Victim of Georgia Ave. Robbery Speaks
He and partner answer Metro Weekly's questions in face-to-face interview two weeks after his attack
MW: Do you know if anybody saw you?
V: I’m almost certain there had to be someone that did. When [my partner] came to look for me, he told me how there were just people all over the street, walking their dogs….
P: Lots of cars, lots of people, up at Georgia and Irving, all four sidewalks.
MW: So walk me through. Did they come from behind you? Did you see them out of the corner of your eye?
V: I want to say that I saw them when I was walking down the alley, but there’s always people at that corner market. So I just leave them be, I don’t bother them. But I don’t remember hearing footsteps or anyone coming behind me. But they definitely came from behind for the attack.
MW: What injuries did you have at that point when you called?
V: I couldn’t tell you. It could have been from the first attack that I suffered my first break, or I could have had both breaks, I honestly don’t know.
MW: (To Partner) And when you received the call, what was your first instinct?
P: I knew he was on the way home, and when he called, I assumed he was in the neighborhood or something. But he said immediately that he had been mugged, or attacked, or something. He did say he had been hit in the jaw. And then, at some point, I heard someone say, ”We’re with the police, turn around,” and I heard [him] say, ”You’re not with the police.” And then I hear a struggle starting, the phone hit the ground, and then, about a minute or so later, I heard a female voice walking towards the phone, pick up the phone and turn it off.
MW: Do you know if the first group had any females in it?
V: I don’t recall a female in the first group.
MW: Once the second attack happened, were you conscious at that point?
V: Yeah, at that time, I was weaving in and out of traffic, trying to stop traffic, and I ended up flagging down a cop car.
MW: What did the cop do when you flagged him down?
V: Pretty much, just sat me down, started taking pictures, and calling the ambulance.
MW: When was it determined that you had the jaw fractures?
V: The jaw fracture was obvious.
P: They were talking about that before he even got [to the hospital].
V: But because of the injuries, and everything I sustained, I couldn’t immediately go into surgery, because I had to be intubated because of the swelling. I ended up spending two days in ICU before they could even do any surgeries.
MW: Have you ever had problems like this before, or have you heard of neighbors who have had problems like this?
V: I read up on the neighborhood. … I have heard of other people being attacked in the neighborhood, but not nearly to this extent. It hasn’t been this bad. Not just too long ago someone was held up at gunpoint at Warder [Street].
MW: What do you think is the motivation behind these? Are these crimes of opportunity?
V: The second was a crime of opportunity for sure. I have nothing that I could say about the first attack, other than…I feel like I may have been wrong place, wrong time, and I think I may have just been singled out for appearing to be gay.
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