I Was Mugged Today
As I told the police:
I was on my way to the bus stop to head off to school. I was about a block and a half away from home when it happened. I heard someone coming up behind me, and I moved off to the side to let them by, in case they wanted to pass me.
I kinda’ got sick feeling in my stomach when I heard the footsteps getting louder, rapidly, but that’s just because I can be a bit over cautious sometimes.
I figured whoever it was just wanted to get to the bus stop quicker.
Until I felt my purse being tugged off my shoulder.
Thinking it was just slipping, I held onto it a bit tighter, and when I realized that it was actually being pulled by someone else, I whirled around.
The guy was about my height (5’3”), very skinny, and he was wearing jeans, a thick coat with the hood up, thick gloves, and a face mask that covered everything below his eyes. He was definitely African American, though. And judging by the lack of wrinkles around his eyes, he wasn’t that old either.
As soon as I turned around, he hit me on the arm with a blunt object, but when I didn’t let go of the purse, he hit me again. I thought the thing he was holding was a knife. And it was then, as he made a point of glaring at me and hitting me again (harder so that I fell down) that I let go of the purse, thinking he had cut me.
I then shrieked louder than I ever thought was humanly possible.
One of my friends once told me that if you yell at the attacker that you have medication in your purse that you need, they’ll sometimes get a conscience and drop the bag somewhere nearby. I tried that, but it didn’t work.
He started to run up a nearby alley, but when he saw a dude there, he ran back out of the alley and up a nearby street.
I burst out crying (which I NEVER do in public) and looked around for someone to help me. A car was driving by and when the guy saw I was distraught, he stopped, backed up, asked me what happened and then drove around the block to see if he could find the perpetrator. The guy up the alley just kept cleaning his car or whatever and when I asked him (still crying) if the guy had dropped my purse or something over there, he said “I dunno, he saw me and ran back that way…” and then went back to his car.
A neighbor was already on the phone with the police when I passed her house and when they showed up a few minutes later, I told them what happened. They drove me to the precinct to talk to a detective (which, btw is NOTHING like what happens on TV). While I was there, they told me that they had found the purse and would bring it back to me there.
I thanked God 100,000 times.
A little while later, an officer came in with the bag, and I could tell by the way he was holding it that something was wrong.
Everything that was in my bag was still there. Except my purse and phone.
My mom tried calling my phone, but it went straight to voicemail which suggests it was either turned off or dismantled.
As for money - there was one $5. THAT’S IT.
I even yelled at the guy that there was only $5 in there, but he kept going. If he had checked, he would have seen I was right and dropped the wallet, too.
I’m still angry. Like, really angry.
And tonight when I went out with my parents, I was weary of any young, short, African American male.
Some may say it’s racist, but how racist can you be when part of your life was just destroyed by someone that fits that description?
