Thursday, March 31, 2005

I'll be watching you

I had a post all ready about how the worst thing about a woman living by herself is having to carry in all the groceries without any help (and have 2 of the bags break on you, their contents spilling all over the stairs-which may or may not have happened to me tonight). However, I just watched "Primetime", and they ran a story about a 27 year old woman from Indianapolis. She lives in a house all by herself. One day she was in her bedroom reaching to grab a sweatshirt, and she saw a man outside. He busted through her front gate and started running at her window. He was holding a video camera and slammed it up against the window.

The girl called 911, but the guy was gone by the time the cops got there. This went on for 6 months. She would catch him at her windows 3 or 4 times a week-sometimes in the middle of the night-then call the cops, but the guy would always get away. For SIX MONTHS!!!! The girl didn't leave or go stay somewhere else or anything. Instead she got pissed.

One night she went outside and they met face to face. He looked at her, put his hands in his pockets and walked away. She went after him. She chased him down the street. He finally stopped, and she was like, "Why do you look in my windows and take pictures of me? What do you want?" The guy said, "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't even know you, lady." She was like, "Cut the bullshit. I've seen you." The guy freaked and ran to his pickup truck. The girl called 911. The guy jumped into the cab of the truck and started driving away, and do you want to know what this girl did? Do you?

SHE JUMPED INTO THE BED OF THE TRUCK.

Um. Are you fucking kidding me? The guy just kept driving. The whole time she was on the phone with 911 trying to tell them where the guy was taking her. Eventually the guy stopped, got out and went to the back of the truck and started trying to grab her and pull her out, but she just kept kicking him over and over--still on the phone with 911.

The cops ended up finding them and arresting the guy. It turns out this man had been out of prison for 2 years after being in there for 18 years for aggravated rape. They found duct tape, a leather mask and lubricant (mah!) in his truck. When they searched his house they found hundreds upon hundreds of photos of this girl. He had been stalking her for 11 months--5 months before she even noticed him.

Holy fucking shit.

This story raises some questions:

1. Can someone with knowledge of the law or police policy please explain to me why the hell this girl did not have a cop outside her home every single night waiting to catch this guy?

2. Why does this girl rule everything? She is a real life badass and my new hero. The first time I see some guy at my window, I'm fainting. Then immediately moving out and buying a gun. Or at least sleeping with my kitchen knives.

3. Can someone please come stay with me at night? Girl or guy-I don't care. Just someone come over and protect me, or I am never going to be able to sleep again. Pretty please?

By the way, in case you are wondering, experts "do not recommend" taking things into your own hands the way this girl did because you never know how your assailant will react.

Um...duh?

First of all, I am the slowest runner on Earth so if I tried to run after him on the street, he could stop for a bite to eat, take a 20 minute nap and do his taxes before I even got 10 yards. Second of all, I would have no idea what to say to him if I did catch up to him. It would start out like, "'Sup?" and end in me laying on the ground in the fetal position crying my eyes out. And lastly, I can't even hop into the bed of a pickup truck when it's parked, let alone moving. Vigilante Sarah is the wussiest superhero ever.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

That girl has some serious guts. That guy has some serious issues.

Johnny Virgil said...

I do NOT have issues. You just don't understand.

Anonymous said...

I know this sounds crazy, but when I was single I was more scared of finding a big bug in my apartment. I actually had a list of guys who said it was OK for me to call them any time of day or night to come murder any such intruders.

I may or may not have had some fake sightings.

I wonder why this girl didn't just close her shades?

danielle said...

i saw this too and she effing rules. i think it would be sort of difficult to adopt her method, but if you think about it, she's right to get really pissed instead of really scared. ya know? 'this effing psycho is ruining my life. i'm gonna get him and maybe beat the shit out of him so i can relax again and enjoy my singlehood'.

p.s. -i will always drive down our connector street at 3am to save u.

Sarah said...

AG - she did close her shades, but she had like some higher up windows like in her front door and stuff,and this guy would climb up to see through those. He just kept getting bolder and bolder. Someone even saw him sitting on her front porch!!!

Danielle - no matter how pissed I would be there is no way I would chase after this guy. What if he had a gun??? That girl was lucky. That being said, I do wish I could be more like this girl and be able to get mad instead of scared. But unfortunately I am scared of everything. Thanks for offering to drive down our connector street to save me. You would definitely scare off any stalkers.

Anonymous said...

Ohhh the higher up windows! I have those. Damn.

Torrence said...

I pray for fucks like this to come on my property. My old roomate found a lady's purse and all it's contents strewn about our front porch one morning. The address on her license was right down the street from us! Turns out this shit head was using our porch light to go through her shit! I sleep with a .45 on my nightstand and the little man friend has an AK-47 on his side of the bed. Come on over. Look, I got access to little mini-planes. I will SO duct-tape myself to one and come to your rescue.

Alisa said...

Wow. That girl rocks! There is a difference being brave and being pissed. That girl sure was pissed and probably watching too much Wednesday night Alias. Glad she got the perp off the street!

re: Groceries and being single - I hate it when my 12 pack fridgemate of pop busts and cans go everywhere. I'm the type who absolutely refuses to make more than one trip, thus, things being dropped. If I ever get married *he* gets to do the grocery shopping!

Sarah said...

Toren, you are my new bodyguard.

Violet said...

I just managed to convince myself it was ok to sleep alone this creepy old house and now I hear about this? At least the girl kicked ass! She's my role model!

John said...

Toren, you are my new bodyguard.

John said...

oh, and Sarah, if some guy is videotaping you through your window, call me. I will come to your house and lay with you in the fetal position while we wait for Toren if it will make you feel any better. Also,by "come to your house" I mean I will come inside and leave the video camera outside.

JC said...

Wow! Just...wow. Thanks for sharing that because I have now found my new hero; that girl kicks more ass than I ever could.

Luckily, I have some big, bad, football playin' guy friends who would be more than happy to lay the smackdown on that guy.

Oh, and thank you for the laugh, John.

-Just blog surfin'

Anonymous said...

Did any of ya'll watch Grey's Anatomy (the new show after Desparate Housewives) last night? This girl came into the hospital who had been severely beaten up and almost raped, except that she fought back and bit off the raper's penis. It was great! Brave Chick Power Rocks!