Don,
It may save one of us who might be a future target of a mugging, if you'd provide the details of your escape. (I believe Mike A. escaped by yelling to a passer-by to call the police.)
Thanks, Michael
Once when I was living
in a marginal
neighborhood in
Baltimore I was
warming up my old
chevy in the early
evening. this guy
jumped in the other side
and said he was going to
kill me. I hopped out of
the car and started
screaming for help at the
top of my lungs as I ran
away. He walked.
Another time I was
riding my car in Forest
Park in St. Louis. This
kid came up to up to me
hit me in the face and
said, give me my bike.
He rode away on it.
When He got about a
hundred feet away, I
started screaming for
help at the top of my
lungs. He dropped the
bike and started walking
away, motioning for me
to shut the f up. I kept
screaming. A big Ford
LTD pulled up and
stopped about a hundred
yards away. The kid
walked over and got in
the back. I watched
from a distance. I
walked over and picked
up my bike. A few
minutes, a cop car
pulled up and the kid
got out of the LTD and
into the cop car. The
guy in the LTD was an
armed Postal
Inspwecttor. All he had
to do was show the kid
the gun. I wanted to
press charges , but the
kid pled out as he had
no priors. Recently I
was walking Soouth on
Mission between 14 th
and 15th. About 10 feet
shy of 15th street this
man stops me and says
light red. I thank him for
his concern this blind
mnan's safety by saying
I"I appreciate your
help" and walk to the
corner, and when the
light changes I proceed
south towards 16th
street. About half way
there, he runs up to me
and says " Do you really
appreciate it , I mean do
you really appreciate it?
I say yes. Then he says
well if you really
appreciate it why don't
you give me 15 dollars
so I can get a bbus
ticket to Compton to
visit my father who is
dying of cancer>? I say
I am sorry, I can't do
that do that. He pushes
me against the fence and
says, I gotta gun in my
pocket that says you can
appreciate it. I spin
around walk into traffic,
and start yelling "excuse
me." If he had continued
pressing I would have
really started screaming,
but this was enough for
him to mutter some
obscenity and walk
away. I stayed in the
street until 16th and then
crossed.
In another incident as a
kid, I and a friend were
surrounded in an isolated
parking lot by a gang of
tough redneck kids. My
friend who well trained
in Karate and a super
Jew with an attidude
was itching a fight.
Fourty years later I
found out he had his
trigger on a can of
mace. Anyway I looked
right in the eyes of the
leader of the gang and
said, look, My father is
the assistant police
commisioner. If you
touch me you will have
to kill me, because
otherwise I got your
face memorized and he
will come down so hard
on you, you will wish
you were sent to jail.
They walked away. My
friend was angry as hell
at me. I hate getting
mugged. It happened a
few times in high school.
The worst time was
when I was mugged in
broad daylight when I
was tutoring in East
Baltimore. Three or four
kids beat and kicked me
mercilessly as cars drove
by. This is why I say
make the cars stop,
make it thier problem
too, and scream your
freaking head off while
you are running. Don't
go anywhere in an iffy
neighborhood where no
one can hear you
scream. I wouldn't
advise the police
commisioner tactic. I
think people would just
laugh these days.