My friend was just assaulted on Park, btw vander and under

burningorange · April 2006

I live on park btw flatbush and vanderbilt. My friend called me about 10 minutes after midnight and told me she was just assaulted. She was coming home from the Q train. She heard footsteps behind her coming closer as she walked past vanderbilt on park place.

As she turned to look behind her, a guy in a red hoodie grabbed her from behind and put a gun to her temple. She started to scream, and the guy just said "shut up bitch" to her over and over. She glanced at the gun and she said it looked orange or red. She asked what he wanted and he never responded except to say "shut up". She kept on screaming and the guy threw her on the ground.

The guy that grabbed her had two friend somewhere right around the block...
they all fled towards underhill.

She came over and we called the cops. We did a canvas of the hood with the cops and didn't find anyone.

We asked the cops if there is any real gun that is orange? The first one said it was probably fake, the other said that people spray paint their guns. So who knows.

Be warned.

armchair_warrior · April 2006

sorry to hear. i hope your friend is gonna be okay and stuff.

alafairnadia · April 2006

that's. horrifying. I'm SO GLAD your friend is safe.
damn.

armchair_warrior · April 2006

things like this really want me to start a posse who walks or drives around in a white pickup with shot guns and stuff.

pitu · April 2006

boy, that sucks.
your friend did the right thing, not shutting up and asking her attacker what he wanted - I'm really glad she's okay.

local self-defense courses available at
Center For Anti-Violence Education (formerly Brooklyn Women's Martial Arts)
http://www.cae-bklyn.org/programs.html

brookfetish · April 2006

Very scary considering I myself walk around there all of the time.

dailyheights · April 2006

Yep, this is a major walking "thoroughfare" for PH/CH.

drano · April 2006

I don't know why someone would spray paint a firearm orange or red, but I suppose anything is possible. Some military arms are green, brown or even white depending on the environment they are intended to be used in, but again - red or orange would be odd.

Sorry to hear about the incident.

ana.log · April 2006

This is, indeed, very disturbing. I have to say I never think twice about taking this walk at 11 or 12pm, but now I will have to reconsider.

Armchair's posse idea is not a bad one ... is there a Neighborhood Watch group at all in the area? That kind of thing really does help.

brookfetish · April 2006

I haven't lived here in the summer. Does this type of stuff happen more often during the warmer months? Seems that it would.

alafairnadia · April 2006

ana.log wrote: This is, indeed, very disturbing. I have to say I never think twice about taking this walk at 11 or 12pm, but now I will have to reconsider.

right? I make this walk at like 3 a.m. all the time (soda, center of universe, etc). cripes. so scary.

boobear · April 2006

As easy as it is to feel like the yupsters own the nabe, that definitely changes after 11p or so. I found this out the hard way on July 4 -- had a party on our rooftop, then some guy a couple houses down starts firing a gun in the air. See? It's not just our hood.

I hope your friend is OK. I was mugged on President b/t 7th and 8th a couple years ago; I get the whole shaken feeling.

captain m · April 2006

Drano wrote: I don't know why someone would spray paint a firearm orange or red, but I suppose anything is possible. Some military arms are green, brown or even white depending on the environment they are intended to be used in, but again - red or orange would be odd.

Sorry to hear about the incident.

From afar the real gun would then look like a toy...

drano · April 2006

A toy? Well, I did acknowledge that anything is possible. Still, one would think you would keep the weapon in your belt or pocket until it is ready for use, somewhat negating the value of the subterfuge. Also, if you are using the thing in a threating manner, the cops are going to check you out no matter what color it is...and now that I think about it, what if an intended victim mistook it for a toy? The crook would be cutting down on his own intimidation factor there. Oh well, if they were smart, they wouldn't be doing what they're doing.

thegrizzler · April 2006

Is it me, or is this totally terrifying? Glad I live next to the police station.

burningorange · April 2006

Thanks for all the comments of support. After talking to the police, they said that there has been lots of incidents on this one block. Reason being that it is deserted...no businesses and the houses are set back from the street. There are lots of shadows where people hide and wait for a victim to mug. They follow people coming off the Q/B train at night or just wait until there is no group of people then rob/mug/assault. The Police said that it is considered a "rich" area and that there is more of these kinds of crimes on this one block than other blocks in the hood. Mostly people out to get ipods and wallets...but the incidents are sometimes violent.

There is one of those red police fire call boxes on the corner of vanderbilt and park, but i don't know that it works. The city need to plant one in the center of the block...and either add more lights to the street and or cut the trees back so the sidewalks are not as shady.

Does anyone know if there is a block association for this street? Since I live half a block down on Park Place and I have lots of friends (Many of which are single women) around the neighborhood. I want to notify the block association and make sure the people who live on that block in particular know what has happened. I believe this is the same block a woman was stabbed to death about 5 years ago.

If I have to go door to door to let people know I will...but any ways to get the word out would be great.

whyfi · April 2006

I don't think that there's a block association on that block. There's a great block association on Park between Vanderbilt and Underhill. If there isn't one in place on your block, maybe it would be easier to join (extend?) a well-established block association than to start a new one... or, at the very least, maybe they could give some pointers in starting up an effective block association.

candicissima · April 2006

burningorange wrote: There is one of those red police fire call boxes on the corner of vanderbilt and park, but i don't know that it works. The city need to plant one in the center of the block...and either add more lights to the street and or cut the trees back so the sidewalks are not as shady.

Didn't they discontinue the use of those boxes? I know I haven't seen one in forever and I vaguely remember hearing that they don't work anymore.

And if the cops know that it's a high crime block, maybe they need to like patrol it or something. I've seen cops (especially the undercover ones) hanging out in Carneviento, so maybe they can stroll down the block when they're done.

My friend was just assaulted on Park, btw vander and under

Comments

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories