Assaulted

The BBQ Pit
1

I was assaulted on my way to work this morning.

Right now, there is a pile of my blood on the sidewalk not 15 seconds from where I live.

I kiss the
Love of My Life good-by, take the elevator down, and take a left out of my apartment building for the 45-second walk to Grand Central. I am thinking about grabbing a coffee (large, regular) and a paper (the Post) at the corner of 44th and Lex. I am debating whether or not to put on my MD headphones, but really, it is too cold to take my hands out of my coat pockets.

I see a large, heavy-set guy walking towards me. He seems to be rambling, muttering to himself, but hey, this is New York. I’m used to that; he could be a bonds trader :smiley: He is going on about “crackers”. Maybe I have been out of the States for too long, but I didn’t know until today that apparently it is the ‘N-’ word equivalent for whites. Anyway. I wasn’t really paying all that much attention to him.

As he walks by me, he round-houses me with a swinging left.

I think I blacked out for a bit. I managed to roll over, open my eyes, and see a pile of blood dripping from my mouth, my nose. People are running around. Someone asks me if I am OK. I try to speak, but the only thing that comes out is another pile of blood.

Turns out the guy was from a near-by shelter or something. Don’t know if he was drunk, or high, or what. But apparently he went on a three-block assault spree, whacking three or four white guys all up Lexington Ave. before turning on 44th. When the cops got there, he had attacked another guy on 43rd and 3rd.

Cops were nice, and fairly efficient, considering that they were answering calls of assault coming every 100 yards or so for about a three-block stretch. And considering the entire city is on a massive terror alert. One of the guys pulls me over, asks if I want to press charges. Realistically, he says, the guy will be taken to a mental hospital, and will probably be put back in the shelter in a few days.

Great. Just my luck. Man, I wish it could have been a rich suit that hit me. At least then I would have had the pleasure of suing the ever-loving shit out of him. Pressing charges or suing this useless piece of donkey fecal matter will just be a waste of my time.

I do need to spread some love and thanks around: to the 15, maybe 20 people who ran up to ask about me, offering me napkins, hankerchiefs, tissues, kleenex - thank you. To the two guys who, cell phones in hand, tracked the guy down the street from a safe distance while talking to 911 - thank you. To the guys who came out of nearby stores and shops, and offered to let me come inside - thank you. Hopefully, some days or weeks down the road, it will be your love and warmth I remember, not the pain, anger, and fear I feel now.

It’s weird. I have been telling people how much safer NY is. People in Japan still talk to me like they expect that all NYers are getting mugged and raped as an everyday occurance. Oh no, I say, it is so much safer now. And now this. I don’t dare tell the LOML about this. She would freak. At the same time - I don’t know if I want her living in NY after this. What if it had been her walking down the street, not me? Shit. Just thinking about that makes me so mad I can feel the bile forming in my stomach.

I decided to come in to work to get cleaned up - couldn’t let the LOML see the blood and stuff. Don’t know how I am going to explain the broken nose, swollen lips and busted glasses. Some valentine present, huh?

Worse - on the way on, I walked past several tall, heavy-set black men dressed in the same fashion.

And flinched. How long will that last? God, I hated myself for flinching.

Before this, I was definitely in the pro-gun control crowd. Now, after today, I am even more certain than ever that we definitely need gun controls.

Because I guarantee you, if I had had a gun, that MOTHER FUCKING LOWLIFE CHICKEN-HUMPING WORTHLESS PIECE OF FLESH would be oh-so dead right now. I woulda killed him. And of course he doesn’t deserve death. He deserves a FUCKING KICK IN THE BALLS, yes. But since I can’t even give him that, I will have to settle for an SDMB Pit rant.

SO FUCK YOU for taking away the part of me that liked to wander New York just because it was New York. FUCK YOU for taking away the part of me that liked New Yorkers for being New Yorkers. FUCK YOU for possibly ruining my love for the greatest city on earth.

Guys and gals - thanks. I feel a bit better now. Back to my regularly scheduled life.

Guess it would be a bit easier if the coffee didn’t still sting going down.

2

Yow.

Glad you’re okay, and I’m sure the LOYL will also be equally relieved.

What a way to start the day…

Please take good care of yourself.

3

Hey, you’re only human. Much as we’d like to, we can’t approach every situation every day without jerking our knees some. We’re not Spock :slight_smile:

Having a gut-reaction induced by a traumatic event != bigot. It’ll wear off, so long as you let it.

4

The only way to navigate those mean streets is to assume that EVERYONE is armed or hostile.

5

That’s the thing - I don’t want to feel that way. And I hate thinking that I am going to have to feel that way from now on, especially with the LOML here…

6

Sorry about your run-in with the nutcase. But try to remember, he IS a nutcase, and should be regarded with some sympathy. I hope you’re feeling better.

7

Its okay. It was a rough morning, is probably going to be rough for a bit, but its okay.

You know that NYC is a fabulous city. Fantastic. When I get the chance to visit, I, too, like to wander the streets and just appreciate the vast amount of life going on in your city. And wonderful things happen there in far excess to the random evil.

In one of my wanderings I began to notcie that teh surrounding area was getting pretty shady and a large, heavy set black guy came up to me and grabbed my arm. I am a very blond, very white girl, and at the time was still in high school. I looked up at him and he said urgently, “Miss, you are very lost. Do you have a map?” I pulled out my map and he said, “Don’t wander south of about here by yourself, okay?” and walked with me back to where he felt I would be safe. I have no idea if I was in any real danger, but the consideration impressed me.

NYC is full of people, some good, some mentally ill and violent. Its going to be okay. (And if you still have the opportunity, consider pressing charges anyway. It’ll get him off the streets at least until trial and after that into at least a few months of the mental health care he so desperately needs.)

It’ll be okay.

8

Yikes—you poor guy! I’m glad I walked up Madison and not Lex this morning . . .

Are you OK? Stop off at the Duane Reade on 42nd and get yourself some Neosporin or something!

9

Mothchunks–you’re not, like, from Santa Cruz, are you??? :confused:

10

Eve, I frequent that D.R. pretty often.

And yeah, taking Madison instead of Lex was definitely the way to go. Funny thing is, I thought about working from home today. Had I thought about it for 30 more seconds… Or hit the snooze button one more time… or kissed the LOML one more time…

11

Sorry man, sometimes shit just happens. I agree with the other poster who said you will get over the “flinching”. It’s perfectly natural, so don’t feel too bad about it.

If I were you, I’d still press charges. The guy might be insane, but if the cop gave that speech to everyone, his insanity might continue unaverted.
Yes, he might get out back on the street again, but then again this could be the last in a long list of incidents that will get him locked up for good.

12

Holy shit, I probably passed you on the street this morning, Dragon Ash. But I stopped for awhile to talk to an old friend I bumped into out of the blue, hence I was delayed long enough to miss this bullshit. Speedy recovery, man. I’ll buy you a drink sometime.

13

**Maeglin **I am glad you got to miss the bullshit. And the offer of a drink is appreciated, and I will hold you to it <g>. Maybe we can hit the Cambell Apartments - the LOML loves that place.

Thanks to everyone for your kind words and support. Kicking the guy in the balls, while being much for instantly gratifying, pales in comparison to the positive feedback always provided by Dopers - love ya’ all…

14

We have a guy like that in my neighborhood. Everytime I’m walking to the R-train in the morning, he’s out there yelling about “Whitey” being the devil and such, pacing around like a lunatic. I’ve always thought it would be a matter of time until he started swinging at people.

I hope you’re feeling better.

15

Like some one else here already said, the guy is mental. Dont let some mental case ruin NYC for you. With so many people in the city there is bound to be a few head trips floating around. On the other hand if you wanted to prevent something like this from happening again you and the LOyourL could go take self defence classes. There are tons of them in NYC that give you real world situations and responses. In a few months time you both could have a realistic view of how to deal with things like this. It could help you not get punched if something like this happens again.

16

Burner - I have thought about that in the past. But I really don’t think there is much I could have done - I mean, self-defense may help if there is some advance warning. I don’t think there is much that can be done about a guy round-housing you as he walks by.

Well, maybe there is - but it basically means taking **Mothchunks ** advice and assuming everyone is a lunatic ready to hit you out of the blue.

Somehow, I don’t think I would walk around much in NY if that’s what was required…

17

Any time, any time. Campbell is all of fifty feet from my office. And incidentally, my SO is Japanese American, so surely they would have enough common ground to make conversation while we gossip about the SDMB. :slight_smile:

I live way up in Inwood. If you are ever in that area between the hours of 2-5 AM, you’ll doubtless run into the Dyckman Street Psycho. He’s another wacky homeless guy who hurls obscenities and threatens people.

Apparently he is a perfectly normal guy. He just puts on his show for tips. He discovered that by yelling things like “I’ll fuck you up, whitey, and eat your bitch on toast,” he gets more $$$ than simply asking for it. So my brother was walking home late with a friend, and they passed the DSP. My brother’s friend reached into his wallet, gave the guy a buck. And lo and behold, he was a perfectly nice guy. I think my brother even shook his hand.

18

Oh! Dragon, I empathize with you completely. Something similar happened to me two years ago.

Take care of yourself.

19

Sorry about your experience and glad you’re OK. Press charges. If he’s nuts, he might get the help he needs, if not, he might get what he deserves! Hire one of those ambulence chasing type of advertising lawyers. Who knows, he might be a wealthy lunatic or under the care of someone who should never have let him out on the streets. MALPRACTICE!!!

20

Several years ago, I was walking in my downtown, and noticed a shouldn’t-be-on-the-streets mental case approaching with the crowd. Tangled hair, crazy eyes, muttering, the whole deal. I kept half an eye on him, automatically. You know the drill.

Suddenly, he hauls off and punches a passing woman in the head. No provocation; she just happened to be the person who was walking past him at that moment.

She drops to the sidewalk. Around them, the crowd suddenly spreads apart like the greasy film on the surface of the water when a drop of dishwashing detergent is added.

The mental case is screaming at the fallen woman, fist raised as though he’s going to continue the assault. Everybody around them is stunned into sheer paralysis. They’re not frightened, and they’re not abandoning the woman: They’re just so surprised that it’ll be a few seconds before anybody will be able to react.

And then:

A bicycle messenger who happened to be passing at that moment yanks on his brakes, is off his bike and running before it’s completely stopped, and clocks the mental guy with the Kryptonite bicycle lock he’s grabbed from its holder in his smooth dismounting motion. Sheer beautiful grace mixed with an equal quantity of terrible heartrending violence. I remember the sound of the bar bouncing off the guy’s skull: KANK.

The mental patient drops like a stringless marionette.

The bike messenger kneels by the woman. I was several yards away, so I don’t know what was said, but the onlookers suddenly clicked out of their shock. A couple of them dragged the unconscious crazy man a bit away from the woman. Another few grab for cell phones. The messenger hands somebody a business card, says a few words, jumps back on his bike, and speeds off.

I didn’t stick around — I had to get back from lunch, and the situation was under control — but it was one of the most amazing things I’d ever seen.

Sorry this had to happen to you, Dragon Ash.