There is an article in today’s paper about a 74-year old woman who was dragged down a street by a thief on a bicycle while she held onto her "shoulder bag, actually a reusable grocery bag holding five carrots, a cabbage and a bottle of water." She wasn’t fighting to hold onto her bag because of the contents but because she had written her name and address on it and she didn’t want the thief to know who she was and where she lived.
He dragged her for quite a while and because she was afraid of breaking a hip she eventually let go of the bag. Except for black and blue marks she was okay. The thief escaped on his bike.
A few years ago I had a similar situation. Two young men approached me in a super-market parking lot and told me to give them my purse. I always thought that if someone wanted my money I’d give it to them, no questions asked and if they were disappointed in the cash I’d write them a check. But I heard myself saying no as I slowly backed away from them. One with a potty mouth said he wasn’t f*&#ing with me and he’d cut me with his knife if I didn’t pony up the purse. I calculated how much damage he could do with the size of knife he had as I continued to back up and told him in a voice I hoped would attract passersby that no, I wasn’t going to give him my purse. When they realized others were starting to notice what was going on they ordered me to get into my car. Now, how stupid was that? If I wasn’t going to give up my purse I sure as heck wasn’t going to get in my car with them! Dumb. Soon it became obvious to them that a crowd was starting to gather and they took off. I filed a police report but they were never caught.
I never cared about giving up the money but was afraid of them taking my purse; they would have my name, address, and credit cards – essentially me. If they had asked only for money it might have been different. The officers taking the report told me I was lucky and I suppose I was. In retrospect it probably was foolish and I don’t know if I’d do it again but at that time, in that place it was right for me.
It also taught me one thing: no matter how you think you’ll react to a particular situation you never really know until it happens. And it took me about two weeks before I felt comfortable returning to that market.
1 comment:
A very long time ago when I walked for exercise I was walking along Grand Ave. in Covina. A man came up behind me and tried to drag me off onto a side street. Of course my potty mouth opened up and I screamed every bad word I know, scratched him and then chased him down Grand where he jumped into his car and drove off....the police told me I was stupid.
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