Tom Sanderson
“Sept. 19, I had to work late. And along the way back to my parking garage at Wells and Madison, I stopped at a 7-Eleven.”
“There’s a guy on the ground there, panhandling. He asked me to get something for him and I said, ‘Sorry, I don’t have anything for you.’”
“As I came back out, in the corner of my eye I could see him stand and pull his hoodie up. Right away I was like, ‘This is not good.’”
“He was aggressive and younger than me. I picked up my pace but the guy pursued, yelling and swearing, arms flailing. He struck at me, so I had enough and fought back. He was able to get me in a headlock. My body weight and his body weight swung around and I landed on my head. I had to force my head out against the sidewalk, which messed up my ear.”
“I was finally able to push him off and kick, which sent him flying into Madison Avenue. He dropped my phone, wallet and keys which he must have rifled out of my jeans while he had the advantage. Afterwards he ran away, back towards the 7-Eleven.”
“I was pretty shocked by it. And stunned, in pain. I called 911.”
“They asked me their standard questions: ‘Are you injured? Do you need an ambulance?’ I told them, ‘Yes. I’m injured. I don’t know if I need an ambulance.’ And then because I know the police don’t always show up right away in Chicago, I asked if they were coming. They wouldn’t give me an answer. So, I waited.”
“After about 10 minutes, I called back, just letting them know I’m still here. While I was on the phone with them, I saw the guy back at the 7-Eleven start walking back towards me. I told the 911 operator that he was coming back and asked if they are actually going to come arrest him. I receded back to the parking garage to get out of the situation.”
“At the parking garage I sat with the security guard. She got me some water and encouraged me to call 911 again. We did that a few times.”
“They never told me if they were coming or not. So, after about four calls and over an hour of waiting, I just went home.”
“At 3:30 in the morning, I woke up to a call back. They asked if I was still on the scene – this was like four hours later. And I was so mad, I read them the riot act and they hung up on me and never took the report.”
“I didn’t know it at the time, but I had a pretty bad concussion. I had a lot of trouble over the weekend. I was kind of out of my mind. Sunday, I got lost in my own neighborhood. I didn’t know where I was going. It was scary.”
“So, Monday, I went in person to file a police report. They told me they would assign a detective in three days or so. That was infuriating because, again, at the time it happened, the guy was right there on the scene.”
“After talking to police, I also went to the hospital. They kept me there a day and diagnosed the concussion and a few assault-related injuries.”
“For the first month or so after, I walked a different way between my office and the parking garage. I also got Mace. I carry a knife now.”
“I followed up with the 7-Eleven. The workers there knew who I was talking about right away. They said he’s harassed their customers before. The manager told me he’s banned now. He won’t be coming back. Which is great for me, but bad for somebody else, you know?”
“I also talked to some of the buildings with cameras nearby. They wouldn’t give the tapes to a civilian, the request had to come from police. I still hadn’t heard anything from detectives. So, I asked them to hold on to the recordings from that day, but I doubt they did.”
“After more than two months, I did, miraculously, get a call back from a detective in late November. It’s encouraging that they’re looking into it. But of course, now it’s been more than two months. The guy is gone, the tapes are probably gone.”
“I know there are a lot of hard-working police officers in the city and elsewhere. But at the organizational level, this is just ridiculous. We have the highest 911 fees in the nation by far, and what are we getting for it? And now it sounds like they’re eliminating positions. It is 911 taxation without representation.”
“When I filed my report, one of the officers actually hinted to me that if you do say you need an ambulance, they’ll send a squad out to protect the EMTs while they work on you. So, we have to lie to police? And what if you’re worried about the cost of an ambulance? Basically the lesson I learned is the police are not showing up unless you are shot.”
“If you’re a worker downtown, or a tourist for that matter, this just impacts the whole feeling of Chicago. We’re one of the biggest cities in the world, we have a robust downtown, but this type of crime is going to continue as long as they know they’re not going to get prosecuted, or even arrested.”
Tom Sanderson
Civil engineer
Chicago, Illinois
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