I got mugged yesterday. I’m okay.
As I was walking back to my apartment from campus early yesterday afternoon, as I do every day, I noticed a pair of latino teenagers loitering on a stoop and glaring wolfishly at passersby. My first thought was, “Wow, they’re really acting like hooligans looking for targets to rob.” I guess I should pay more attention to my instincts. The problem is, my instincts tell me same thing about a sizeable fraction of this neighborhood. And I thought that if they were actually planning anything, they wouldn’t be so obvious about it. I also never expected anything would happen in the early afternoon on a sunny day on a bustling street that’s patrolled constantly by armed security officers.
I didn’t notice that they were following me. As I crossed Portland Street, the street I live on, one of them rushed me from behind. I turned and he circled in front me, almost touching me, and got in my face saying, “Give me money. Give me money, man.” He held a knife at his side, a nasty-looking foldout job that looked kind of like this. He was easily close enough to stab me. The other one was behind me, on a bike. I backed away from them and said, “Here,” and tossed my iPod and wallet out on the street. The one with the knife scooped them both up, and the two of them fled, laughing.
A student in front of a nearby frat house shouted, “What just happened?” I shouted back, “They took my iPod and my wallet!” He got in his car and took off after them. I followed on foot until I lost him, while trying to call 911 on my cell phone, but I kept getting an answering machine. I had never gotten around to programming the USC emergency number into my new phone. I went back to my dorm, where the number is posted in the entrance, and called it. I described the assailants, though I didn’t expect it would do much good. USC kept me on the line for another ten or fifteen minutes, then sent a security vehicle over.
I got in, and the driver asked me to repeat my description. I did. He nodded and said that security had detained some suspects, and that I’d have to I.D. them. He admonished me to make sure it was really them, and not to jump to conclusions based on the fact that they’d been detained. I told him I understood. He drove me a few blocks. The two suspects were handcuffed and standing on the sidewalk, surrounded by security officers. It was definitely the same guys. All the information I’d given the dispatcher over the phone was completely correct, down to the colors of the shirt, pants, and bike of the second suspect.
LAPD showed up, and I answered a lot of questions from different officers. I got my iPod back, but the assailants had already ditched my wallet somewhere, and I doubt I’ll ever see it again. I’ll probably have to go to court to testify against them at some point in the future.
I’m still kind of shaken up. It was a lot scarier than I expected. I always sort of imagined that when people were robbed at knifepoint, some guy stepped out from behind a bush, kept a safe distance away, showed that he had a weapon, and said, “Give me your wallet.” At which point you would hand it over or throw it at his feet, and he’d grab it and take off. It’s a lot different to just turn around and see some guy right next to you coming at you like he’s going to stab you.
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