Fritz Knorr <fritzk@moscow.com> Wrote:
|
| Matt Kitterman, vision 20/20 member (see his post
| from yesterday), was attacked and seriously injured
| yesterday evening in front of his house on Deakin
| St. Extension. The attack followed a high speed
| vehicular assault in the crosswalk at the
| intersection of Deakin and Taylor Streets.
|
| Matt and I played tennis yesterday at the U of I
| courts. We finished up around 6:30 PM, and the
| attack happened while we were walking home. We're
| neighbors, so after tennis, we usually head for
| his house, I pet Dixie the dog a little and head
| on home to supper. Well, it was hot yesterday, so
| after playing, Matt was drinking water from a
| water bottle as we walked.
|
| As we approached the crosswalk on Taylor St.,
| there was a string of traffic, so we waited for a
| break in the traffic and proceeded across Taylor.
| When we were two steps past the curb, we signaled
| with the "stop" hand signal to an approaching
| westbound car. The car then *accelerated* and cut
| in front of us, only inches away. In the course
| of jumping back, some water splashed from Matt's
| water bottle onto the car.
|
| We continued across Taylor and up Deakin St.
| Deakin St. extension isn't really a street in that
| section, it is more of a one-lane gravel alley in
| that section, so we were walking down an alley to
| Matt's home. As we were walking, we heard a car
| approaching behind us really fast. We turned
| around to judge how to jump out of the way, and it
| was that same car. The car ground to a halt and
| the driver and passenger on the right jumped out
| and surrounded Matt. I looked closely to get the
| license number, 4AJ810, California, a gray 4-door
| late model sedan.
|
| The driver and passenger were young black men,
| with stocky builds and are probably U of I or WSU
| athletes. The two black men surrounded Matt,
| grabbed his racket from him and hit him, HARD, on
| the head with his racket. He started gushing
| blood. I moved in to interfere with the beating,
| and the passenger turned on me with Matt's racket.
| We stood there in a racket-to-racket stand off,
| while the driver proceeded to thump on Matt. Poor
| Matt was in a bloody fog by then, after being
| whacked on the head; so he was easily pushed to
| the ground and punched and hit. And I was pinned
| down in this racket fencing thing.
|
| After a few more kicks and punches to Matt the
| attackers retreated to their car and sped away. I
| ran back to Matt's house and dialed 911. I guess
| I did leave him in a bloody heap in the alley. Oh
| well, sorry Matt. I thought it was important to
| get the authorities. Little did I know.
|
| A patrol car did eventually respond to my 911
| call. The investigating officer, Leonard Sombret
| said that there probably was no prosecutable
| crime. Of course, prosecution involves the
| courts. A police officer can only speak from his
| experience from previous cases and from his
| criminal justice training The officer is not the
| prosecutor or the judge. But a police officer is
| very involved in criminal justice on a daily basis
| and can therefore "bottom line" the situation as
| to what he thinks the prosecutor and the courts
| would do. Given that, the investigating officer's
| take on the various aspects of this case was:
|
| 1. The crosswalk assault by a speeding car:
| Officer Sombret didn't see any problem at all. He
| repeated the general police advice for pedestrians
| run down in crosswalks. Get the license number
| and a description of the driver. Contact the
| police. Well, I DID that. But, he was clearly
| not going any further with it. If there was
| anything to sucessfully prosecte, I'm sure that
| Officer Sombret would pursue it.
|
| 2. The later vehicular assault in the Deakin St.
| alley: The driver was justified because some water
| splashed on his car when he startled the
| pedestrians in the crosswalk. This is not the
| officer speaking, of course, but it is his best
| guess of what the courts would say.
|
| 4. The violent beating: We didn't run away fast
| enough. We turned around to get out of the way of
| the speeding car in the one lane alley. Worse, we
| then hung around to get the vehicle license
| number. Therefore, it is a "mutual combat"
| situation. The license number turned out to be
| semi-useless.
|
| The investigation: This is a place where the
| police do call the shots. Matt and I were
| interviewed. We wrote out statements. The
| vehicle registration was looked up. It was
| registered to a *surprise* California address.
| Officer Sombret did say that he looked in the
| local phone books for someone of the name on the
| registration. No luck.
|
| And that's where it stands this morning. If you
| see that vehicle, do not approach the driver!!
| Inform the police, they might interview the
| attacker.
|
| Heidi took Matt to the emergency room. He got the
| gash on his head stitched up, but he still has a
| big ol' knot on his head, too. You might want to
| send Matt a get well message.
|
| Fritz
|
|
|