Monday, December 9, 2013

Mugging Thwarted By Neighbors; Be On The Lookout

Randy Heite, the president of the WFCW Block Club, wrote to UU to warn other about an attempted mugging that took place on Sunday:
"A mugging just took place on the 1400 block of Winnemac [around 3:40pm on Sunday].

A male attacked a woman who was walking alone heading west on Winnemac. The male had grabbed the woman's purse and dragged her along the sidewalk. The victim called out for help and several neighbors came to her aid. 

The woman was frightened, yet held onto her belongings. Unfortunately, the male did flee the scene.

Description given to police: African American Male about 5'10" to 6', wearing a black leather coat with white fur trimmed hood. Male was also wearing jeans and tan Timberland boots."
  1. Yay, neighbors who came to the rescue!  Proud to have people like you in our community.
  2. Lady who was mugged:  Good job of not being a passive victim.
  3. If you happen to see someone fitting the description and dress of the mugger, call 911.  Do NOT try to be a hero.  That's what you pay the cops for.
  4. Be careful.  Take precautions, even while walking in your own neighborhood.  The holidays are a time of increased crime.  Some crimes can't be prevented, and no one is blaming the victim here.  But listen to your spidey sense and don't think "it won't happen to me."

9 comments:

  1. Fortunately, she wasn't hurt. Unfortunately, it's too bad the offender wasn't caught and hurt. Odds are he'll try this again.

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  2. Which is why we're helping spread the news and a good description of the guy.

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  3. Good job to those awesome neighbors and true Chicagoans for rushing to her aid. These stupid punks will eventually be caught, or soon shot when they try this again!

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  4. My boyfriend and I had a shady guy follow us past his gate up to his house later on Tuesday night...luckily, we got inside before the guy caught up to us, but he definitely didn't belong there, and was following us. My boyfriend grabbed his dog and went back out to find the guy, but he had disappeared. I wonder if it's the same one.

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  5. "2. Lady who was mugged: Good job of not being a passive victim."

    Good job of not being a passive victim? What does that even mean? If the mugger pulled out a knife or a gun, would you still be praising her for not being a passive victim? This is just suggestive of an unnecessary opinion.

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    1. "Unnecessary opinion"? Kindly look at the header of this page: "News AND COMMENTARY from Chicago's Uptown Neighborhood. If you don't like to read opinions, this may not be the blog for you. As far as active and passive behavior by victims, the cops say to resist unless you feel you are in danger. I can't presume to know how this woman felt, but she made the decision to resist, and I'm not going to second guess her instincts, as you seem to want us to. If this woman hadn't resisted, she would have lost her belongings, neighbors would not have come to her aid, the block club wouldn't have been notified, and we would not have a description of a predator in our community.

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    2. She never said the woman should have stood around and just let her stuff get stolen. She is saying the blogger shouldn't be making a determination who is a "good victim" (not being passive) and who is a "bad victim" (being passive). It's called victim blaming.

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    3. I apologize if I have offended Uptown Update, or the author of this blog post. the News and Commentary I read on Uptown Update are much appreciated. I check Uptown Update routinely and recognize the great reporting efforts and the timeliness of this blog, especially when good reporting is so sparse. This IS the blog for me, which is why I was so disappointed to read that statement.

      I am not asking anyone to second guess anyone's instincts, or guess anyone's instincts at all. I'm only suggesting less determinant language in the future.

      I love you, Uptown Update!!!!!

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    4. You're free to disagree. ;-) Our post wanted to give a heads up to a woman who acted in what I considered to be a brave manner. Did not consider the post to be victim shaming, but rather victim congratulating. We all make different decisions based on our instincts and knowledge of situations, and there's no one-size-fits-all response to any crime, just the person's gut response. When someone is a crime victim, there is actually no incorrect response whatsoever.

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