 00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:54.080 all right. She screamed for help, for someone, anyone to 245 00:15:54.120 --> 00:15:57.200 call nine one one She then ran to a payphone 246 00:15:57.240 --> 00:16:01.000 and called police herself. Others had already called as well, 247 00:16:01.799 --> 00:16:06.360 they're pack kase, they're really noisy inside the MacDonald's. In 248 00:16:06.440 --> 00:16:09.759 the party, residents had come out of their homes to 249 00:16:09.799 --> 00:16:12.559 see what the noise was. Some of them were already 250 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:16.759 on the phone with emergency services. People in McDonald's had 251 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:20.000 already called as well. I have a busy and I 252 00:16:20.039 --> 00:16:23.639 deserved one of my customers windows, but nobody came. Five 253 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:28.159 minutes past ten fifteen, still nothing. It would be forty 254 00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:32.759 minutes before help arrived. By then, Eddie's breaths were thin. 255 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:37.720 He was fading fast. Parmedics loaded him into an ambulance, 256 00:16:38.200 --> 00:16:42.080 and their sirens broke the night. They sped towards Albert 257 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:46.720 Einstein Medical Center, but by then it was already too late. 258 00:16:47.799 --> 00:16:51.519 Eddie died the next morning. He was just sixteen years old. 259 00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:56.240 At the Medical Examiner's office, doctor ain Hood conducted the autopsy. 260 00:16:56.960 --> 00:16:59.759 What he found was horrifying. Eddie had been struck in 261 00:16:59.799 --> 00:17:02.159 the head at least eight times with a baseball bat. 262 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:05.640 His skull had been crushed so badly that doctor had 263 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:09.119 compared it to a dropped eggshell. There were half inch 264 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:12.720 gaps in the cranium. Defensive wounds showed that Eddie had 265 00:17:12.759 --> 00:17:17.400 tried desperately to protect himself. The first blow had likely 266 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:34.519 stunned him. After that, he never stood a chance. Within 267 00:17:34.599 --> 00:17:37.359 ours of Eddie Pollock's death, grief spilled into the streets 268 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:41.680 of fox Chase outside Saint Cecelia's Church, and makeshift memorial 269 00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:47.319 began to grow. People left on floors, photographs, candles, handwritten letters. 270 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:51.640 The pavement was still stained with Eddie's blood. Somebody had 271 00:17:51.640 --> 00:17:54.440 placed a small sign directly over the dried red streaks, 272 00:17:54.440 --> 00:17:59.480 which read I believe in peace Long Crest. Even students 273 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:03.119 from having Toton High School brought a bouquet. The boundaries 274 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:06.079 that once divided the two neighborhoods, fox Chase and Abington 275 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:10.960 suddenly seemed relevant. For decades, kids on both sides had 276 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:15.279 traded punches, insults, and territorial pride, but nothing like this, 277 00:18:16.119 --> 00:18:19.920 nothing that ended in a body on the church steps. Now, 278 00:18:19.960 --> 00:18:22.759 the talk of rivalry was everywhere, but to those who 279 00:18:22.839 --> 00:18:26.559 knew Edree, it didn't fit. He wasn't one of those kids. 280 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:30.720 His friend Sean said it best, It just hurts too 281 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:34.000 much and was never going to make sense. Eddie was 282 00:18:34.039 --> 00:18:36.640 the most innocent guy you had ever meet. It shouldn't 283 00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:38.920 have been him. The people who did it to him, 284 00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:43.319 they were cowards. In the days that followed, Eddie's friends, 285 00:18:43.400 --> 00:18:45.200 especially the ones who had been with him that night, 286 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:49.039 were left traumatized. They had to undergo counseling and some 287 00:18:49.079 --> 00:18:51.960 of them struggled to sleep. And then there was the 288 00:18:52.039 --> 00:18:57.400 threat of revenge. Whispers ran through Fox Chase. Detectives knew 289 00:18:57.400 --> 00:18:59.680 the risk. They quickly put a plan in place to 290 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:04.920 prevent any retaliatory violence or vandalism. Extra patrols were stationed 291 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:08.359 on street corners. Clergy and social workers were called in 292 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:12.960 to talk with families. Time watch groups mobilized. Every effort 293 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:16.039 was made to keep the streets clam Even Pizza Hut 294 00:19:16.119 --> 00:19:19.240 joined in their marquee, which was visible from the avenue, 295 00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:23.519 read in bold block letters, please stop the violence. At 296 00:19:23.559 --> 00:19:26.839 midnight curfew was even implemented, and police made it clear 297 00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:31.240 the fighting had to end. Inspector John Norris stood before 298 00:19:31.279 --> 00:19:33.759 the press and addressed the city directly when he said, 299 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:36.640 were urging all the parents to talk to their children 300 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:39.319 and know where they are this weekend and other weekends. 301 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:43.960 The message was urgent, almost pleading, and at the center 302 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:47.200 of it all was Edrie's family. Graving in public under 303 00:19:47.240 --> 00:19:51.000 the weight of unbearable loss. They issued a statement not 304 00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:54.920 for justice, not for revenge, but for peace. They asked 305 00:19:54.920 --> 00:19:58.240 that no more blood be spilled in Eddie's name. Many 306 00:19:58.279 --> 00:20:02.160 of the teenagers promised to honor that way, Some meant that, 307 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:06.079 some weren't so sure. One teenager said, if it weren't 308 00:20:06.119 --> 00:20:09.240 for his family, those Abington kids would be dead. They 309 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:13.559 want blood. Another then added, I wouldn't have any problem 310 00:20:13.599 --> 00:20:22.559 if one of those kids got killed. It didn't take 311 00:20:22.599 --> 00:20:25.440 long for arrest to be made. The teenagers had taken 312 00:20:25.480 --> 00:20:28.599 part in the savage baiting of Eddie Pollock weren't exactly 313 00:20:28.759 --> 00:20:32.119 lying low. By the next morning, they were bragging about 314 00:20:32.119 --> 00:20:35.559 what they'd done. Some are on town, other to friends 315 00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:39.279 laughing about it. Eighteen year old Thomas Krook was the 316 00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:43.240 first to be arrested. He confessed outright to being involved, 317 00:20:43.799 --> 00:20:46.680 but he was quick to insist we didn't go down 318 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:50.440 there to kill anybody. Krook admitted to swinging a baseball 319 00:20:50.440 --> 00:20:53.079 bat at Edie, but claimed he never struck him in 320 00:20:53.079 --> 00:20:56.160 the head. He said he just got caught up in 321 00:20:56.200 --> 00:20:59.759 the excitement. Krook lived in a townhouse complex with his 322 00:20:59.799 --> 00:21:03.640 mother and younger siblings. He dropped out of Upper Moorland 323 00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:06.200 High School and had a history of minor run ins 324 00:21:06.200 --> 00:21:10.200 with the law. Later that same day, police arrested sixteen 325 00:21:10.279 --> 00:21:14.160 year old Nicholas Pinero and seventeen year old Bou Kathavong. 326 00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:18.799 Kathovong's family had fled warren torn Laos in nineteen eighty 327 00:21:19.240 --> 00:21:23.400 escaping the threat of communist execution. The family had lived 328 00:21:23.400 --> 00:21:26.720 in a refugee camp in Thailand before finally immigrating to 329 00:21:26.759 --> 00:21:30.359 the United States in search of a better life. Now 330 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:34.160 their teenage son was being charged with murder. All three 331 00:21:34.200 --> 00:21:37.920 boys were charged with murder, aggravated assault, and weapons offenses. 332 00:21:38.920 --> 00:21:41.000 One of their defense attorneys tried to put the crime 333 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:44.599 into context, as he said, this is not a typical 334 00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:48.160 street crime. Something happens in the space of a few seconds, 335 00:21:48.519 --> 00:21:52.240 and a whole slew of lives are changed irrevocably. That 336 00:21:52.359 --> 00:21:54.640 may have been true, but de EDI's family and friends 337 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:58.640 it was no excuse. On the sixteenth of November, almost 338 00:21:58.680 --> 00:22:02.200 three thousand people packed into Saint Cecilia's Church for Eddie's funeral. 339 00:22:03.160 --> 00:22:06.160 The same church were just days earlier, he'd been beaten 340 00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:09.519 to death on the pavement the same church where he 341 00:22:09.559 --> 00:22:12.759 had once served as an altar boy. His high school 342 00:22:12.759 --> 00:22:16.519 classmates were brought in by bus. Abuse filled quickly, and 343 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:20.319 by ten a m. It was standing room only outside. 344 00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:24.559 A broad metal casket arrived through the drizzle. Inside, Reverend 345 00:22:24.599 --> 00:22:27.039 James Olsen stood at the altar and tried to find 346 00:22:27.079 --> 00:22:30.680 the words. He told the mourners he was one of 347 00:22:30.680 --> 00:22:34.000 the good guys, a real good person, a gentle person. 348 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:37.079 The priest remembered Eddie as a boy who couldn't sit 349 00:22:37.160 --> 00:22:40.640 quite still during mass. His legs were too short to 350 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:42.680 touch the ground, so he'd swing them back and forth 351 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:46.279 the entire time. It was a memory that made people smile, 352 00:22:46.759 --> 00:22:50.400 but it didn't last long. Olson then pleaded with the community, 353 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:54.000 don't let this death lead to more violence, don't let 354 00:22:54.079 --> 00:22:57.680 it fuel revenge. After the service, a possession of more 355 00:22:57.720 --> 00:23:00.839 than one hundred cars followed Eddie's hearse to Our Lady 356 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:04.680 Grace Cemetery and Langhorn. The rain came down harder as 357 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:08.480 the casket was lowered into the ground. His mother sobbed. 358 00:23:08.920 --> 00:23:12.599 His friend stepped forward one by one, placing single floors 359 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:16.680 on top of the coffin. Then came the fallout. In 360 00:23:16.680 --> 00:23:20.079 the days after Eddie's funeral, outrage spread not just at 361 00:23:20.119 --> 00:23:23.240 the brutality of the murder, but at something else, the 362 00:23:23.279 --> 00:23:27.599 emergency response that failed to come in time. It was 363 00:23:27.640 --> 00:23:30.000 revealed that on the night that Eddie was killed, police 364 00:23:30.039 --> 00:23:32.839 didn't arrive for forty minutes. After the first nine one 365 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:37.279 one call, people began asking would Eddie still be alive 366 00:23:37.319 --> 00:23:40.480 if help had come sooner. At ten ten p m. 367 00:23:40.599 --> 00:23:43.400 A waitress at the Pizza Hut on Oxford Avenue had 368 00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:47.200 called nine one one. She saw teenagers piling out from 369 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:50.799 cars baseball bats in hand. They were chasing someone, but 370 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:54.799 she didn't know who. She called again and again they 371 00:23:54.839 --> 00:23:58.880 have a gun away fifty's young kids with face to 372 00:23:58.920 --> 00:24:02.279 see each other. More calls followed, What are they doing 373 00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:05.799 bossing up the cars? Windows? There were they? One from 374 00:24:05.799 --> 00:24:07.519 a man who tried to hold the phone out the 375 00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:10.720 doors of the operator could hear the commotion he was 376 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:15.359 hung up on. Others described gangs of teenagers rampaging through 377 00:24:15.400 --> 00:24:19.480 the neighborhood, smashing car windows, chasing others and beating people 378 00:24:19.480 --> 00:24:22.640 with baseball bats. I don't believe it. It's wrang about 379 00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:25.880 ten times. There's a big emotion going outside in front 380 00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:28.200 of our home, like a gang. One caller told the 381 00:24:28.200 --> 00:24:32.319 dispatcher of boys being beaten in the church parking lot gang. 382 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:40.640 If you get that, yeah, herd outside of the fight right, well, 383 00:24:40.680 --> 00:24:45.039 that it and the point. Wait a minute, Wait a minute, 384 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:47.799 wait a minute, you asked me. I'm asking you. I 385 00:24:47.880 --> 00:24:51.279 have the information. You can hang up now, the operator replied, 386 00:24:52.039 --> 00:24:56.200 was that it? The calls just kept floating in. We've 387 00:24:56.240 --> 00:24:59.440 been polling everybody. Murder has been falling there and we 388 00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:02.720 got in there riot and no damn police where they 389 00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:06.519 were becoming more desperate. When he is gonna send somebody 390 00:25:06.759 --> 00:25:10.799 who's got a fat sirs, he's gotta stop some girl. 391 00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:13.440 What's a honey moon? Wait a minute, wait a minute's 392 00:25:13.559 --> 00:25:18.079 costing me like that? I asked you a questions, got 393 00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:20.640 a friend if he laughed for white on his hands. 394 00:25:20.680 --> 00:25:24.279 One office, Sharon Donahue, who held Atty's bloody head in 395 00:25:24.279 --> 00:25:26.559 her lap as he struggled to Breathe had called nine 396 00:25:26.599 --> 00:25:30.119 one one as well. She was frown thic screaming begging 397 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:34.160 for help. The operator snapped back, listen, if you don't 398 00:25:34.200 --> 00:25:36.920 come though, he gets no help. Do you understand that 399 00:25:37.079 --> 00:25:42.640 much sleep? He's a hospital, he's sleeping. Where's he? The 400 00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:47.160 thing's please? I can't understand you give me an address this? 401 00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:56.519