Every week UC community receives a
couple of emails about crimes committed on/off campus from assaults to
robberies and even murders. With this huge amount of almost daily violence, I
wonder how come we rarely have witnesses. I mean, if I ever witnessed a crime,
I’d surely step forward and testify for the sake of both the victim and the whole
community on the whole I believe this is one of the major strategies that
criminals relay on. People need to be more active in crime deterring process by having the courage to testify upon witnessing a crime. Being on a
scene is different than hearing about it. Being a foreigner in a community make
you easily recognizable by people, especially by criminals, who sneak around
looking for the right moment to attack.
Back in January 2011, two months
after I arrived in Cincinnati, one afternoon, while I was waiting outside the
house, all of the sudden, a stranger was standing right behind me pointing his
gun to my head and asking for my wallet. I told him I didn’t have it since I
left it in the car, but he did not believe me and kept screaming and shouting,
threatening that he will shoot me. He was looking around in an uptight,
insecure manner all the time, checking neighbors’ windows and doors and getting
ready to shoot me. I was willing to give him everything I have, but the problem
was that my wife and my little boy were in the car, and the car was unlocked.
Fortunately, my attacker wasn’t paying attention that they were in the car. At
this point when he looked at the car, I felt totally hopeless! It was one of
the moments I wouldn’t wish for my worst enemies to be in. I wanted to get him
the wallet from the car, but I didn’t know how far he would go and by this way
I will be risking my family life. My wife noticed that something wrong was
going on and that I had this horrified facial expression while talking to the
stranger. She rushed to lock the doors. When he heard the lock sound, he ran to the
door trying to open it. Instinctly, I found it a good chance to punch him and
take the gun, but after a short fight he pushed me away and ran!! I called 911
right away and in less than five minutes they came to me. I describe the
stranger to them and they promptly caught him and asked me to recognize him. I
never thought this nightmare will be over so fast. I thought they’d put him
away and justice would prevail and then they lived happily ever after! But it
turned out that this was just the beginning and that I have to confront him in
court for justice to prevail! Long long and tiring process it is! It was a
really stressful for me. Most of my friends told me to just leave him alone and
leave the city. Their concern was, what if he is a gang member and someone will
come after me. After a long thought about what the right thing to do, I took it
to the court and four months later in court room he finally imprisoned for 5
years for attacking me. I thank God that my family is safe and no one got hurt
that day.
I am sharing this personal experience to know my fellows views about the crimes that hunting innocent people around us and how people take a stance about it.
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine what you and your family must have gone through at that moment..But thankfully, your case came through successfully and nobody was hurt. I agree with you when you ask why people shy away from raising their voices in such situations. I think it is a global problem.
ReplyDeletethank you Swagata, basically its global problem,especially in large populations. check out these horrible videos;
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whTjNqO8FYk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9Tf8nHlEVY
It is so sad,I couldn't find any justifications of why people do not react!!!
Hashim,
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to thank you for your courage and for identifying your attacker in court. It may have felt safer to walk away from the incident, concerned that charging your attacker may lead to some sort of retribution. And I would not have faulted you if you had! Although I agree with your and Swagata's call to action, we should be slow to judge those who choose not to take similar risks.
That said, I want to again thank you. This dangerous guy has been removed from the community for some length of time. Perhaps this will even lead to his reform - perhaps not - though that is another subject for another blog post...
Jared,
DeleteThank you for your feelings.
I am not judging people who don't take similar risks, but I am wondering why they don't take it?! Is the law system the reason or it is totally personal? what I am trying to say is criminals rely on victim's and witness's fears to crack the law system.If there is no witness there is no case,the judge said.
I apologize if I used some words that gave an impression of judging people.
I second Jared.Many people would take the easy way and turn their backs on such incidents pretending nothing happened.This way you are actually endangering another family when such individual is free.Sadly, the long take-it-to-court precedure had discouraged many people to take a stand.Sometimes, they simply can't afford it.I am not quite familiar with the rules and the protoccols here in the US, but a lengthy, tedious procedure with unpredictable outcome- not to mention that the outcome may favour the murderer!!- is enough to keep mouths shut.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSalwa I agree,
DeleteI remember after the sentencing hearing,they sent him to jail and the judge thanked me and said "not many people show up in court to identify their attackers" I was surprised why?!
Law system is very complicated and it is hard to identify what factors discouraging people.
Hashim,
ReplyDeleteI can't imagne myself in your situation. I would easily give him my wallet, but your situation was complicated. Thankfully you and your family came out of this nightmare safe.
My answer to your question is as my fellows pinted out, the long and tedious legal procedures, and the risk associated with it.
I'm thinking about what if I were you, would I take it to the court or leave it behind. I still can't make a decsion. But yor decision was such a brave one. So, thank you for what you did.
Mohammed,
DeleteThank you for your feelings. It was a tough decision and I hope risks and consequences stop at that limit.
Although, generally, there might be risks or consequences with similar situations, but I don't there is any in yours. And by the time he is discharged, you'll probably be out of Cincinnati working in your country ;).
DeleteI had the same experience by the first month I came here, except that there was not a gun pointed to my head....so I know how terrified that was!! I didn't have a chance to identify that guy and put him into jail because the police was unable to catch him. But I know I would if I had the chance since this is one way to somehow scare those bad guys a bit from doing this again. Btw, I think one of the reason why there are so few witnesses is that there are not so many people walking on the street all the time. People in US tend to drive to their destination. Actually there were few cars driving through by the time I was robbed, but it was just too hard for them to notice that bad thing was happening on the side walk. This is just the way of their life style, so I told myself, the only way is not to walk along in dangerous area and avoid walking early in the morning and late at night when there definitely won't be people walking on street.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear that, glade you fine and did't get hurt by that bad guy. I agree with you in staying home after dark,also being cautious and ask friends about safe places to go and dangerous ones to avoid could be a major help.
DeleteHashim,
ReplyDeleteThat is scary and you were so brave! I'm glad that everyone is okay. Someone broke into my sister's bedroom last summer while she was sleeping, she woke up, and he just ran away but she still has trouble sleeping or being alone at night. Almost a year later! The police never found out much about it so she didn't get any closure. I wonder how she would be now if she would have gotten the closure you were able to get by seeing your attacker go to prison. And I'm sure it was stressful to identify him and go to court, but that's great that you were able to do it. It takes a lot of courage.
Eileen,
DeleteThanks for your lovely words. I am glad your sister did not get hurt by that criminal; sure it was terrifying for her to wake up surprised by a stranger on her bedroom!! I really feel sorry and I wish she overcome it soon. I guess my case was a lucky one and it was a huge relief putting him away. Disappointingly in most robberies criminals just disappear and rarely found by the police!! I hope they catch that bad guy soon.
Hashim, you are truly a brave and courageous man. There are people our there who are unstable and desperate. How do you deal with them? I don't know. You never know when something like this may happen to you. I have a friend who was once mugged and since bought a gun that he keeps at home. I don't think I would go that far. I truly admire you for taking the necessary action when you had the opportunity and protecting your family. When I hear stories like yours, I question the justice system. But is it the justice system or a culture that allows people to fall out of society and sink to the level where they need to use a gun to rob their fellow humans?
ReplyDeleteHats off. A most common problem I have seen in Cincinnati and perhaps not only in whole US, but in whole world. I have no idea what leads so many people towards crime and dishonesty. I am moved by your outrageous courage and glad for your family that they have you.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear your story. Thankfully, your family and you did not get hurts. I also heard about other robberies from my friends at UC neighborhood. Those criminal events seem to become too common in this region. I think there must be something needed to be changed in this social structure or culture.
ReplyDeleteAnd you really did a brave job to identify the robber. If you didn’t identify him, there may be more victims. I appreciate your courage very much.