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3 lessons from an Aloha mugging

Received this e-mail about a Wednesday night mugging from a Hill neighbor who forwarded it from a neighborhood safety group she is part of. For context, robbery on the Hill is down so far this year according to Seattle Police Department statistics, but we’re seeing plenty of reports like these, often targeting electronics like iPhones.

Last night R and I were driving home from a show when a guy flagged us down in the street. He’d was out for a jog around Aloha and 11th when a group of about seven teenagers mugged him and ran off with his iPod. He needed someone to call 911 for him. So here are some thoughts for you:

* First: Don’t go for a walk or a jog alone at night with your headphones on. Alas, you’re an easy, easy, obvious target. On a related note: You should probably keep that iPhone of yours in your pocket when you’re strolling around at night. Don’t go texting and walking at the same time. You may as well hang a sign around your neck that says: Mug Me!

* Second: This guy said he saw the group of teenagers walking down the street and that his first instinct was to cross the street to steer clear of them. But then he decided against it. He figured everything would be OK. And then, before he knew it, he was getting punched in the face and shoved to the ground and they were telling him not to call the cops or they would kill him. So … listen to your instincts and, yeah, avoid groups of teenagers at night. Most teens are great people. But if you’re alone at night, you may as well give them some space just in case you’ve run across the few assholes looking for trouble … and free iPods.

* Third: It’s hard to know when to err on the side of caution and when tothrow caution to the wind. The thing is, R and I nearly didn’t stop to help this guy. It was dark. It was late. There was a strange man flapping his arms wildly in the middle of the street for reasons that were not immediately apparent. We didn’t want to get mugged at gunpoint. We had a kid we really wanted to get home alive to. Etc. Etc. When we pulled over, the poor guy said he couldn’t get anyone to stop and help him. I’m not sure exactly what to take away from this except that, after our initial hesitation, our instincts told us we should stop. So, again, listen to your instincts. That is, unless your instincts are telling youthat you should go for a jog with your headphones on at 10:30 p.m. in the dark on Capitol Hill. Then you should chuck your instincts out the window because your instincts suck.

In the end, the guy was shaken up but OK. His face was swelling a bit and his knees were bloodied up from being pushed to the ground, but a whole lot of police officers showed up very quickly. So, things could have been worse, but they weren’t.

CHS edited the mail to remove names

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11 Comments
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Uncle Vinny
Uncle Vinny
14 years ago

I’m terrible about walking along fiddling with my phone late at night. I really oughta cut that out…

Joe
Joe
14 years ago

I’m 6’4” 225 and I got knocked the F*#K out from behind because I was walking and texting. it was late nobody around. now I know. that’s why we have senses use’em.

devylinme
devylinme
14 years ago

That’s interesting you said it was a group of teens.. I heard the same thing from a friend who saw a group of teenagers downtown grab an iPhone from someone standing by Macy’s.. They were brazen enough to come back to the area after a while. She’d seen them later but didn’t say anything. Someone has to be getting descriptions of these kids.. it must be similar groups.

Also – in April, I knew 2 different female friends of mine who were both mugged w/in 3 weeks of each other. One on Cap Hill by Bartells around 11:30 walking home – a young black girl got out of an old burgandy cadillac and came up to her, pointed a gun to her head and just said give me your purse.. which she did. Nothing else, but a gun to your head leaves you shaken. My other friend was walking home the top of QA hill and a guy walked past her, turned around, knocked her on the head onto the ground and grabbed her laptop and her purse. For some reason she had her id and debit cards in her jeans pocket so that wasn’t an issue, but he did take her mac.

It just seems unheard of here. Muggings.. but it’s happening a lot more.. scary.

devylinme
devylinme
14 years ago

I meant Rite Aid – not Bartells. :)

njoy
14 years ago

My hair dresser mentioned to me not to long ago that a friend of hers was mugged on Summit Ave E by a group of teenage GIRLS in BROAD DAYLIGHT. I hate people.

Tiffany
Tiffany
14 years ago

What I want to know is why these little hoodlums seem to be coming up to the the hill more and more. Seattle is a relatively safe city, but of course any major city will have some unsafe areas. Capitol hill didn’t seem to attract this kind of crowd up until a few areas. What is causing this in our neighborhood?

CameronRex
CameronRex
14 years ago

Seems to be an outgrowth of the times we are living in. These types of attacks have been happening in the U District for a little over a year. They happen downtown from time to time. Mostly seems to be the same story…group of teenagers (young people) who attack and threaten and then seem to disappear into the air and are rarely caught. Its very sad and the police can’t be everywhere at once. Moral of the story is to be very careful with your personal safety. Same rules have applied for a while: be conscious of your surroundings and walk in groups when possible. Don’t be overly obvious with valuables like iPhones.

These people really suck but I believe in karma.

Bo
Bo
14 years ago

Lets fuck these kids up, who’s down?

Phil Mocek
14 years ago

Cameron: Police seem to be everywhere at once when it comes to gambling, possession or sales of prohibited substances, and non-therapeutic massage. Possibly we need to do a better job of communicating what we think the priorities of our police should be. If we had beat cops or fully-funded bicycle patrol units in the area, they’d probably recognize these kids. We’re told there’s not enough funding for that, but there seems to be plenty of funding for big investigations into victimless crimes ending in flashy SWAT team raids.

I think our police should prioritize crimes against people first, property crime second, then use whatever time and money is left over to deal with other issues.

CameronRex
CameronRex
14 years ago

Phil, agree with you 100%. You make excellent points.

Charles
Charles
14 years ago

Sounds good to me, you got any one else? we could all hide in an area where these teens do there dirty work while one of us play the weak looking person walking along alone flashing a nice iPod around. Then if they show up and try any thing BAM we all pop out & take care of business, meaning we detain them (zip ties) work great. And then we call the cops hows that sound? we need to get these angry malicious punks off the streets. I often times hang out around Capital Hill and would feel better if I & others didn’t have to look over our shoulder all of the time.