After hearing about the car on Boylston Street that was flipped over by Boston Red Sox fans Wednesday night, a Brookline resident extended a helping hand to the car’s owner through a crowd-funding campaign.
Bobby O’Neill, 27, a resident of Brookline,started a fundraiser on Gofundme.com Thursday to raise the $2,500 that owner Chad Duncan needed for insurance.
Come Friday, O’Neill raised more than enough for Duncan.
“I’ve kind of had it with destruction in this city,” O’Neill said. “I went to Northeastern [University] from 2004 to 2009, so I was around Fenway when the Red Sox won the last time, [and] there was destruction then. Obviously it was taken to a new level in April with the bombings and I’d basically had enough of it.”
Thousands in Boston took to the streets after the Red Sox’s first World Series victory at home in 95 years. Although the Boston Police Department was prepared and the crowd stayed relatively under control, the city was not all peaceful. Bottles were thrown in the Back Bay area, nine arrests were made and Duncan’s car was flipped over.
When O’Neill heard Duncan’s car had been flipped, he said, he wanted to make the situation a positive one.
“I read an article Thursday about this guy’s car, and I just thought about how tired I was of the news stories that are just focusing on the bad things people do, so I wanted to turn that around and make it into a good thing,” he said.
Within 21 hours, all the money had been raised and the donations continued. As of Sunday, $3,570 had been raised, according to Gofundme.com.
“We’ve actually gotten about $900 on top of the initial $2,500 that I was aiming for, which I didn’t even think I could get,” he said. “I thought the site would stop taking money once we reached the goal, but money kept coming in.”
O’Neill said he would leave the fundraiser open for a while, and anything extra received would go to The One Fund, an organization formed to help the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.
“I think it speaks of the same spirit: Boston coming together and helping someone out,” he said. “It seemed a logical continuation.”
O’Neill said the fans who flipped the car are not an accurate representation of Boston residents, and many other fans celebrated in an appropriate and safe way.
“In my mind, they don’t represent Boston,” he said. “They certainly don’t represent Sox fans, or anyone that just wants to have fun and celebrate. Celebrating is not destroying things or hurting other people. I don’t know what was going through their heads, but that is not how I would’ve chosen to celebrate.”
Some residents of Boston said celebrating should be a completely joyful experience for all.
Scott Patterson, 48, of Allston, said because of the Marathon bombings, he is surprised fans were not more respectful.
“I don’t think it makes much sense to destroy things in celebration,” he said. “It’s supposed to be a happy time for the city, and people took it too far. You would think after all that’s happened to Boston this year, we’d all be able to come together for a celebration that’s just pure fun for everybody.”
Jarett Vogler, 21, of Back Bay, said that although there was destruction, violence has declined since the last time the Red Sox won the World Series.
“People need to remember to respect others when all that craziness is going on, but I don’t think anything anyone did was with malicious intent,” he said. “This year was a huge improvement compared to the events of the 2004 World Series, and hopefully next time will be even better.”
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