Wow, how it feels to be victimized and helpless... thinking of stopping my bi-weekly contributions to the United Way.
My wife, my daughter, my sister-in-law, and her longtime boyfriend decided earlier in the week that we wanted to go skating on the State House lawn. The Chiller Ice rinks, if you don't know, established an outdoor rink there. We went to dinner then walked over to the State House, equiped my little girl with a set of skates, laced up mine and the four of us (my wife was watching over on a chair about 15 feet off of the ice, she is 7 months pregnant) took the ice.
About 20 minutes to a half hour into our skating, my wife comes running over and yells to my sister-in-law's boyfriend and I that some homeless guy took her purse. We start running across the lawn in our skates in the direction she pointed, only to find ice skate lawn running was like running in quick sand. We peel off our skates and start running in our socks after a few steps into the grass. Now, the guy I'm running with is an Arena Football League receiver and one of the fastest men I've ever known personally. I played football with some real burners, but this guy is one of the fastest receivers in pro football. I'm a bigger dude (6.4, 265ish), so although I won't get there as quickly I have some strength to throw around. We run out towards Third and State Street, and the guy is just gone. Like he disappeared. He was identifiable, and even had a rolling suitcase to make it a positive ID. I will say, that from the time I called the CPD I was AMAZED at how quickly they arrived on scene. I'm talking about a minute, and there were probably 20 cars in the area. Out in Canal Winchester I could be waiting on a cop for 45 minutes to an hour in the same situation.
We can't find this guy anywhere, who knows where he went. It was almost a perfect crime. He spots a 7-month pregnant lady that has her entire family on the ice in ice skates that take, at least, about 20 seconds to get off. He hit the wrong set of people condiering who my wife was with, but the perfect place/situation. In addition, my wife was carrying a couple of hundred dollars in cash plus several gift cards that were gifts to us. We never have that much in cash/gift cards. We cancelled all of our cards and we're trying to get 5/3rd to cancel all of her checks. We call Verizon, and they suspended the account. I had to drop a couple hundred on a new phone today at retail price. My wife's driver's license was in there, with our address (obviously), her car keys and her work phone. Not to mention her expesive purse and wallet (Coach?). It enrages me to think about what I would have done if I would have tracked this guy down. Another part of me asks, what if he had a knife/gun? Is that worth 5 or 6 hundred dollars? What if he would have stabbed my wife to take her purse? What if, and the most gut-wrenching and maddeingin thing I could imagine, he would have taken our little girl? I feel fortunate that things weren't worse, but when I thnk about being a victim of a crime I feel pissed off like this guy:
Are we unfortunate but lucky? What would any of you have done in this situation? I told her I wished she would have screamed at the top of her lungs and we would have got a better jump on tracking this fuck head down. I probably would have taken the beating too far. I felt so bad for her, too.
Props to the Columbus Police Department in outstanding service (you would have thought the State House was being threatened with some type of explosive) and an officer named R. Shepherd. The most professional officer I've ever encountered, very hospitable and accomodating, and most of all, a complete gentleman to my pregnant wife.
So, if anyone spots a homeles guy (large/tall in stature) with a rolling suitcase being drug behind him, call the cops.
My wife, my daughter, my sister-in-law, and her longtime boyfriend decided earlier in the week that we wanted to go skating on the State House lawn. The Chiller Ice rinks, if you don't know, established an outdoor rink there. We went to dinner then walked over to the State House, equiped my little girl with a set of skates, laced up mine and the four of us (my wife was watching over on a chair about 15 feet off of the ice, she is 7 months pregnant) took the ice.
About 20 minutes to a half hour into our skating, my wife comes running over and yells to my sister-in-law's boyfriend and I that some homeless guy took her purse. We start running across the lawn in our skates in the direction she pointed, only to find ice skate lawn running was like running in quick sand. We peel off our skates and start running in our socks after a few steps into the grass. Now, the guy I'm running with is an Arena Football League receiver and one of the fastest men I've ever known personally. I played football with some real burners, but this guy is one of the fastest receivers in pro football. I'm a bigger dude (6.4, 265ish), so although I won't get there as quickly I have some strength to throw around. We run out towards Third and State Street, and the guy is just gone. Like he disappeared. He was identifiable, and even had a rolling suitcase to make it a positive ID. I will say, that from the time I called the CPD I was AMAZED at how quickly they arrived on scene. I'm talking about a minute, and there were probably 20 cars in the area. Out in Canal Winchester I could be waiting on a cop for 45 minutes to an hour in the same situation.
We can't find this guy anywhere, who knows where he went. It was almost a perfect crime. He spots a 7-month pregnant lady that has her entire family on the ice in ice skates that take, at least, about 20 seconds to get off. He hit the wrong set of people condiering who my wife was with, but the perfect place/situation. In addition, my wife was carrying a couple of hundred dollars in cash plus several gift cards that were gifts to us. We never have that much in cash/gift cards. We cancelled all of our cards and we're trying to get 5/3rd to cancel all of her checks. We call Verizon, and they suspended the account. I had to drop a couple hundred on a new phone today at retail price. My wife's driver's license was in there, with our address (obviously), her car keys and her work phone. Not to mention her expesive purse and wallet (Coach?). It enrages me to think about what I would have done if I would have tracked this guy down. Another part of me asks, what if he had a knife/gun? Is that worth 5 or 6 hundred dollars? What if he would have stabbed my wife to take her purse? What if, and the most gut-wrenching and maddeingin thing I could imagine, he would have taken our little girl? I feel fortunate that things weren't worse, but when I thnk about being a victim of a crime I feel pissed off like this guy:
Are we unfortunate but lucky? What would any of you have done in this situation? I told her I wished she would have screamed at the top of her lungs and we would have got a better jump on tracking this fuck head down. I probably would have taken the beating too far. I felt so bad for her, too.
Props to the Columbus Police Department in outstanding service (you would have thought the State House was being threatened with some type of explosive) and an officer named R. Shepherd. The most professional officer I've ever encountered, very hospitable and accomodating, and most of all, a complete gentleman to my pregnant wife.
So, if anyone spots a homeles guy (large/tall in stature) with a rolling suitcase being drug behind him, call the cops.