MEMPHIS, Tenn. — They have a place for their kitchen and an area for their bedroom under the bridge they call home.
“They’re just trying to sleep and get by,” Jimmy Crawley said.
Tuesday, homeless people living under the Jackson Avenue bridge in the Nutbush area were scared for their lives.
“Boom. Beaten to a pulp,” Crawley described. “You know what I’m saying?”
Crawley told WREG one of their own was attacked and robbed Saturday night.
“He said it was four guys — young guys and they beat him down,” he said. “Took all his gear and backpack stuff that he brought home.”
Witnesses said it happened to another man on Sunday.
“Blood out his ear, head split, and everything,” Crawley recalled. “They got him.”
“Next thing I know four white guys came and beat — hit me,” one victim said.
The victim, known as Cowboy, was scared to show his face on camera fearing the men who beat him up would return.
He had cuts under his eyes, a swollen nose and jaw and dried blood on his ear.
“It’s crazy. It’s sad. It’s real sad because it is the homeless,” Marcus Tillman said.
“Not again. You know this is not something that is unusual,” D. Chere’ Bradshaw, with the Community Alliance for the Homeless said.
Those who work closely with the homeless community said far too often, crimes like this go unreported.
However, police said they cannot investigate a crime unless they know about it.
Memphis Police said the beatings and robberies were never reported. Advocates said many of those living on the streets likely never will.
“They did not want to be a snitch, and sometimes they just think that they’re not going to be taken seriously for whatever reason,” Bradshaw explained.
A 2012 survey from CAFTH revealed nearly half of the people they interviewed reported being attacked while living on the streets.
“It’s just sad, man,” Crawley said. “I figured you got to say something. Get you something — I don’t know, man. It’s just horrible.”
For information regarding those living without shelter in the Memphis area and resources, visit www.cafth.org.