Monday, July 04, 2011

Sushi Reward After Court

As I mentioned a little ways back, I had the unfortunate experience of being robbed a few weeks back. The brief version of that story is as follows:

I was walking home after doing laundry and eating pizza with C., R., and Brutus, as I often do. I was walking west. As I crossed one street I saw a few kids walking south. I continued on my way. Maybe a quarter of a block along, I realized that the kids I had seen heading south had turned and were now walking west. One of the kids was, in fact, walking pretty much right next to me. Way too close. A second kid was a few feet from the first and a few steps back. The third kid's exact location I don't know. I tried slowing down, to let them pass me. I tried speeding up to put some distance between us. But the kid right next to me simply matched my speed. One minute I'm recognizing the fact that this isn't good, the next the kid closest to me has something in their hand and is standing in front of me telling me to give them everything. I put my hands up in the air, do not fight when they take my phone from my dress pocket, my purse from my shoulder nor the large luggage bag with all my fresh laundry from my side. They run away. By this point we were about 3/4 into the block. As I heard the roll, roll, rolling sound of my luggage back banging against the uneven sidewalk even as I lost sight of the kids, I went to the nearest building, buzzed all its apartments and when someone finally responded, asked them to call 911 as I had just been robbed. Once that was accomplished I allowed that what had just happened was actually kind of scary. The girl (I had thought her a very young boy until cops told me differently) who had matched my pace and then held the weapon had this face on her. This face I couldn't quite discern. Whether she was scared or didn't give a shit. Both maybe. Neither? On the whole it felt like she didn't give a shit. And while I was standing there in slight disbelief, I kept looking at the nub of black I saw in her hand, trying to determine whether I was in mortal danger from an actual gun, or was confirming these kids suspicions that any object would do. So yeah. It was scary. But then over. I described the kids to the dispatcher as best I could, relying more on the color of their shirts and the direction they ran away than on any discerning marks on their faces of bodies. A few minutes later a cop car came up and I was told to get in. A few minutes after that we were at a different corner, with two or three cop cars already pulled up with their lights flashing. After the cars moved down a bit, the cop in my own car asked me if the kids up against the wall were the same as the kids who had taken my things. They were. So. That's the story. The three kids were caught with my wallet, phone and credit cards - having ditched my purse, keys and laundry bag at some earlier point. They ended up being 14, 16 and 20. Children. I am grateful that all my stuff ultimately was returned (purse found in a nearby alley, luggage back in a foyer of a building near that alley). I am grateful that I wasn't hurt. Now, however, the court dates. The first of which happened just a week after the robbery occurred. Or didn't happen. I went to family court to testify in the case of one of the kids (the girl is - at least in theory - being tried as an adult along with the 20 year old). I lined up with a wide spectrum of folks and took my turn taking off my belt and walking through the metal detector. I checked in with the witness/victim coordinating office. I sat. I discussed the case with the District Attorney handling all three cases. I sat some more. After about two hours, the DA said it was most likely that the trial would be 'continued.' So I briefly went in as he and the defense discussed a new date. The whole thing was numbing, strange and pointless. Afterward I went to work and felt entitled to having sushi delivered to me. I ordered from Kansai.
I ordered eel avocado, spicy salmon and California rolls. More food than I needed in the end, but good. Somehow sushi delivered never tastes as good to me as sitting in the restaurant.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a very scary experience! I am not sure that I would have thought clearly enough to go into the nearest building and ring bells. I am glad that you were not hurt and that everything was found. hr

Robley H said...

What does that mean, "continued"? Put off to a later date? Why? Arg!

nc catherine said...

Oh what a creepy awful story to read even though I already knew all the details. Welcome to the criminal justice system, phase one. Talk wait wait talk go home come back talk wait wait wait...

Continued means that one side or the other was not ready to go. So in the interests of presumed innocence and so on, a case not ready gets continued.

In the real world of criminal messes, the defendant hopes to continue ad infinitum in hopes that the prosecutor, the victim, gets tired of showing up and simply doesn't in which case the mess usually gets dismissed....sigh.

The ages of the children is so awful...