My wife and I are members of a Baptist affiliated church in Macon, Georgia. Last week, a lady in my Bible study was attacked and mugged.
Here’s what happened. Sunday morning past, this lady goes to the 9:00 A.M. service. Afterward, she goes to Kroger for weekly groceries. Driving away, she realizes that she forgot to pick up some over-the-counter meds for her husband. (He caught the 24-hour bug and is sick at home.) So she pulls into the nearby Walgreens. As she approaches the store, she notices a “suspicious” youth standing around the entrance, wearing a hoodie, looking somewhat out of place. She looks at him and says, “Hello.” He looks away and cinches up his hoodie.
Inside, she browses and finds what she wants. She pays with cash and returns her wallet to her purse, slung over her right shoulder. The five minutes in the store, she forgets about the shady guy out front. She exits and walks toward her car. It’s 10:55 A.M.
Suddenly, she’s attacked from behind. The hoodie guy grabs her purse and runs, but she’s holding on — resisting, pulling against him. He runs. She runs with him, resisting, resisting, resisting the entire time. It’s natural to fight an aggressor, and that’s what she’s doing. He pulls her across the parking lot and, with a violent tug, yanks the purse from her. She falls straight backwards. Her head smacks the asphalt, knocking her dazed and confused. She looks up and sees the mugger running away across the side road, heading for the apartments 500 yards away. In extreme pain, head pounding, she gets up and staggers into Walgreens, yelling for help. “Please someone help me, I’m hurt. I’ve just been attacked.”
Bending over, she puts her head on the counter. She’s holding her head where it struck the asphalt. Blood drips from her nose. Her hands are bloody from her head wound. She’s dazed and doesn’t know what to do. The store clerk renders assistance. The entire attack, from when she exited the store to her return with a bleeding head and crying for help, took less than 45 seconds.
A man and woman are in a car at the stop light and see the attack as it’s happening. The couple exit their car and give chase. After several hundred yards, the mugger drops the purse and continues running. The chasing woman retrieves the purse and returns it to the victim. The man continues the chase and catches the thief before he runs into the Section-8 apartments behind Kohl’s. He holds the perp until the police arrive.
The store clerk calls 9-1-1 and tells the operator about the attack, that an ambulance and police are required. The victim has her phone back. The clerk uses her phone to call the lady’s husband and daughter and tells them what happened. Her daughter and son-in-law jump in their vehicle and arrive the same time as does the ambulance. The police arrive and take custody of the attacker. The ambulance takes the woman downtown to the medical center.
The woman waits to be seen by the emergency room doctor. Her daughter and son-in-law are there, providing comfort. The nurse stops the bleeding and bandages her head. The wound is a small, bloody avulsion. She has additional scrapes and bruises but nothing severe. The doctor sends her for a CT scan. The result indicates only a minor concussion.
Waiting for test results and to be cleared home, Deputy Jeffery Johnson, the responding Bibb County sheriff’s deputy, pays a visit to the victim. He tells her that her attacker is 13 years old, and this isn’t the first time he’s been arrested. He’s charged with aggravated assault and is in juvenile detention. The deputy says the youth’s mother and “aunties” are ashamed and furious with him. They know he’s on the wrong path and want him punished. The mother wants her son to have a wake-up call. He needs to learn the consequences of his actions. (Where is the teen’s father? Sadly, we know that answer, which is the exact reason so many black teens end up dead or in prison.)
The woman is released late afternoon from the medical center. Her daughter takes her home. For several days, the woman has a bad headache and other aches and pains. By the following weekend, her physical recovery is complete. All things considered, the woman escapes the attack with the best possible outcome. Her injuries are minimal, her purse and all its contents are recovered, the attacker is caught and will be punished, and nobody is seriously harmed.
Macon, Georgia is a medium-sized city of 157,000. The population is mixed: 54% black, 36% white, and 10% Hispanic/mixed. Unlike most large cities, where, if one doesn’t care to interact with other races, those other races can easily be avoided, that’s not the case in most Southern cities. There are black businesses and white businesses, but blacks and whites nonetheless interact everywhere, all the time. In cities the size of Macon, even if you wanted to, it’s not possible to avoid other ethnicities. That said, like any large city (Chicago, Atlanta, etc.), in Macon, there are good areas and not so good areas. The city fathers have decided to bring Section-8 housing to the good parts of town.
Several days later, I talked with the woman about the attack. She fully realizes how blessed she is at the outcome. Asked what she could have done differently, short of having a gun or spray-mace in her hand, there’s nothing she could have done. As the attack was happening, she had no time and no opportunity to reach in her purse for a gun. Let me expound on this.
An ambush is a violent attack initiated with complete surprise. This woman was ambushed. A properly executed ambush is almost impossible to overcome. No amount of self-defense courses would have saved her once the assault began. A 120-pound woman will never be able to fend off a larger male opponent who surprise-attacks her. The only way to defeat an ambush is to ensure it never happens. How does one do that? By maintaining situational awareness. Be aware of your surroundings, always. Get off your phone; don’t be distracted. Have your gun or mace at the ready (not in your purse). Know what normal looks like so you recognize abnormal. Remember that this attack occurred in a “good” part of town, Sunday at 11 A.M.
As we concluded talking about the mugging, we prayed together. I thanked God that she wasn’t badly injured. When she prayed, her voice quivered. Yes, she thanked God, but the deepest and most heartfelt part of her prayer was for her attacker and for his mother. She didn’t condemn the 13-year-old; she prayed for him. She prayed that he finds Jesus and fears what will become of his life if he continues on his current path. I had tears. Let’s hope her prayers are answered.
The woman who was attacked is my wife. We are very blessed.
Picryl.
Jesus Christ is King
