The Day I Learned Something About Myself

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It was a beautiful day and the weekend. 07-07-07.

I shopped for my groceries, enjoying the time by myself. I had a lot of groceries this particular day. I opened the back of my van and started putting them in. I had my purse on my shoulder. It didn't have a very long strap, and every time I put a bag into the car, the purse would fall forward. It was bugging me, so against my better judgement, I sat it on the bumper right beside me. I remember consciously thinking that I probably shouldn't do that, but figured it wasn't that big of a deal.

It couldn't have been more than a minute after that, that a car pulled up behind me and a guy got out of the passenger's side. Immediately, I felt uneasy. He took a step toward me and said, "Excuse me Ma'am?" I was just staring at him, staring straight at his face, into his eyes, and I said, "Yes?" Then he said, "I'll take that!" and he grabbed my purse! I couldn't believe it. For a split second I just stood there, stunned, and a million thoughts were running through my head. I knew I had no money in my purse, just my bank card, but I had my social security card in my wallet, my driver's license, car keys, pictures of my girls! I did not want this man to have my identity. I could not stand the thought of him looking at pictures of my girls. So, I reacted.

He had jumped back into the passenger's seat, but the door wasn't closed yet. I pulled the door open and propped my foot on the door so he couldn't close it. The car started pulling away, and here I was hanging out of it. I reached inside and grabbed my purse strap and began pulling. Using my foot that was propped on the door as leverage, I began to pull with all my strength. The girl who was driving (who I never saw) stopped the car and the man got out. He had one end of my purse and I had the other. Each of us pulling with all our might.

Let me share this with you. This was in the middle of a sunny day, around 2pm. I was parked only 3 places from the door. There were people walking by. There were people all around just staring at what was happening. I tell you this because most people assume that crimes like this only happen at night, in dark-lit parking lots, with no one around. I assure you that criminals do not care what time of the day it is, or how many people are around. They only care about what you have that they might want! In addition, this man was a well-dressed, clean-cut, caucasian man. Don't ever assume from the stereotypes you've been fed that you know what criminals look like. Because of this man's appearance, many passersby thought we were having some sort of domestic dispute.

So anyways, here we are pulling at my purse and neither one of us is willing to let go. At some point, I ended up down on the ground and I distinctly remember one of my shoes flying off. This man was hovering over me, still pulling at my purse. I was kicking him in the face, in the chest, anywhere my feet would land. I seem to remember him cursing under his breath, and I think he was starting to realize that people were staring and he had picked the wrong woman to prey upon. He said a curse word to me, something that admitted his defeat, and he let go and stood up. His get-away car was still waiting for him. At that point, I hear these screams and I realize they are mine, but they were muffled, like I couldn't quite get them out. I'm not sure if I actually had been screaming out loud or only in my head. I had my purse and I stood up, shaking from fear. We had been pulling so hard on my purse, that the zipper was broken!

I saw the man get in his car and close the door. Right about that time, this elderly gentleman walked up behind it, glanced at me, and then turned to look at the car's back license plate. At that time, we both realized it had a garbage bag over it, concealing it's numbers. The man tried to lift the bag, and the car sped off before we could see the numbers.

As the car sped off, people all around were just staring at me, wondering what had just happened. I thanked the elderly man for trying to help. Another couple came over and told me they were watching this unfold from the front of the store and they wrote down the man's license plate from the front plate. At first they thought we were having a domestic dispute, but decided to write the plates down. I was so shaken up. I wrote the plates down on a piece of paper in my purse. I didn't know if I should call the police, or not. The woman told me I definitely should call the police. All I wanted to do was go home. But, they told me they would wait with me until the police got there.

I called 911 and explained what had just happened. The operator told me that I should not have fought back because he could've had a gun. I honestly hadn't even thought of the consequences of my actions until that point. If someone had asked me before what I would do in a situation like that, I would not have thought that I would fight back. When something like that happens though, your instinct kicks in, and you go into survival mode. What was I trying to survive? The loss of my identity. It was such a violation to think that this man might get ahold of that.

So, I waited with this nice couple until the policeman arrived. I wish I knew who they were now, because their kindness and quick thinking meant so much to me. I gave the policeman the information and he said he would try to find out who the car belonged to. He asked if I was hurt, and I just had bruises and a scraped knee and told him I'd be fine. I left to go home, and when I got inside, my husband just hugged me and I cried. I had never been so violated in all of my life.

A few days later, I got a call from a detective. He had been going over the weekend police reports and this one stuck out to him because he recognized the plates from several reports that weekend. Because this man was not caught that day, he went on to do the same thing later that day on the same street to another woman. She fought back too! Then, he rear-ended a man that evening on the same street, and when the man got out of his truck, the criminal jumped in and stole his truck! All of this happened on the same day, within hours of each other, on the same main road that runs through our town. I was not very happy when I heard that, because I was the first report and I felt like if the police had acted right then, they could've found the guy and stopped him before he did it again.

The detective told me the car belonged to an older man, and the criminal was his son who had drug problems. The man told the detective that his son had taken off to Houston in the stolen truck. The detective assured me they would find him. I was pleasantly surprised that they might actually catch this guy.

The next day, the detective came to my house to show me a line-up to see if I could identify who they believed to be the criminal. I would not let him in my house until he showed me his badge. Then, when I opened the door, I realized he had a vest on that said "POLICE" on the back and felt a little silly. He assured me that it was okay, that he understood. He had specific procedures to follow for the line-up to count, so he explained them to me. He had several men's pictures on this page and I had to look at it, take my time, and then tell him which guy I felt it was. I immediately knew exactly which one he was. Remember, I had stared into this man's eyes. Also, after the crime happened, I actually prayed that I would never forget this man's face. I wanted to remember everything about him so that I could identify him later. The Lord did not let me down. His face was crystal clear, staring at me from the picture. I chose him and then I had to sign something stating this was the guy. I asked the detective if I chose who they felt it was and he could not tell me, but he did said "You did good."

I think it was about a week later that the detective called back and said he had picked the guy up in Houston. They were acting on tips from this man's family, who had been in contact with him. All the way back to Baytown, this man was telling the police how he didn't mean to hurt anyone and he was sorry. He confessed to the whole thing. They also found out who the girl was driving the car. She is a known druggie in our town, who wanders around, doing whatever she can, with whomever she can, to score drugs. They could not find her.

This man was on parole when this happened and he is now serving over 20 years for the crimes he committed that day. I never had to go to court to testify, but he was charged with a felony in my case because I was injured. Had I not been injured, it would've just been a misdemeanor theft. They mainly got him on the felony for stealing the vehicle. I'm not sure exactly how long he got, or where he is.

It was several months later when I got a call from the detective saying they found the woman. I told him I figured it was a lost cause and he reminded me that he had promised me that he wouldn't give up. What an awesome detective he was!! I got a call from the D.A. stating they were just going to give her probation and make her attend drug rehab. They asked if that was okay with me. As long as she got help, it was fine with me. I got all of these papers in the mail from her probation officer, detailing what she had to do, that she was supposed to also pay me money for the crime (which I never received), and that I had to let them know if I wanted to be notified if there was any change to her sentence. The last thing I heard was that they had put out a warrant for her arrest because of probation violations. I guess some people never learn.

After this happened, I sent out an email to about 10 people, just letting them know to be careful. I was amazed at how many people that email reached. I hear it even made it to a girl in China! Still to this day, I hear about people making the connection that I was the girl in that email. Even the local paper called and did a front page story on the crimes, because they had seen my email. I was glad that it reached so many people. I wanted to warn everyone to be safe.

It took about 6 months before I could even carry a regular purse. To this day, I don't carry anything in my purse that I would fear losing. I don't carry pictures at all. I carry only my bankcard and my driver's license, and other things that can easily be replaced. I for sure do not carry my Social Security Card. Another thing that I never do now is carry my keys in my purse. I always carry them in my pocket. That way, if something happens to my purse, I still have a way to get home and I don't have to worry about a criminal having the keys to my house, along with the address on my license! I had never considered this before, until after that day.

I will never forget what happened that day, but I forgive them for it. I've mentioned my anxiety issues on here before, and I will say that this wasn't the best thing to help me get over them. One day my Stepmom told me something though. She told me that this showed that I was a fighter. She told me that the Kristin who fought back is in there. I will never forget those words and often when I have the urge to be fearful and to not want to leave the house because of these irrational fears I have of the unknown, I remind myself that I learned something I didn't even know about myself that day: I AM A FIGHTER!