How to Survive Getting Mugged

Getting attacked and robbed is one of the most terrifying experiences you could ever imagine. For me, it’s been twenty one years and I remember the entire experience as though it was just yesterday. I had my six year old daughter with me at the time and she still won’t talk about it much. It is a very degrading and helpless situation to be in, but there are things you can do to avoid the attack in the first place, and to deal with it if your precautions can’t completely avert the attack.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Time

1. Step one: Be alert! Know where you’re going and take a mental note of all your surroundings. Have your keys out, in your hand and be ready to use them if necessary. Walk with your head up, and pay attention to your strides as you walk. Walk with confidence. Visually scan the area around you, if someone looks suspicious simply turn around and walk right back inside. Most places have security guards these days, use them – it’s what they’re paid for!
   
   My mistakes were that I was in a hurry, it was late, we were hungry, I was digging through my pocketbook for my keys as we walked toward my car, and I honestly felt I had no reason to be afraid.

2. Step Two: Travel in groups. Groups are much less likely to be approached by one or two bad guys. Additionally, there are more people to scan the area to make sure no one is lurking. Make sure your group is alert to the dangers and make sure your group isn’t indecisive. Know where you are, and know where you’re going.
   
   My mistakes were that I was more concerned with my daughter’s hungry tummy – I had promised her dinner at her favorite restaurant as soon as we finished shopping.

3. Step three: Use your car’s door locks. Lock the doors when you leave your car – even if you’ll only be away for a few seconds. It only takes about three seconds for someone to see you walk away and get into your back seat without you seeing them. Most cars, even when the doors are open, the doors will lock at the touch of a button. Open your child’s door, press the lock button, and then put your child in his or her car seat. When you close your child’s door, it’s already locked. When you get to your door, unlock, open, lock, and then get in your car.
   
   My mistakes were that I got her in the car, locked her door and walked around to my side, opening my door with my key. I got in the car and turned the engine on to get the heater started. It was December 18th, and it was freezing cold out. Then I pulled my door shut and reached around to lock the door. I never got the lock down. My door swung open and I got a punch in the face before I knew what was happening.

4. Step Four: Don’t fight them. They rarely work alone, and if they’re drugged up you’re not going to hurt them. Let them have what they want and leave. The only two things in your car worth fighting for is your life, and that of your child. Everything else can go, including the car.
   
   I did well at staying calm, until he hit my daughter in her face. I fought like I’d never fought before. He beat me down with his fists. At one point he knocked me stupid and I couldn’t even think straight. Realizing the violence, I unlocked my daughter’s car seat buckle and unhooked it, and then I went for my daughter’s door. I tried to swing the door open and push her out. I knew she’d be safer in the parking lot than she would be in the car with him. That’s when I found out there was another man outside my car. When I pushed her out, he tried to push her back in and he slammed the car door on her head.

5. Step four: Don’t let him catch you looking at him. He can’t leave you there if you can identify him.
   
   Another mistake; when I pushed my daughter’s door open, it caused the dome light to come on in my car. The man outside my daughter’s door came around to my side of the car. He told the man on my side of the car, “She saw you man, she saw your face, Kill her, just kill the $@#&ing B!#@(!”

6. Step five: Don’t count on help from the crowd. There were people crowded around my car watching all this happen, and no one said a word. No one moved. I could see them through the car’s windows just standing there staring at us.
   
   Once he thought I had gotten a good look at him, it made him very angry. He grabbed my face and the hair on the back of my head, he laid me across my little daughter’s lap, and proceeded to try and crack my head like an egg on the top edge of my daughter’s door. Over and over he hit my head on the door, but I was too weak to fight much. Suddenly the pain in my head stopped hurting as bad. It gave me a minute to think. I realized that if I just died, he’d leave, so I went limp. I stopped breathing. I felt my arm lift up and then drop. The dome light came back on and I could feel him staring at me as my little girl sobbed.

7. Step six: Know the statistics for your area and take special caution between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This type of crime runs rampant between Black Friday and Christmas Eve. We were “Number 38” according to the investigating officer.
   
   I just found out a couple of years ago that the reason I had the break in the pain and I was able to think, it was because my little girl had the presence of mind to put her little hand between my head and the metal on her door. It crushed her fingers, but she saved my life.

Tips & Warnings

• Help comes from the least expected places.
• If you've been attacked, seek medical attention.
• Don't be ashamed to get professional help with your emotional scars.
• this type of crime is on the rise and it doesn't seem to be getting any better.